do you do that at the va? because i'm getting back to that that we've been trying this issue since 2005 on measuring capacity. actually i went back. we started in the 1980's so i'm not convinced what hatched in dallas or minneapolis or sioux falls that i would get an answer. >> we're are developing a strategy as it relates to access and scheduling. we have in place, a seven-step process that we're developing that will address the issue of accelerating care. that will address the development of demand capacity models. that will dop the policies and directives to drive scheduling and access. that will relook at our performance assessment measures so that we can dop the measures and the goals appropriate to drive our system to the appropriate end point. which is quality, timely care. we are developing the processes to put together program oversight and integrity. to recruit people and to train them. and to integrate our care processes with the nonva care model. when necessary to meet -- >> where does that guidance

for the 21st century. a va that is focused upon putting veterans first and following the core values. this new va should be smaller, more agile, less bureaucratic, more responsive to america's veterans and a better value to hard working american taxpayers. we need to adopt a moon shot approach to do this in the near future. thank you. i yield back. >> thank you. senator brown. >> thank you, mr. chairman. chairman miller, thank you. it's an honor to serve on the committee and thanks to senator mccain and senator sanders for their work in shepherding a very good bill through the united states senate. i've served on this committee for eight years in the senate and never seen anything but people in both parties, ranking members, chairs, whatever, that always put veterans first in both parties and we should all be commended for that. congressman roe said something i thought was particularly apt. it's the care, once in the va, the care has been very good for the 6.5 million american veterans who have been in that sys

to begin to change the culture at va. there are several reforms we must pursue to ensure veterans have access to timely, quality health care. now, the start of an effective congress and conference comes with accurate numbers. and since ranking member mentioned cbo, let me talk numbers for just a minute. va is basically broken down into two sides, the veterans benefit administration and the veterans of the ministration. last year this congress for this year appropriated $55 billion for a vha, veterans of the ministration. of that $55 billion most members would be shocked to know that 48 percent goes to direct patient care. we are talking about $27 billion of appropriate money goes to the delivery of health care to our nation's veterans. 52 percent goes to administration and other programs that emanates out of the vh a budget. of that $27 million, start -- 27 billion it is doctors, nurses, the delivery of care for our veterans to the cbo has scored enrolled and active. now, that brings us to the house bill and the senate bil

use of care in the kmumpbty and riech old to vet ere rans. va has had the ongs to use these recently. sequel snow stlooes 350 vet ere rabbles died wild waiting to see i have isle skraer. we know that 50,000 veterans nationwide it may be too rate for other veteran who is have been waiting for weeks, months and years. fw there would have been actions that could have been taken to increase ark says to betsder care sf for that, i yield to the ranking mem beryl. intradwral to accomplishing this mission, his ablt to sexily the destruction. at this time, i do not have much comforts that the ba is ache to do that analysis. >> seems to me having a significant number of patience on the waiting list that is orr wept md and unare the va-oiz reported in january that vha officer of the report had nine roemd dagszs. one of the recommend dalgss was to have the vpa relative develop dads it. >> it's un5:00 septemberble. while br listen, all can have how they're measuring capacity in a time line for when this will be done. >> importantly, many askigs nap resources

do you know that in the va hospital system? >> i do know that once they are first diagnosed with the first stages, that they are put on like a screen program where they monitor it three months, six months, but then that's really all that they can do is monitor it. because macular degeneration, there is medication to slow the progress but there is no cure. glaucoma medications, no cure. so the only thing they can do is monitor it. >> travis, one other thing before i have to leave. your comment here come your testimony, i am disappointed after the past three years while on the dod site they've already have over 22004 and 50 i injured a record in division registry but today va has one veteran's record. the va has not set this up because instead of having a clinical electronic data records contract, contract a dod already doing the work, the va from what we've been told now is waiting for contract bids to be settled before getting started. it was now four years ago. ariza had a chance to talk to my congressman harold rogers to ensur

