Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse is pushing the Department of Veterans Affairs for answers regarding reports that VA employees kept a secret list of patients from Nebraska and Iowa that obscured the actual wait times for appointments.
Sasse says there is no place for these actions in Nebraska. "Nebraskans have no patience for the improper care of our vets and Nebraskans have no patience for cover ups of tax payer funding and of tax payer funded agencies."
VA officials have acknowledged the investigation but Sasse says they've declined to answer questions about the audit. "The VA owes Nebraska an explanation and they owe that explanation right now."
Sasse has sent a letter to the VA Secretary David Shulkin demanding answers about the audit of the Nebraska-Iowa VA health care system. "The existence of a secret list is shocking and the VA’s refusal to answer questions about it is unacceptable and must be remedied immediately."
In the letter, Sasse stated that he wants a number of questions answered by Friday.
1. How many Nebraska veterans were affected by the secret lists?
2. Who at the VA kept the lists?
3. What exactly did the audit indicate was the reason for the existence of the lists?
4. How many VA employees were disciplined as a result of the investigation and what disciplinary actions were taken?
5. Did any employee that has been or is in the process of being disciplined as a result of the investigation receive bonuses for the achievement of metrics linked to performance data implicated in the investigation of the secret lists?
6. What legal standards or authority has the VA cited or otherwise used, if any, in its refusal to identify how many Nebraska veterans were affected, why the lists were maintained, and how many VA employees were disciplined?