VA Spends Billions Without Contracts
A Congressional hearing yesterday uncovered VA spends billions each years on private medical care for veterans without using required contracts. VA has had longstanding and persistent corruption in the area of contracting costing taxers billions.
Will VA ever get a grip on its spending?
Jan R. Frye, the whistleblower who exposed internal corruption, provided testimony to the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs about the contracting issues. Frye is deputy assistant secretary for acquisition and logistics who exposed Congressional favors going to government contractor FedBid. Frye recently sent a 35-page memo to Secretary McDonald exposing spending violations of over $6 billion worth of contracts.
VA chief financial officer Edward Murray provided the following testimony:
“VA acknowledges that our longstanding procurement processes for care in the community need improvement,” Murray said referring to the care of veterans outside the VA system, also known as non-VA care, adding that “serious legal questions” have been brought up over the medical care of veterans outside VA hospitals and clinics.
Frye provided the following commentary on the problems:
“When federal contracts are required and you don’t use them, there are terms and conditions that are missing from the contract,” Frye said at the hearing. “There are termination issues. Disputes over fair and reasonable prices. A whole host of issues. Safety and efficacy. Without them, the contractor is there to do what he or she wants.”
Frye was a hero coming forward and will likely have his career torpedoed when the press falls asleep again. Should veterans take an active roll in advocating for the whistleblowers VA retaliates against?
VA ONE BIG BIG BIG FEDERAL RICO CRIME RACKET FROM AFGE UNION CONTRACTS HELL THE MAFIA IS CHUMP CHANGE TO VA RICO RACKETS FROM HELL
one more comment, medical care or. worker’ comp in civilian or vets, also with the VA/DOD(selinsured as private employers who own the claims and hire quacks at a high price to deny injuries/illnesses and it’s done by private employers like kaiser and the ssa/medicare), then there’s ssa/medicare. THUS IT’S ALL INSURANCE. THUS, corruption and fraud =’s RICO. One would find that anyone who files an insurance claim, that that claim or claims are claims that are literally raided by those in control of them like the employers/insurers, then there are some judges, attorneys, doctors and anyone in between but anyone other than those that are injured will get their full benefits, they are the ATM claim raiding machine by the above. This is kaiser’s MO, modus operandi, which was the pioneer engineer in the greatest ripoff of our country and kaiser is an insurance company too, not just health care or construction….etc . kaiser was the original risk management, ie workers comp., o now is every employer like the dod/va, including its owned unions. Trillions of dollars made and to be made off of the suffering of vets and us civilians.
RICO, RICO, RICO RICO.
injured workers , civilians are always discredited when injured or ill on the job, even by family. a parallel existence of harming people to milk the taxpayers via comp and everything else by the very same.crooks who can get their hands on, what is belonging to us. God help us all.
>>Should veterans take an active roll in advocating for the whistleblowers VA retaliates against?
generally speaking i believe so, yes. in the veterans’ realm, over the decades, we have spoken & written about the very issues these *current*-whistle-blowers are divulging(with backed up evidence) to media and Congress. in the decades prior, i don’t recall hardly anyone listening/believing our veterans’ stories about the dark-side of the VA & VBA.
how many of our own families and friends didn’t believe us? yeah, you know what i’m talking about. how often did the VA lie to our families and Congress in these past decades whereby the veterans in question were made out to be the bad guy/gal? and in most cases the veteran was telling the TRUTH!
so i say, support the VA whistle-blowers, as Congress and the media and the public seems to be listening to them now and that leads credence to the veteran community who have talked of this for decades. so in this particular realm, i see we need to watch each others’ six.
not everyone at VA/VBA are bad to veterans. these folks are trained and manipulated to be on the thuggery-dark-side of this. and that comes from VA management and their legal teams and unions more than likely.