if not, they would be enrolled in the va today. so, the fact that cbo now says with just the execution of this minor reform legislation it would trigger 8 milliillion peo in the system that exist and don't enroll is just as ludicrous as $35 billion or $44 billion price tag that cbo has put on the bill. cbo determined as you would imagine that only 3% of their cost is attributed to the 40-mile trigger that we put in the senate legislation. in other words, there are very few veterans around the country living more than 40 miles from a va facility but like i have heard some of my colleagues say, when you've got something that makes as much common sense as this, that it's less expensive to let them get local care than it is to pay their reimbursement to a va facility, can't we accommodate the veterans once? his needs and the taxpayer's fiduciary responsibility to come out cheaper by doing it. this is the only place within the cbo score that they actually agreed that the impact is minimal from a standpoint of the number of people that ar

in this case, the va, their icu is closed. the er is now using criteria over what he patients they'll accept and those they'll turn away based on their faults. by paying for nonva care in addition to operating half empty hospitals va appears to be paying for two systems of care. do you know how many va hospitals fit this description? >> i don't. >> can you give me that number? i found the fort wayne one quickly. >> i think there are facilities that are struggling. they're older facilities not always in fort wayne where they're in larger communities. sometimes they're in smaller communities. the population they support is small and oftentimes difficult for them to support an icu. those are difficult decisions but we need to look at our facilities where they are and we need to assure that we're using them optimally. >> i guess my follow-up question would be what the ig warned us about which is who is looking at those numbers to figure out, for example in, fort wayne, those numbers for fee basis care are skyrocketing every year. o

for the 21st century. a va that is focused upon putting veterans first and following the core values. this new va should be smaller, more agile, less bureaucratic, more responsive to america's veterans and a better value to hard working american taxpayers. we need to adopt a moon shot approach to do this in the near future. thank you. i yield back. >> thank you. senator brown. >> thank you, mr. chairman. chairman miller, thank you. it's an honor to serve on the committee and thanks to senator mccain and senator sanders for their work in shepherding a very good bill through the united states senate. i've served on this committee for eight years in the senate and never seen anything but people in both parties, ranking members, chairs, whatever, that always put veterans first in both parties and we should all be commended for that. congressman roe said something i thought was particularly apt. it's the care, once in the va, the care has been very good for the 6.5 million american veterans who have been in that sys

we heard from the va directly. we've heard from the gao, the office of inspector general, hearing from the private sector. each of us in our individual capacities are listening directly to the veterans in our community. i ask we have a panel of vet vans and veterans service organizations if we are talking about veteran-centered care, we need to hear from them. and add to mr. mcclain's excellent suggestion of having a management organization identified structural and organizational weaknesses and complement that with the veterans and what they are missing in their care right now. i think one of the issues that has to be included in that review is the issue of accountability. we've talked about and described our frustrations with the amount of money that's been authorized and appropriated. virtually lost within that system and not making its way to those veterans. i think that really is an issue of accountability. we see it throughout the performance of the va. an issue i would like to get your thoughts on, and i real

so the va does many things well. delivering kyle0s outside indicational benefits, and we need all of you to keep doing that important work, like reducing the disability claims backlog and improving care for post traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury. building on the good work that has already been done and reducing homelessness among our veterans. helping veterans get their education under the post-9/11 g.i. bill and helping them find new jobs so they can enjoy northwestern dream, and it's time to american the good work the va has done with jill biden and michelle in partnering with the private sector so the transition from military to civilian life is easier for our veterans. but when it comes to delivering timely, quality health care, we have to do better. we have to do better for kyle, we have to do better for all our wounded warriors, we have to do better for all our veterans, from all our wars. they're looking for us to fulfill lincoln's pledge, to care for those who have born the battle. and for their fam

the va says, no, you have to drive. i'm just curious your particular situation. >> i moved out to california to go to school. california state monterey bay, luckily, there is a va, a branch of the palo alto system right next to my campus so that was very helpful for me. i've came back home to eastern kentucky to spend some time with my family, and we now have a branch of sorts. it's an office and a medical facility. they don't -- i can't get my medications there, i still have to travel or get them by mail. so i've seen improvements and -- in trying to get centers, branches into rural areas. >> yeah. appreciate that. and i appreciate your testimony today. my follow-up question, electronic medical records which has been plaguing the va and the d.o.d. attempting to communicate about it often happens in the private world, they actually do communicate, it's a fairly regular process, but the va and the d.o.d. cannot do that it's my understanding. can you explain the situation that occurred with travis, would that likely occur

