Over a six month period, Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Brad Schrade exposed deep flaws across the VA’s national health enrollment system that delayed care for hundreds of thousands of veterans. The AJC’s reporting revealed that as many as 890,000 veterans were trapped in a health application backlog overseen by the VA’s Health Eligibility Center in Atlanta. That backlog included 47,000 veterans who died while stuck on the list, raising the likelihood that some died while waiting for care from the VA. A new online enrollment system that agency leaders touted as a faster way for veterans to enroll in the VA health system, in fact, was slower and exacerbated the application backlog. Internal documents obtained by the AJC showed that even though officials knew about these flaws, they continued for years to mislead veterans about the online system. The reporting also revealed evidence that more than 10,000 veterans’ health applications were improperly purged by the Atlanta center, that 39,000 applications went unprocessed and that managers had an incentive to hide problems in order to meet performance goals and secure bonuses.
