The Department of Veterans Affairs and its employees have a long history of mishandling the care, treatment, and information of veterans in their systems. However, when VA employees go out of their way to profit from such abuse of the trust placed in them, it is disturbing. But that is just what an Arkansas man, Phillip Hill, is accused of doing. Hill, a 32-year-old resident of Benton, Arkansas, stands accused by a federal court of ‘attempted trafficking of access devices,’ which is a legal way of saying he was caught attempting to sell Social Security numbers and other similar identifying information. He did this with the use of s server he stole, and with access to the network that the server worked on. In a news release, Cody Hiland, …show more content…
Phillip Hill had worked as a database manager at a VA data center and was fired from that job on December 6. However, he told the informant that he was still able to get into the VA databases, and that he could still access personally identifying information on veterans, their family members, and even VA employees. He accomplished this by stealing a server from the VA and utilizing that server to access the database remotely. Doing this, he could view much of the information in the VA database, and selling it for a profit would be simple. Hill was reportedly arrested outside of a data center at a VA office on December 17. He was charged with aggravated identity theft, as well as possession of device-making equipment. Authorities involved in the case stated that Hill used someone else’s personal information, and that he also possessed blank identification cards, something that non-government individuals are not generally allowed to …show more content…
Some VA employees seem to have this mindset, where they are willing to bend the rules and regulations to make a profit. The VA, prior to President Donald Trump’s administration, had a long history of employees abusing the system to protect bonuses, or to turn a personal profit. During Barack Obama’s presidency, there were repeated VA scandals where the employees manipulated situations so that they could protect their ‘performance incentives,’ a nice way of saying they toyed with the system to protect their bonuses. A common problem in the VA was the impossibly difficult process of actually firing terrible employees. As with many government positions, unions protected terrible workers, allowing them to be criminally negligent or incompetent and still preserve their job and their pay. It also did not help that then- VA Secretary Shinseki did not seem interested in accountability at the department he oversaw. To make matters worse, the Senate committee that was supposed to oversee the VA, which was led by ‘Independent’ Bernie Sanders, outright refused to provide any meaningful oversight, even when bipartisan demands for oversight came from Senators in both
The mission statement of the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) is, “To fulfill President Lincoln's promise ‘To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan’ by serving and honoring the men and women who are America’s vete...
...arrested on a narcotics trafficking charge on April 27, 1980. Hill was convinced that Vario and Burke both wanted him dead. While in jail the investigators showed Hill the tapes they had of Burke and Vario discussing Hill’s death. Hill still refused to talk. When Hill was released on bail he met Burke at a sweatshop and Burke told Hill to come with him to Florida to whack somebody. Hill knew this meant Burke was going to kill him. The investigators didn’t want to risk having Hill killed and arrested him as a material witness in the Lufthansa heist.
Some federal statutes address fraud in government health care programs, and many of these laws vary considerably (Krause 2004). Some of these laws specifically target health care fraud. Example of the laws that the government direct at inappropriate health care activities includes the “Medicare and Medicaid Anti-Kickback Statute and Ethics in Patient Referrals Act (EPRA).”
...equired paperwork to receive the services they need (“Point: Veterans Struggle To Receive Benefits”). Soldiers are required to fill out excessive paperwork just to receive care. “Veterans and soldiers were required to file twenty-two documents to eight different departments in order to receive care” (“Point: Veterans Struggle To Receive Benefits”). It has become a very long and difficult process for our veterans to receive medical attention after returning home.
“The VA’s unchecked incompetence has gone on long enough; no more veterans should be compelled to agonize or perish while the government fails to perform it’s obligations.”(Williams) Taking care of our veterans is a cost of war. Our country spends trillions of dollars each year to send our men and woman to war, but only mere billions on VA health care each year. “Treatment of war wounds has been a legal guarantee to soldiers since Abraham Lincoln was president, and the law was enhanced in 1998 to promise free care for any medical condition, even if the condition is not attributable to military service." (Williams)
Veterans need to be taken care of medically, mentally, and financially, as promised by President Obama. "It's a commitment that begins at enlistment, and it must never end. But we know that for too long, we've fallen short of meeting that commitment. Too many wounded warriors go without the care they need. Too many veterans don't receive the support they've earned.