in this case, the va, their icu is closed. he er is now using criteria over what he patients they'll accept and those they'll turn away based on their faults. by paying for nonva care in addition to operating half empty hospitals va appears to be paying for two systems of care. do you know how many va hospitals fit this description? >> i don't. >> can you give me that number? i found the fort wayne one quickly. >> i think there are facilities that are struggling. they're older facilities not always in fort wayne where they're in larger communities. sometimes they're in smaller communities. the population they support is small and oftentimes difficult for them to support an icu. those are difficult decisions but we need to look at our facilities where they are and we need to assure that we're using them optimally. >> i guess my follow-up question would be what the ig warned us about which is who is looking at those numbers to figure out, for example in, fort wayne, those numbers for fee basis care are skyrocketing every year. on

throughout the va lines of business. we're also currently refining our policy on deferred ratings to ensure clear, concise guidance on the process, step by step inch closing, it is clear that va must do a better job of holding our executives and employees conditionable -- accountable for poor performance. va cannot assume that our executives are adequately skilled in performance managements so we're taking steps to refine our training cureses to address the shortfalls in order to better serve or veterans va must continue to attract and retain the best and brightest leaders. thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today and i look forward to answering your questions. >> thank you very much for being here with us. you, according to your testimony from fy2010 through 2013, not a single member of the ses, a pool of 470 individuals, received a less than fully satisfactory or successful rating. is that correct? >> that is correct. >> knowing what we know now, about the fraudulent actions being taken at facilities acr

and been compares the va -- >> is that insane. you cannot throw money at fraud. this place is broken from the top to the bottom. >> they have not touched on the most important point here, the demographics. we have a lot of soldiers that are getting old and we are flooding the system that is unable to deal with it. >> well, there is -- >> i am not doubting the fraud. >> but then that gives us back to something that others have been talking about, if you don't junk the va as we know it, do you look at privatized alternatives, something to cut the wait list down, because that's the problem people are dying and getting sicker because they have to wait for treatment. >> charlie, there is tremendous fraud in almost every medical endeavor. there is tremendous fraud in procurement during world war ii. there is a lot of fraud in everything. there is a lot of fraud in everything. >> no -- >> with all due respect, many years i have toured the va hospital, and -- >> that means you know everything about the va. >> do you work there? >> we all know people that work somewhere. >

outside of the va. bureaucrats would no longer override veterans' choices. the bill also holds va accountable by making it easier to fire anyone who falsifies or manipulates data and makes it much more transparent by requiring disclosure of medical outcomes. passage of this bill and new leadership at the va are just the first steps. congress cannot just hope the problems will now go away. the reason veterans' care has suffered for so long is that congress has failed to hold the va accountable. in the last four years, the senate veterans affairs committee has held just a handful of hearings touching on veterans' health. this committee's only responsibility is to ensure veterans are being taken care of and it has failed to do its job. the problems at the va have long been documented by government investigators who have warned of false wait times and poor management for years. but some in congress have been far more preoccupied with making new promises rather than fulfilling the promises already made. next

matkovsky, how does the va treat whistle blowers? and what i'm getting at, if there is intimidation taking place, how do we change the culture from intimidation to where people are free to step forward? >> part of how we design this audit was to have direct access to the front line from our senior staff. when our audit tores went to the field, they met at the same time with the union representation at the field and the facility management. not two separate meeting, one meeting. we did not provide advanced announce:of who we wanted to interview. we provided that when we showed up, so we could have a direct conversation. i will tell you, i have read through the open-ended comments of all of the responses that i could and nothing, nothing saddened me more than an employee who seize i was trying to do it right. i know it is right. and i received instruction to do it wrong. >> that is just simply not tolerable. retaliation against whistle blowers is also not tolerable. we can not condone that. we required a leadership and cultural shift in

in the 1990s, the va was criticized and the va noin vain with the electronic health record. i think we have an opportunity here in va to respond to this crisis with an innovative model of staffing, of assessing demand and capacity that can become a standard for the industry as well. >> please do it. i yield back my time. >> well, if i could just add one thing to what you just said. i think all your questions are critically important, but right now we are focused 100% on trying to get veterans into this system and using all the tools available at our disposal. there will be time for the why questions and the much tougher analytical questions that all of you are asking about how do we fine-tune capacity and demand, but right now the number of veterans waiting is an emergency, and that gets the highest priority. that does not mean anything else is off the radar screen. and i just have to say in response to the innovation question, i did have the pleasure and opportunity of visiting 1, which happens to encompass the state of maine, and some of the innovations they've employed up

