Ohio Valley Politics

A big issue for Rep. Zack Space over the last few months has been an apparent discrepancy in the amount of money local veterans  receive in disability pay compared to other areas. The issue initially came to light last year, when a report ranked showed that Ohio’s average veteran disability pay was the lowest of all 50 states.

Now Space is done fact finding and ready to act. He’s introduced the Veterans Disability Fairness Act to insure proper oversight is in place at the VA.

“This shortchanging is insulting to our heroes’ service.  The veterans living in Ohio sacrificed just as much as veterans living elsewhere. There is no reason that a veteran here should receive less than veterans in other states.

“This legislation is an important step in forcing the VA to address these issues and in providing obviously needed oversight.  We can and must bring those states at the bottom of the list closer to parity with those at the top.  Our veterans deserve no less.”

– Rep. Zack Space

According to a press release, Space’s legislation would:

• Require the VA to collect and monitor regional data on disability ratings.
• Require the VA Secretary to conduct reviews and audits of the rating system.
• Require the VA to submit an exhaustive report yearly to Congress to track the progress of the program.
• Require VA raters to take ownership of their ratings by assigning identification codes to all adjudications.  The performance of specific raters will then be evaluated periodically for consistency and accuracy.

After Rep. Zack Space and Senator Sherrod Brown held their joint House-Senate VA field hearing earlier this year they reccomended that the VA look into building a Veteran’s Hospital here in Southeastern Ohio. The VA recently rejected this proposal.

“This study is an injustice, and it misses the point.  The VA in Washington should send representatives to our region to hear what I hear time and time again from veterans as I travel my district.  Veterans are fed up with the distances they must travel to receive care. Many of our nation’s heroes elect to go without services simply because they cannot afford the price or time it takes to travel to a VA facility. That’s unacceptable.

“There is simply too much evidence to the contrary for me to accept the VA findings.  I will continue to fight to ensure that our veterans receive the services their sacrifice deserves.”

– Rep. Zack Space

I agree with Space, this is completely unacceptable. Veterans living in my county have to travel all the way to Pittsburgh for treatment. That’s around a two hour drive (one way) from where I am. I know the county actually runs a bus to the VA hospital a couple time a month but those who ride it are forced to wait for every person on the bus to be cared for, a process that takes several more hours in addition to the four hours of travel time. It’s obviously a full day.

Hopefully the VA will reconsider this poorly thought out decision and grant Southeastern Ohio vets the healthcare they were promised, because right now they aren’t getting it.

Rep Zack Space has some pretty strong words regarding the recent revelation that Veterans Affairs (VA) appointment schedulers have been manipulating patient wait-time statistics to get performance based bonuses.

“Padding wait-time statistics to pad bureaucrat’s pocketbooks smacks of the worst kind of abuse of the system. Not only does it cost the taxpayers money, but – even more egregiously – it causes suffering for our heroes who selflessly answered the call to serve.

“I am demanding that the VA put a stop to this practice.  If there are administrators out there deliberately instructing their subordinates to falsify data to make their facility look better, that is unethical at best and criminal at worst.  We need answers.

“This is exactly the reason why we have Congressional oversight on the VA.  This news combined with the bonus scandal earlier this year continues to cast a shadow of doubt as to where the priorities of the VA lie.  We should be 100% focused on serving veterans – not administrators.”

– Rep. Zack Space

This statement comes after testimony before the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations yesterday revealed that, according to the release, “flaws with the scheduling procedures for veterans seeking care are frequent and in favor of the VA facility”. Worse, it’s been reported that some Veterans were forced to wait months for appointments that they were advised by health care providers to schedule within weeks.