VA wait lists longer now than a year ago

I'm sure there was a thread about this last year, but I couldn't find it and anyway I figure may as well start a new thread as bump an old one. To refresh your memory, there was a scandal because veterans were not getting timely care and they tried to cover it up with secret waiting lists. General Shinseki ended up resigning over the scandal. Congress supposedly fixed the problem by increasing the VA budget by $16 billion, but apparently it wasn't enough:

VA wait lists longer now than a year ago: 'Something has to give'

Quote:

WASHINGTON — The number of veterans seeking health care and ending up on waiting lists for a month or more is 50 percent higher now than it was a year ago, when a scandal over false records and long wait times wracked the Department of Veterans Affairs, The New York Times reported. The VA also faces a budget shortfall of nearly $3 billion, the Times reported in a story posted online ahead of its Sunday editions. The agency is considering furloughs, hiring freezes and other significant moves to reduce the gap, the newspaper reported. The VA budget was increased $16 billion last summer in the wake of the scandal.

The extra money was supposed to reduce wait times:

Quote:

Q. How does the bill shorten wait times for veterans? It allows veterans who can’t get an appointment within the VA's wait-time goal, now 30 days, to go outside the VA system for care. That option also exists for those who live more than 40 miles from a VA facility. This $10 billion provision enables a sort of “surge capacity” that “promises to increase veterans’ options for timely, high-quality care,” says Katherine Kidder, research associate at the Center for a New American Security, a think tank. On the other hand, she warns, “it outsources the VA’s responsibility and removes some of the pressure to reform.” Q. What about the need to beef up services within the VA? In the last four years, 2 more million veterans have entered the VA system, with a net increase of 1.5 million more patients, according to Acting VA Secretary Sloan Gibson. The legislation provides $5 billion to pay for more doctors and nurses and deal with space restrictions in crowded facilities. The VA will be allowed to lease at least 27 medical facilities to help provide access that is closer to home for many veterans, and increase the availability of specialty care. In the last year, the VA has increased capacity by more than 7 million patient visits per year, double what officials originally thought they needed to fix shortcomings, the Times reported. However, the newspaper added, department officials did not anticipate just how much physician workloads and demand from veterans would continue to soar. At some major veterans hospitals, demand was up by one-fifth, the paper reported.

Apparently they are seeing more patients than ever before, but the demand is growing even faster:

Quote:

Citing interviews with department officials and internal department budget documents it had obtained, the Times reported that doctors and nurses have handled 2.7 million more appointments than in any previous year, while authorizing 900,000 additional patients to see outside physicians.

So, it seems that the budget increase has not gone to waste as they are in fact handling millions more appointments than before, but it still isn't enough.

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