we heard from the va directly. we've heard from the gao, the office of inspector general, hearing from the private sector. each of us in our individual capacities are listening directly to the veterans in our community. i ask we have a panel of vet vans and veterans service organizations if we are talking about veteran-centered care, we need to hear from them. and add to mr. mcclain's excellent suggestion of having a management organization identified structural and organizational weaknesses and complement that with the veterans and what they are missing in their care right now. i think one of the issues that has to be included in that review is the issue of accountability. we've talked about and described our frustrations with the amount of money that's been authorized and appropriated. virtually lost within that system and not making its way to those veterans. i think that really is an issue of accountability. we see it throughout the performance of the va. an issue i would like to get your thoughts on, and i real

care they need if the va is not available. for hawaii veterans, that should include being able to get care from community health centers, department of defense facilities or from the native hawaiian health care system. but that doesn't mean they're getting care outside of the system is the long-term solution. i do not support an approach that will lead to atrophy of the va, i do not support debaucherrizing the va. i do support leadership, action that supports the va, they get the care that they deserve so the va can effectively address long-term needs. thank you. i yield the remainder of my time. >> congresswoman walorski. >> thank you, mr. chairman. it's an honor for me as well to be here to start the process of finalizing legislation that will help our veterans. we owe it to the men and women who served our country to get this right. i'm grateful this has not been a partisan issue. all of us are affected by the wait lists, negligence and deaths. many of us here today have constituents who are directly impac

for the 21st century. a va that is focused upon putting veterans first and following the core values. this new va should be smaller, more agile, less bureaucratic, more responsive to america's veterans and a better value to hard working american taxpayers. we need to adopt a moon shot approach to do this in the near future. thank you. i yield back. >> thank you. senator brown. >> thank you, mr. chairman. chairman miller, thank you. it's an honor to serve on the committee and thanks to senator mccain and senator sanders for their work in shepherding a very good bill through the united states senate. i've served on this committee for eight years in the senate and never seen anything but people in both parties, ranking members, chairs, whatever, that always put veterans first in both parties and we should all be commended for that. congressman roe said something i thought was particularly apt. it's the care, once in the va, the care has been very good for the 6.5 million american veterans who have been in that sys

things that are the core mission of the va. yes, we have had additional veterans come into the system. the vast majority of the new veterans that are being enrolled in the system are, in fact, older veterans from korea and vietnam with aging issues. they don't necessarily have to be treated at a va hospital. >> should they be -- the responsibility of the va at all? >> there's no reason for us not to treat those who have borne the battle, worn the uniform of this nation. we have the money to be able to do that. and they want to throw out the fact we don't have enough doctors. the doctors in many instances aren't seeing enough patients. they don't see nearly the panel of patients that physicians on the outside of the government system. >> let me bring dr. foote into that. that's been a complaint. you know, some critics are saying well, look this is what happens when you get government health care. there is no incentive since you're on salaries. you're not being paid for service. there is no incentive for doctors in the va system t

is this the audit from the va? >> yes, . . may, livermore which is in our contract area, was audited. i sent a letter in over a month ago requesting each district is given the information whether it is private briefing or public information. but i think every member of this committee has a right to know what is happening in their own district. is there a reason we don't have that? >> we were competing phase one and two. there are not a lot of respondants or staff. we guaranteed the front line staff animity and we want to preserve that. i would be happy to organize briefings or similar mechanisms. >> so there is no reason we should not receive that information soon? >> no reason. the only concern i have is in our very small clinics where there were a small numbers of folks we interviewed i will preserve them. these were front line staff members and we made that promise to them during the interviews. >> you say some locations were flagged for further review and investigation. for instance, suspected willful misconduct. livermore,

so part of his journey of recovery involved the va. he other hand, he's now in college and with the help of his va educational benefits. it's an example of the good work that the va has done. on the other hand, his experience with va health care has often been frustrating. he said it was okay that i share it this with you today. i just want to use kyle as an example. here's an american hero. by any definition. sometimes we use that word too loosely. this guy's a hero. and deserves everything we can do. but like other veterans, kyle sometimes had trouble just making an appointment or had to wait a month to see his doctor only to be referred to another doctor and wait another two months for that appointment. he often felt like a number he said, being passed between doctors who sometimes didn't know his situation or why he needed certain medication. he's relied on the help of a patient advocate but at so steps along the way, it's just been a lot harder than it should have been. as his advocate said, it shouldn't be this way. so the va does

