WASHINGTON (AP) – The Veterans Affairs Department with its 14 different password-protected websites is too complicated for most veterans to navigate, new Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald said Monday, promising to make it easier for them to get disability benefits, health care, job training and other benefits.
The VA must “put veterans and the center of everything we do,” he said.
McDonald took over the agency in July after former VA Secretary Eric Shinseki resigned amid a political furor over veterans in need of medical care having to wait months for appointments at VA hospital and clinics. Investigators said efforts to cover up or hide the delays were systemic throughout the agency’s network of nearly 1,000 hospitals and clinics.
At his first news conference as secretary, McDonald unveiled what he called a three-point plan to rebuild trust among veterans, improve service delivery and set a course for the agency’s long-term future. The plan should be implemented by Veterans Day, Nov. 11, he said.
The former Procter & Gamble CEO also said he wants to make the VA less formal, starting with his own title. “Call me Bob,” not Mr. Secretary, he said.