VA DIVERTED HEALTHCARE FUNDS FOR ILLEGAL STUDIES --

GAO REPORT SAYS VA'S OUTSOURCING AND CARES STUDIES DIVERTED

FUNDS THAT WERE TO BE USED FOR VETERANS' HEALTHCARE

This is one of those "I told you so" stories...Not that I told you so...the AFGE told you so.

Months ago, the AFGE (union representing many VA employees), screamed bloody murder about the VA using funds dedicated to veterans' healthcare to pay for studies about outsourcing jobs.

Now...the GAO agrees.  Story here... http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=32913&dcn=todaysnews

Quote of note:  The Veterans Affairs Department has violated a 1981 law that prohibits the diversion of funds appropriated to medical care accounts to research on the cost of keeping work in-house versus that of contracting it out, the Government Accountability Office reported this week. VA officials disagree.

Another Quote of note:  Many of the violations cited by GAO did not involve official A-76 studies, the department argued. For instance, the auditors said cost comparisons conducted as part of the Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services effort, a broader restructuring project initiated in 2000, were illegal. With the exception of contractors used in the initial phases of the CARE project, the employees conducting those comparisons were paid primarily from health administration accounts, GAO said.

Now you know where your VA healthcare dollars are going.  They're going to finance studies on how to eliminate jobs at the VA.  And they're going to finance studies on which VA hospitals to close. 

Does anyone have any further questions about the desire of this administration to dismantle the VA?

The VA had asked for permission to use healthcare funds for the outsourcing study but didn't get it...quote from story here... ...for fiscal years 2001 to 2004, the department sought appropriations--ranging from $16 million to $50 million--to conduct cost comparison studies, and lawmakers denied the requests.

And, the violations occurred from FY 2001 to FY 2004...years when the VA was under the control of Republican political appointees.

By the way...kudos to the AFGE for jumping all over this many months ago.  They saw this as a big step toward the privatization of the VA.  Here's a link to a report about the AFGE and this story... http://capwiz.com/afge/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=7758996

It's interesting to note that the VA was so intent and so open about wanting to use healthcare funds for these studies that they tried to change the law banning this practice.  Story here... http://www.afge.org/Index.cfm?Page=PressReleases&PressReleaseID=481 and a later story here... http://www.afge.org/index.cfm?page=VeteransAffairs&Fuse=Content&ContentID=129

Senator Larry Craig (R-ID), Chairman on the Senate Committee of Veterans' Affairs, proposed the legislation to allow the VA to use healthcare funds for studies, claiming it would, in the long run, save the VA money.  Craig's press release here... http://www.vawatchdog.org/senatecvanews/senatecvanews09-12-05.htm

So, while the VA was trying to get the law changed, they just ignored the law in force and continued to fund studies with healthcare monies.

And, the minority viewpoint from the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs on this proposed change in the law is here... http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/?&dbname=cp109&sid=cp109w2SuW&refer=&r_n=sr177.109&item=&sel=TOC_69572&

Quote of note from the minority opinion:  The provision would likely have a disastrous effect on VA workers, many of whom are also veterans. VA's own plan calls for the first 12,000 VHA employees affected by these cost-comparison studies to be laundry, canteen, nutrition, and food service workers. According to VA's own figures, 75 percent of the laundry workers and 57 percent of the food service workers are veterans. In addition, there are 3,400 veterans participating in VA's compensated work therapy program working in these same fields. It makes no sense for the Committee to pursue legislation that disregards the unique characteristics of VHA's workforce and jeopardizes the employment of veterans currently employed in these wage-grade jobs.

The question must be asked:  Why would Senator Craig and other Republicans support a change in the law that would cost the VA jobs, many of those jobs being held by veterans? 

Because they want to privatize the VA.  Plain and simple.

Full GAO report here... http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06124r.pdf

Larry Scott

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