Your comment: “how many of our own families and friends didn’t believe us? yeah, you know what i’m talking about,” really hit home! Most of my close friends (to include a few Vet’s and active duty Marines) think we/I are exaggerating and blowing things out of proportion. While some of the recent media coverage has helped to convince them a bit, they still believe that there is no way the VA is as messed up as we claim it to be. I think this problem stems across America and I hope the general public is convinced and wakes up soon!!
there are many many veteran who can and do empathize with you and others. at the least know that, which you do. before the internet, many just walked alone. because when your trusted circles starts not believing you, “alone” is simply a by-product. the internet and media and whistle-blowers are helping some currently and teaching us how to protect ourselves and stay as strong as we can, which flows like sea currents daily for most disabled folks.
from what i read on websites you are most correct in that this “VA problem” most certainly is all across America. some pockets a little better than others, nevertheless, all across America. they all take orders from Central.
Who gives a damn about “getting a grip” What about getting stiff jail sentences like us “real” people would get!!! its time to stop talking and do some thing about this. Until they start serving serious prison time, nothing is going to change!!
Eric, you hit the nail right on the head!
Right-on!
If *any* of we Vets were to misrepresent ANY info on ANY forms in our Claims, we would definitely be held to the highest reaches of the law and you KNOW the VA would throw the book at you, harass, perhaps even sabotage one’s Claim, even if it was a “Slam-Dunk” type of Claim.
I would think that *any* VA Employee, regardless of the janitor to highest Administrative positions and *everyone between regardless of degree held* would and should be held at very high standards, meaning NOT allowing the VA to continue to police itself any longer.
If there were ever an established track record of maleficence and dereliction of duty, the VA could be a picture perfect example that passes that “sniff-test” of corruption.
This “Administrative Action” instead of REAL RAMIFICATIONS makes my blood boil. How is this much, if any, different from organized crime when we all know the VA OIG has not even touched the tip of this dirty iceberg called the VA?!
Fed-up!
count me in on the “right-on” & “hit the nail right on the head” crew too.
When the extent of the VA scandal started coming to light last year, I thought that at least some VA bureaucrats would be arrested and brought up on criminal charges by now.
The government can lower the boom on corruption in FIFA, the world governing body of soccer, but corrupt VA leaders continue to be exempt from accountability. According to the Los Angeles Times, the federal investigation of FIFA is closing in on the top guy:
https://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-fifa-sepp-blatter-target-of-fbi-criminal-investigation-20150602-story.html
I’m all for rooting out corruption that might have screwed over the U.S. national soccer teams at some point. After all, those athletes represent our country. But what about my fellow veterans, who put so much on the line, who are getting screwed everyday by the VA? I hope the new Attorney General can started getting her department’s priorities straight.
To answer Ben’s question – yes. I think any veteran who stands with VA whistleblowers should be commended for following their conscience. Taking it one step further, VA “customers” who blow should be afforded the same protection from retaliation, such as withholding benefits. I’m not sure if they are right now.
Ben, there are many
sites out there which have similar, if not exact same info as what Mr. Frye has exposed. I myself have given their names, yet i believe few if any have visited them.
One in particular is DAV Reform. Another is VA Malpractice.info! There are more. I wish many would take the time and read what others are saying about the VA.
Thanks. Ben, keep the truth out there!
The problem is going to spread to veterans being retaliated against. They use that behavioral flag nonsensense to try and intimidate you. and do not even follow the rules behind it. I carbon copied the central VA patient advocate, along with the Secretary and my Congressional Rep. all the e-mails that I have been sending. He did not even bother to return my calls. Soon as I carbon copied the mail, he wants to call. Straight ridiculous. Tagging all communications to these offices will negate any declaration of “no knowledge” that the VA uses as a defense. The best thing to do is to revoke consent for VA to have access to your records, file a tort claim and engage in mandatory discovery of your medical records.
how do you do this
You contact the VACO Privacy Service and with a duplicate copy to HHS regarding what you would like to do. i . e “record restriction’ generates a security log. The VA tries to use that when you call them to complain, they use this excuse as a legitmate reason to document in your chart what you are saying and generally characterize you based on your conversation. Their documentation is uncontested, unless you request an amendment to your record. The General Counsel will deny any appeal you may seek, which is unethical on their part without direct knowledge of what you are seeking or characterizations of you placed in your record. Duplicate copies of your request is essential, and notarizing it is a plus. Good luck.