rep. gallego's letter to va secretary robert mcdonald

RUBENGALLEGO7THDrsrRrcr, ARrzoNACOMMITTEES:ARMED SERVICESSUBCOMMITEESITacTtcaLArRANDLlruoFoncrsREADINESS12'18LoNGWoRTH HousEOFFTCEBUTLDTNGWASHINGTON,DC205151202)2254065DISTFICTOFFICE:411NoBrHCENTRALAVENUESurrE150PHoENrx, AZ 85004(602)256-0551@.rngrtxx nf tlgr lflnitril btuttxTboust of S4regrntutibeglfl fiurttng ttn, Bl0. Zfr 5 L 5,-fr 1fr7NATURALRESOURCESSUBCOMMiNEES:ENERGYANDMTNEBALRESoURcFsWATER,PoWER,ANDOCEANSOvERStGHTAND INVESTtGATtoNSAugust11,2015The HonorableRobertA. McDonaldSecretaryU.S.Departmentof Veterans Affairs810Vermont AvenueWashingtonDC, 20420DearSecretaryMcDonald:I writeto expressmyserious concernsregardingrecentreports that the Departmentof Veterans Affairs(VA) wrongfullydenied healthcare to more than35,000 combat veterans-includinghundredsof veteransinmy home state of Arizona-as a resultof a computererror.I urge you to rectifuthisunacceptablemistakeassoonas possibleandstrongly encouragethe VA to take immediateaction to ensure thatsimilarenrollmentproblemsdo not occurin the future.As youknow,combat veteranshavefive years to claim eligibility for free healthcare andare exemptfrom means-testedrequirements,includingrestrictionsbasedon householdincome. Unfortunately,newsreports indicate thata significantnumberof veteranswere denied care becausetheywere erroneouslymarkedashaving failed to submitfinancialinformationthat theywere not,in fact,obligatedto provide.Mostof thoseaffected were veteransof the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan andas manyas 16,000of them havebeen waitingtoaccessVA servicesfor more than5 yearsbecause of this error.Thankfully, I understandthat theVA is currently takingstepsto addressthe issue. Newcomputerprotocolshavereportedly beenimplementedand VA employees are calling the affectedveteransto informthemof whatoccurredand to provide updateson the status of their applications.However, it appearsthat to date,few if any of thosedenied care because of this error havebeensucpessfullyenrolledin theVA healthsystem.Furtherdelays are unacceptable and I strongly encourageyou to expedite your administrative procossesto ensure that these veterans can receiveVA care as soon as possible.I alsourge you to assessthe potential forsimilar malfunctionsandto implement themeasures necessaryto ensure that there is no recurrence of this orother enrollmentproblems.Thankyou for attentionto this request. The men and womenaffected by this error riskedtheirlives forour nation,and theydeservebetterfromour government.I lookforward to workingwith youto ensure thatAmerica lives up to its promisesto these brave veterans.Memberof CongressPRINTEDON RECYCLEDPAPER