. >>> do we need a d-day for the va? 70 years ago america's heroic soldiers were rushing the shores of normandy to save the world and that spirit of self-sacrifice continues with our vets to this very day. you would think washington would be rushing to help them with their medical care. well, not so but we have a solution. vouchers for vets. letting them get private care outside the broken government system. is that the answer? hey, everybody, i'm david azman welcome to forbes on fox. let's go in focus with steve forbes, elizabeth mcdonald, sabrina shaffer. >> why shouldn't they have choice? veterans above the age of 65 should be able to go on medicare and choose medicare facilities. the va does a handful of things very well. it's the least we can do for them. >> what do you think? >> fight for them. i just worry that congress is going to nickel and dime this kind of voucher system that by the way the american legion doesn't like and neither does the other veteran's groups. sort of like what they did with medicare advanta

i think it's a symptom of what goes on in the va. if you look at a law that was passed in 19, in, 2002 it appears to me when you look at the '68iation the ig did with these five medical centers in boston, houston, indianapolis, philadelphia, that and looked at the staffing levels we're talking about for specialty care services, it's taken 12 years and we still don't know what they are. i mean, this is law was passed in 2002. and it's 2014 and we're still talking about we don't know what our staffing feeds are. well, that's not complicated. having spent 30 years doing what i did, it's not hard to figure out what your staffing feeds are. if you can't get somebody in to see a cardiologist, you need a cardiologist. you don't need another study or anything to figure that out. i don't understand again did the accountability when this didn't happen for 12 years, and then last week, last friday, we found out that the 80% of the people in senior levels at the va got rewarded for doing a great job. and yet, we completely ignored this metric. it

the va has done. other hand his experience with va health care has often been frustrating. he said it was okay that i share this with you today so i want to use kyle as an example. here's an american hero, by any definition, sometimes we use that word too loosely. this guy is a hero and deserves everything we can do. but like other veterans, kyle sometimes had trouble just making an appointment or had to wait a month to see his doctor only to be referred to another doctor and wait another two months for that appointment. he often felt like a number he said, being passed between doctors who sometimes didn't know his situation or why he needed certain medication. he's relied on the help of a patient advocate but at so many steps along the way, it's just been a lot harder than it should have been. as his advocate said, it shouldn't be this way. so va does many things well, like delivering kyle's educational benefits. and we need all of you to keep doing that important work like reducing the disability cl

rubens, at the va. >> thank you, sir. we've recently increased our manpower, and we find that we also improved the training. we have minimum training standards and required training for each of the peb-lows, providing them more information. as far as keeping the individual aware at the beginning of the process, each member who is enrolled or referred to ides is given a caseworker or a peblow. that individual sewer acts with the service -- interacts with the service member throughout all phases. at the beginning of the process, the member is told approximately how long the process would take and is updated as they move from phase to phase and keeps them aware of what they need to do, and they are encouraged to keep their family members updated or bring them in so that they are aware of what's going on through the process also. >> ms. rubens? >> military services coordinators are located at the intake sites along with the dod dod peb-lows this an effort to insure conditions, but any claimed conditions that that veteran wants

almost half the vets using the va are on medicare. they are 65 and older, virtually all covered by medicare. the out-of-pocket expenses under medicare are too much for many of them. so they continue to get care at the va even when they have an age-related problem like they need a bypass surgery, and there is a teaching hospital down the street where they could be getting the care. they are worried about not so much inpatient deductible but outpatient deductibles and co-pays. if we gave them a medigap card just for vets, a special red, white and blue one to pick up those out-of-pocket expenses, then they would have the choice of going to another type of hospital for that care. if you look at the outcomes measures, particularly for these age-related procedures, with the exception of just a couple of the va hospitals, other teaching hospitals are producing better survival rates. we would get a two-for. it's budget neutral because it's all coming out of federal dollars, and they would have a better chance surviving their procedure. >> my t

