The Veterans Administration has made significant progress over the last few years, President Barack Obama said Monday at a conference for Disabled American Veterans.
These strides include hiring thousands more physicians, nurses and staff; opening more clinical space; and allowing veterans to get care outside of the VA to help address the wait time issues that plagued the VA health system during the Obama presidency. President Obama called these issues "inexcusable."
"When you came home, you deserved better," President Obama said. "Veterans who at times have struggled to get care at the VA, you deserve better, too," he said, acknowledging there is still work to do to improve the VA. Despite these strides, demand has only increased because more veterans are now seeking healthcare, according to President Obama. "I know I'm not satisfied," he added.
Other signs of progress he named include expanded health benefits within the VA for more than 2 million veterans, additional health coverage under the Affordable Care Act and better access through telemedicine and other online resources. President Obama also highlighted the 85 percent increase in veteran funding during his presidency, some of which funded prosthetics and eliminated copays for catastrophically disabled veterans.
However, Concerned Veterans for America's Vice President of Policy and Communications Dan Caldwell disagreed that the VA has made progress. In a response statement to President Obama's remarks, Mr. Caldwell said," Despite claims to the contrary in his speech, access to VA healthcare has not improved under President Obama. In fact, according to the VA's own data, wait times for hundreds of thousands of veterans have actually increased since the VA wait list scandal began two years ago — despite the billions of dollars in additional funding and thousands of new VA employees that President Obama touted in his speech."
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