Veterans find VA ‘choice’ care program has delays

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The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) seal hangs on the facade at the headquarters in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Friday, May 10, 2013. The department's funding has jumped more than 40 percent to about $140 billion this year, compared with fiscal 2009, a boost to help the agency cope with a surge of new veterans returning home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) seal hangs on the facade at the headquarters in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Friday, May 10, 2013. The department's funding has jumped more than 40 percent to about $140 billion this year, compared with fiscal 2009, a boost to help the agency cope with a surge of new veterans returning home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

By Wesley Brown

The Department of Veterans Affairs had one month to enroll William Lloyd Johnson III into its ā€œchoiceā€ care program after he received knee-replacement surgery and rehabilitation at Augustaā€™s Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center.

When the deadline passed, Johnson,Ā 61, said he started tracking the wait on his calendar.

ā€œIt took 68 days from the time I left the Augusta VA to begin my first physical therapy session closer to my home in Washington, Ga.,ā€ said the Marine Corps veteran, who served from June 1976 to January 1989. ā€œThe system is not working. Itā€™s broken.ā€

The Veterans Choice Program was activated Nov.Ā 5 after President Obama signed a new hire vetslaw last year in response to a nationwide scandal that included 4,580 delayed endoscopy procedures and as a result, the cancer-related deaths of three veterans in Augusta.

ā€œRead the Full Article at chronicle.augusta.com >>>>ā€

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