…or worse and worse, depending on your perspective. Not only is the Veterans Administration continuing to make bad/false/improper payments, they seem to be getting acceleratingly worse about it. The Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General reported that the VA made $5 billion in “improper” payments in 2015, and then while that drew attention, the VA increased their improper payouts to $5.5 billion in 2016.
To show how terrible the rates can be, here are some data from James Clark at the above link:
- the VA Community Care had 75% of their payments as “improper” payments in 2016
- the Purchased Long Term Services and Support 69% of their payments as “improper” in 2016
You read that right: three out of four of the Community Care’s payouts were wrong, and over two-thirds of PLTS&S’ payouts were…erroneous, and they’re getting worse. The prior year, those payout rates were “only” 54.77% and 59.14%, respectively.
Since the VA empirically no interest in cleaning up its act, since it insists on wasting money our veterans need for their care, it’s time to disband this miserable excuse for an institution and commit its budget to vouchers for our vets.
No more delay by Congress.
Veteranos Administratio delende est.