Trump says veterans wait too long for health care. VAs 33,000 vacancies might have something to do
By Emily Wax-Thibodeaux April 10 at 9:11 PM
The Department of Veterans Affairs, facing intense scrutiny amid reports of widespread dysfunction and a push by the Trump administration to outsource more medical care, has tens of thousands of full- and part-time vacancies nationwide, according to data compiled by veterans advocates, lawmakers and federal unions.
Most urgently, the agency’s health-care network needs thousands of primary care physicians, mental-health providers, physical therapists, social workers — even janitorial staff, Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), ranking Democrat of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, told The Washington Post in an interview. Of equal concern, he said, VA lacks enough human-resources personnel to vet candidates and make the hires.
“It’s crippling our ability to deliver health care to our vets,” Tester said. “ .?.?. It’s effectively pushing veterans outside the system.”
President Trump, and the conservative groups advising him, has seized on the long waits many veterans face at government facilities as grounds for aggressively expanding a program that enables patients to seek services from private providers at taxpayer expense. The proposal is deeply divisive, however, with opponents, including Democrats and Republicans in Congress, saying the effort could further weaken VA.
More:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-says-veterans-wait-too-long-for-health-care-vas-33000-vacancies-might-have-something-to-do-with-that/2018/04/10/d20bc890-3ccf-11e8-974f-aacd97698cef_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.e0e2fc4269e7
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