>> it is not an award given by the va. >> i see. so there's -- i know this hearing is about performance by, but there's also a retention incentive pay. >> yes, congresswoman. >> and so the process for awarding retention incentives, i presume, differ from performance pay incentives. and so do you have the information on what percentage of ses employees receive retention incentives last year? is that -- can they receive both retention day and performance they? >> they can receive both, congresswoman. we currently have 40 ses is out of the 470 some ses is the receive retention incentives. >> is there a cannot exceed percent or retention to? >> there is. 's. what is that? >> 25% of the sour per year and it can be given up to four years. >> are there other kinds of awards that we are not aware of beyond performance and retention? >> relocation incentives. if you're asking reassigning someone come you can offer a relocation incentive. and a recruitment incentive for people new joining the agency. >> is there a cannot exceed percentagpercen

working in the va requires an utmost integrity. as dr. e pointed out the other night, all va employee needs to do without a doubt is they have to be reminded that they are working for the veteran. not a bureaucracy. as with most things, there are tradeoffs when looking at structural reform, centralization versus decentralization, standardization versus innovative. these discussions have been ongoing for years if not decades. i'd like to think vha is an adaptable learning organization that can make needed transformation. but let me be clear. the only way we're going to truly address the litany of problems is to look at the fundamental change within the department. and rightfully, we're all looking at ways to address the problems as we see today. but i'm hopeful that our ambitious schedule of hearings in the weeks ahead will think anew about how best to provide the quality comprehensive care to our veterans in a timely fashion. and i hope that they challenge us to think anew about how to refashion systems and infrastructure, management and p

citizens that are experiencing homelessness we've talked to community leaders and others including the va we'll be hearing from them shortly. our homeless people over the age of 50 in terms of homeless they fall between the cracks of the safety nets because they're not old enough to quality for medicare and they have a hard time vnltsd heirs in san francisco. for any the ssi is not enough to cover the cost of housing we've had a 9 percent drop of non-veterans receiving ssi. 35 percent even if homeless people didn't think they were eligible for assistance and that doubled in 2011. image e i believe there's a city for elderly we have to make sure their importing gold in ssi and there are a number of agencies that have taken steps to increase the enrollment and the life septembercy is between 42 and 52 without homes and we need to do more. in terms of veterans certainly hits home to me my father additional many veterans are placed at an increased risk for homelessness and drugs and alcohol are the main cause. the veterans are more likely to live on our streets compared to non-veterans vetera

today we're going to look at the second piece, how va senior executives are awarded and how the system does or does not incentivize things to get done well. before we get into that discussion, let me also recognize that there are a lot of va employees who do things well. as we shine the light on those who do not, let me pause for a moment and shine a brighter light, more positive light, on the hardworking employees at va who do do things well. and we must not forget that. and to them i say thank you for your service and for setting an example, and hopefully all employees within the va look at keeping their bottom line on how do we serve the veteran. with that, mr. chairman, i know we got votes this morning, so i would ask unanimous consent that the remainder of my remarks be put into the record, and with that i yield back. >> members will hold opening statements. your opening statement, should you have one, will be entered into the record at the appropriate time. thank you for being with us here today. we have one panelist. we're going to hear from the honorable gina farisee at the dep

adrian that tweets, the irs needs major oversight like the va. ny trust in the irs, much less the government. fend for yourself or forget it. and 2 billion bucks for the l.a. clippers. who is really the fool? supposedded racist selling the team, or the billionaire, former software titan buying it? ryan tweets, chanc like that don't happen every day. yes, they are worth $2 billion. really? heath tweets, i'm thinking that donald sterling may be smarter than anyone thought. i am thinking you're right. alan tweets, if headphones are worth $3 billion, then the clippers are worth, $2 billion. very good point. one more tweet. i guess it only matters if mr. ballmer thinks the clippers are worth $2 billion. another good point and apparently he does. so someone is willing to pony up the cash. i should stress there are other bids very close to mr. ballmer's. one group that included oprah winfrey, that was north of $1.6 billion. the fact of the matter a lot of people were willing to pay a lot of bucks for this team. so, it's a buyers market. and all you team

and it's an example of the good work the va has done. on the other hand his experience with va health care has often been frustrating. he said it was okay that i share this with you today so i just want to use kyle as an example. he is an american hero by any definition. sometimes we use that word too loosely. this guy's a hero. and deserves everything we can do. but like other veterans, kyle sometimes had trouble just making an appointment. or had to wait a month to see his doctor, only to be referred to another doctor and wait another two months for that appointment. he often felt like a number he said being treated amongst doctors. not understanding why he needed certain medications, he has been helped by a patient advocate. but steps along the way it's been harder than it should have been. as his advocate said, it shouldn't be this way. so va does things well, like delivering kyle's educational benefits and we need all of you to keep doing that work, like reducing the disability claims backlog. and building on the good work that's alr

