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Dear John,
Ten years ago, the nation was shocked by the revelation of the Phoenix Veterans Affairs scandal.
Veterans’ lives were lost unnecessarily and tragically —all because the VA bureaucracy mislead the public about how long wait times were and because veterans were trapped in a broken system.
It was necessary for the VA’s egregious mismanagement of veterans’ health care and wait time manipulation to be exposed. The scandal highlighted the urgent need for veterans’ health care reform to ensure that our nation's heroes receive the timely and quality care they deserve.
Since then, CVA has given outraged veterans and military family members a voice and delivered important victories. For example, the VA MISSION Act's passage gave millions of veterans access to non-VA community care options for the first time, offering alternatives to a broken system.
However, recent documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests reveal that the VA continues many of the practices that led to the Phoenix scandal a decade ago. These FOIA documents showed ongoing VA wait time manipulation and active efforts to steer veterans away from community care choices, even when that means longer wait times and travel distances for the care veterans have earned.
What was once a scandal has unfortunately become the status quo at the VA, and our veterans continue to suffer as a result.
In the face of these challenges, our community continues to tirelessly advocate for lasting change.
When veterans make their voices heard, people listen. As the VA continues to ignore the MISSION Act and acts as a barrier to veterans who want to use community care, it’s critical that we keep speaking up and looking out for our brothers and sisters.
Today, on the 10th anniversary of the Phoenix VA scandal, I urge you to join me in honoring our veterans by taking action to support their health care needs.
One crucial action you can take right now is sending a letter to your representatives in support of the Veterans Health Care Freedom Act. The VHCFA provides “full choice,” giving all veterans the ability to use their health benefits at either VA facilities or at community care providers without needing VA preapproval.
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