Sadly, I understand this. My wife is a computer project manager and she talks like this at the dinner table. Let me put this in terms the typical veteran can understand....
The VA wants to hire non-Va. folks to run its telephone operator system. Only they don't want to send your call to India. That would be humane. Instead they want you to "ask" all your possible questions using a computer. You know, those annoying customer no-service numbers that have you push "1" then option "5" for English ect, until you give up. Then place you on hold forever an a day.
The VAOIG isn't playing games anymore. I have to wonder how long this has to continue before the VAOIG opts to use their teeth.....
Regardless of if libel was intended or accidental, this veteran was clearly defamed. Not that menstrual disorders are bad, but rather that the veteran was set up to look like a liar. That will follow him on every subsequent claim, and no court can remedy that.
What is not mentioned is that Tricare Prime provides better benefits that almost every insurance plan in the country. Yes, it can be hard to find a doctor that will accept it in some areas of the country. Yes, therapies like Chiropractic Care, some very high cost drugs and Allergy Shots, and excessive testing, are not covered and Mental Health Care can be spotty. But overall, it is way better than what most folks get.
What I am getting at is Steven Buyer may be guilty of a little political spin on the eve of a historic election.
Not a single hospital in my part of the country operates their Release of Information office 24 hours 7 days a week. Further, no such office could conduct that business by fax machine fast enough to keep up with true demand during the work week. The only way to make them available as needed at the time needed it electronically.
I fully respect everyones right to restrict the release of their medical records. But my right to have them released instantaneously should not be suppressed by the fear of others.
It isn't the release that is the problem. It is the Access. I can sign any release I need. But at 2:30 AM on a Sunday Morning I my doctor's at the civilian hospital have to know the doages and type of medications I am on. On the gurney with an asthma attack and anaplaxtic reaction to Batrin, I'm not in shape to remember all of that off the top of my head. I'm certainly not in shape to wait until Monday, goto release of information at the VAMC, then hand carry the record back to my doctor in ER. By that time, I'd be dead.
I have -ZERO- problems with this. Personally, coordinating care between my VHA providers and my community providers is a massive pain in the butt. With all the hospitals and my community providers going to KAISER PERMANENTE life will be much, much easier for me. It will also solve the documentation problems of lost and shredded paper work for my C&P claims. This is important since Asthma disability percentage for the 60% level is calculated on how often you go to ER for an attack each year. But I can't get to the VA in a timely fashion when this happens.
In fairness to Mrs. Duckworth, a culture of corruption like this takes years to develop. She may be guilty of some of it. But certainly not all of it.
What is more striking that the plaintiff's claim is the government's concession. The government conceded 50%-60% of its own positions are unsubstantiated. Imagine if that was the statistic in a capital case. Sadly for some Agent Orange vets the delay in an award amounts to a capital sentence.
Something I have noticed over the past year or so. Belinda Finn's is not afraid to tell it how it is in her reports. While other VAOIG report writers talk around controversial issues, she gets strait to the point.
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