i was at a point where i needed too go down to the va -- to do down to the va and get help. every time i made the call, they put you on hold or transfer you to the wrong person. anyways when they finally get you through, it's almost two months for an appointment to see someone. whenever i say is that the soonest you could see me they say yeah that's the soonest they explain to me they have all these soldiers coming back from the war getting out flooding the va system and they just don't have the people to take care of all the new veterans that are enrolling in the va for help. >> you said you were drinking you had a cup of coffee and the reaction you got from the doctor was incredible. >> yes, i remember that time. i had a friend that was like hey colby you need to go down to the va, maybe they can help you. from previous experiences i knew not ocall the va, they'll just put you on hold. i went to the emergency room, saw somebody, had a cub of coffee, the lady was like, how much coffee did you drink in a day, i was thinking, what does this have to do with anything? i said ma

plenty of out rage over the problems at the va. this cause ought to be one that jal vannizes the nation. >> this is reached por portions that the american people are deeply angered. >> the veterans saying they have heard this before. >> an it is not a new problem. he served in vietnam. more than a decade ago a federal task force found hundreds of thousands of vetting waiting at least six months for healthcare. oop >> they found a mismatch between the funding and the demand and if not addressed, that we would have access problems and quality of care problems. >> there was concern but no real action in washington. funding the part of the problem. >> congress constantly pushes the agencies to do things without the authority to do them. >> recent incentives to move the veterans through the system may have backfired. >> another problem is agencies like the va cannot discipline the employees effectively or quickly. >> congress agrees that the va needs to change but a struggle on capitol hill about how. the republicans want to shape things

the doctor who.j,k says va doctors there are barely working. stay tuned. [ male announcer ] your joints... work hard for you. give them the edge they deserve. new edge from osteo bi-flex with joint shield helps strengthen your joints°. it works as hard for your joints, as they do for you. get the added benefits of joint & muscle, and joint & energy. new edge from osteo bi-flex, so you're always ready for action. find it in your vitamin aisle. so you're always ready for action. that corporate trial by fire when every slacker gets his due. and yet, there's someone around the office who hasn't had a performance review in a while. someone whose poor performance is slowing down the entire organization. i'm looking at you phone company dsl. check your speed. see how fast your internet can be. switch now and add voice and tv for $34.90. comcast business built for business. >>> short hours, long wait times, according to my next guests, v.a. hospital operating hours are so limited, a lot of doctors are forced to ration

remember the va was just another thing that obama was going to fix. he's like the opposite of a handyman. everything he touches turns to liberalism. >> before i get to bob, i want to add one more thing. one of the reasons why the culture is as you point out. unions. 85% of the vas are unionized. >> you don't see the president being as vocal about this because it would undermine his signature achievement which is government-run health care. >> the other thing they say there's an investigation. when there's an investigation they can say we can't comment on it any more. you thought it was the worst scandal of the obama administration. >> things are worse. >> can you see any activity they are doing to try to get in front of it? >> not as much as they should be. let me make a couple of points here. there are millions and millions and millions of visits by servicemen to the va every year. it's not hard to pick out these horror stories one. two, they said 1,000 people died in ten years. seven years under the bush administration, three under the obama administ

and they want to give more authority to the va to fire those who aren't working up to par. democrats say sure, they should be able to seek care else western, but they're worried that republicans are trying to strip power away from the central va. as far as the fires go, democrats say that we want to hold people accountable but we don't want them to get fired because they're whistle blowers, or gay, and they want to make sure that protections are in place. we have seen a couple of bills emerge, and folks have gone behind closed doors, john mccain, and bernie sanders of new york, the caucus democrat and chairman of the va committee, they're trying to find ground for compromise, and they even brought in the chairman of the mouse committee. so the question is, can they put their ideas together and accomplish something over the next week? >> what are the va officials looking for going forward? >> they want to see action, stephanie. the issues of wait times and clinics are nothing new, and they feel frustrated that politicians talk about this. and they have not seen a concerted ef