The VA Can't Seem To Fix A Computer Glitch That's Denying Health Care To 29,000 Combat Vets

WASHINGTON -- It's been seven months since top officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs learned that tens of thousands of combat vets were being denied VA health care enrollment because of a computer system error. Not much has changed.

The Huffington Post first reported in August that more than 35,000 combat vets were missing out on health care because their applications had been mistakenly flagged as pending, simply because they didn't complete a so-called means test, which assesses their household income. Many vets have to submit a means test to enroll in VA health care, but not combat vets, who are automatically eligible for free insurance for five years after they're discharged.

The problem is that the VA computer system isn't set up to exempt combat vets from the means test requirement. So when a combat vet applies for VA care, unless he or she voluntarily fills out a means test, the application may end up in a backlog. Combat vets lose their eligibility for free health care after five years, so the longer the delay, the more it eats into their free coverage.

VA management says they first learned about the computer glitch in April. But there are signs that some at the agency were aware of it as far back as 2012. In a "report of accomplishments" from the VA's Chief Business Office sent out in the third quarter of that year, officials boasted of enrolling 10,163 combat vets who had been mistakenly listed as pending (see page 6).

All of the combat vets in a pending status served in Iraq or Afghanistan, and nearly half have been listed as pending for more than five years. The number is now at 29,000, and it hasn't changed since September.

VA spokeswoman Walinda West disputed the idea that senior officials could be moving faster to fix the problem. She said the agency conducted an initial review in August and, after reaching out through phone calls and letters, it was able to enroll 8,578 of these vets.

"VA is continuing to research Combat Veterans with expired eligibility in order to ensure appropriate remedies," West said in a statement.

But the problem runs far deeper, according to Scott Davis, a program specialist at the VA's Health Eligibility Center in Atlanta and a past whistleblower on VA mismanagement.

Davis said VA officials are intentionally slow-walking the process because enrolling all of the combat vets at once would force them to admit they made a huge mistake. More significantly, it could expose the agency as liable for compensating thousands of vets and their families for health care costs that should have been covered, had those vets been enrolled when they first applied.

"They're choosing to take the slowest route that's going to have the least amount of results," Davis said. "Any other time, they would have just enrolled them."
The VA does seem to have the ability to quickly enroll large numbers of veterans in health coverage when there's been a mistake.

In 2013, the agency processed more than 11,000 health care applications that had been overlooked for months, according to a damning VA Office of Inspector General report released this summer. And in January, VA officials reviewed pending applications for 173,000 vets and found that nearly 18,000 of them should have been enrolled, according to an internal VA document obtained by The Huffington Post. All 18,000 were enrolled by April.

Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.), the chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, is among those wondering what the problem is. In August, he asked VA Secretary Robert McDonald for details on all combat vets listed as pending, including their names, contact information and a list of those who may have died.

He never heard back. So he wrote to McDonald again last week.

"Please provide the Committee with VA's plan for resolving these issues," wrote Miller. "Please be advised that neither a briefing nor an 'in-camera' review will be acceptable for this request."