“Factors Affecting Health Care” (50-55) Demonstrates the sacrifices and how difficult it is for veterans to receive healthcare from the Department of Veteran Affairs.
McGuire, J., Clark, S., Blue-Howells, J., & Coe, C. (2013). An inventory of va involvement in
Phiprivacy.net. (n.d.). Incidents Involving Patient or Health-Related Data [Pdf file of privacy breach articles for 2008]. Retrieved from http://www.phiprivacy.net/MedicalPrivacy/Chronology_2008.pdf
Because veterans are seen as the strongest people in America, they should be seen as talented. “Veterans have proven they can stay employed. They show stability and knowledge, and team ethic” (Gilliland). All of these are characteristics that employers always look for in an employee, whether they are veterans or not. Veterans are pretty similar to regular employees, so there is no need for them to have trouble with employment.
In 2010, veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) cost the government about $1.3 billion (United States of America 17). This is an enormous amount of money, but it hasn’t even been helping veterans. Many vets aren’t finishing treatment but continue to receive disability checks from the Veterans Health Administration, abbreviated to VHA. Not only this, but some veterans are faking their way into the system and evading the diagnosis process by coming up with an tall tale. It is on the Veteran’s Affairs (VA) to determine whether these stories are fake (Department of Veterans’ Affairs), which is many times impossible to regulate. New laws that are being passed that make it easier for veterans to receive disability checks are not helping this problem either (Brown and Thompson 43). The government is spending too much money on a system that is failing our veterans; the public should not have to pay when the money is going to waste on misdiagnosis, failing treatment, and unjust laws.
One of the most serious problems facing all veterans today is the lack of proper healthcare. Soldiers, sailors and airmen are leaving active duty without having proper healthcare to cover their physical or mental injuries. The department responsible for veteran’s healthcare is the Department of Veterans Affairs. (VA) According to The department of Veterans Affairs website, “The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a government-run military veteran benefit system with Cabinet-level status. It is responsible for administering programs of veterans’ benefits for veterans, their families, and survivors. The benefits provided include disability compensation, pension, education, home loans, life insurance, vocational rehabilitation, survivors’ benefits, medical benefits and burial benefits. It is administered by the United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs.” The VA, who was formerly called the Veterans Administration, was established 21 July 1930, to consolidate and coordinate government activities affecting war veterans. The VA encompassed the functions of the former U.S. Veterans' Bureau, the Bureau of Pensions of the Interior Department and the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. On 25 October 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed legislation creating a new federal Cabinet-level Department of Veterans Affairs to replace the Veterans Administration effective 15 March 1989 (V.A.)
In 1636 the “Pilgrims passed a law which stated that disabled soliders would be supported by the colony.” (VA History) This paved the way for veterans’ benefits and healthcare. It wasn’t until 1811 that the federal government authorized the first medical and domiciliary facilities along with benefits and pensions for the veterans and their families. When the United States entered World War 1 in 1917, Congress created a new system for veterans’ benefits such as disability compensation, insurance, vocational rehabilitation. These benefits were directed by three different agencies in the Federal Government, these branches were the Veterans Bureau, the Bureau of Pensions of the Interior Department, and the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. Ten years later congress authorized the president to “consolidate and coordinate Government activities affecting war veterans”; this action united the three component agencies into bureaus under the veterans’ administration. In the following six decades there were vast increases in the veteran population, and new benefits enacted by congress for veterans following Wo...
John Lamie a veteran from the Iraq war who struggles with PTSD is also facing a battle with the VA on certain benefits he should be receiving for his psychological health. “Because of a series of complications over the validity of disability exams Lamie took for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI) and other conditions, Lamie’s most recent disability check amounted to $83.19” (“Caring for Veterans” 363). Veterans like John Lamie are receiving only portion of healthcare benefits instead of full benefits which is making them have to foot the bill or not go and get the specific treatment they need because it is
"Veterans Affairs Head Robert McDonald Lied About Serving in Special Forces" - Katie Pavlich | Feb 24, 2015 Web: http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2015/02/24/new-va-head-lied-about-military-service-n1961369