The Department of Veterans Affairs is apologizing to a veteran who received a voicemail from a facility in El Paso, Texas, in which VA officials speculated that the veteran was trying to maintain a 100% disability rating. I heard one of them say, It’s all about money. ”
“The Department of Veterans Affairs deeply apologizes to this veteran and is communicating with him immediately,” Department of Veterans Affairs spokesperson Terrence Hayes told Task & Purpose on Tuesday. “The lack of care and compassion by these employees is unacceptable and we are urgently investigating this incident and will take swift and appropriate action.” Veterans deserve respect and our nation provides You deserve the best care possible, and at Veterans Affairs we will never accept anything less from our employees. ”
It is unclear when exactly the call took place. An audio recording of the voice message was first posted to Instagram on Monday. Both the patient’s name and the El Paso VA employee who made the call were redacted from the recording. The VA member apparently didn’t realize he had missed the call after leaving a short message asking the veteran to call him back.
During a brief conversation, an anonymous male VA employee asked the female employee if the veteran needed a lung test and urged the female employee to confirm the patient’s diagnosis.
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Then the male employee said: Trust me, I know that. ”
The woman answered that the man was “100%,” likely referring to his disability rating. She added that he is “probably trying to keep it that way.”
“There’s so much going on at the VA that he wonders if his disability will ever end,” said a male VA employee. And he will probably also want transportation costs. ”
“Oh, yes,” the female VA employee responded. “I’ve heard people get upset about it. Their travel expenses were wrong (the audio was garbled) and I said, ‘We have nothing to do with it. ” Calm down. ‘”
Tasks and Objectives was unable to contact the Instagram user who posted the audio of the conversation.
According to the Veterans Administration, it has provided $187 billion in benefits to 6.7 million veterans and survivors so far in 2024. The percentage of living veterans receiving disabled veteran care has also increased from 18% in 2014 to 33% now.
But like any organization, the Veterans Administration has at times fallen short of its mission. A Georgia veteran employee was suspended indefinitely without pay after body slamming a 73-year-old veteran in 2022. The following year, claims handlers at the Veterans Administration told NBC News they were having trouble processing new cases in the wake of the expansion of the PACT Act. Benefits for veterans exposed to toxins.
