WASHINGTON (AP) – The Department of Veterans Affairs faces a serious numbers problem. Multiple problems in fact.
It can’t count how many veterans died while waiting to sign up for health care. It says some VA hospitals may have to close if the agency can’t get $2.5 billion. And a year after scandal rocked the department, congressional Republicans want to know why so few people have been fired.
Arizona Sen. John McCain calls the VA a “broken bureaucracy” that “continues to be plagued by a culture of neglect and mismanagement.”
The VA acknowledges problems but says it has made significant progress in the past year to improve its health care system and service delivery and set the course for long-term reform.
VA Secretary Robert McDonald says “veterans need VA.”