On Monday, state Sen. Leticia Van De Putte, D-San Antonio, spoke out against the alleged misreporting and manipulation of wait times at U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs clinics.
A whistleblower alleges that the VA has been making veterans wait long periods of time before seeing a doctor, but recording a shorter wait time in official reports.
Van De Putte told those at the capitol that she wants to know what Texas veterans have been experiencing when they need to see a doctor and she is hoping to find out how many Texas vets were made to wait months at a time be seen by a doctor.
“These allegations represent a terrible break of trust," Van De Putte said. "The administration, the VA really need to do an independent investigation, and if it is absolutely found to be true, if they’d doctored the books instead of our brave warriors, they need to be held accountable.”
Van De Putte said even with added improvements, many clinics are still exceeding the 14-day limit.
“I know our Central Texas VA Clinic in Austin has put in $60 million in fee-based community care, but those wait times still exceed 90 days,” Van De Putte said.
Van De Putte said this type of thing seems to be happening at VA clinics in San Antonio and in other cities around the state and that it is happening too often for this to be a computer glitch.
In the coming month, Van De Putte said the Senate Committee on Veteran Affairs and Military Installations will be asking veterans to testify about how long they’ve had to wait to be seen by a doctor or a specialist.
