VA Vows to Improve Tracking of Military Sexual Trauma Care Following IG's Findings

Report requested by Akaka finds insufficient monitoring of whether veterans are charged for care that should be free.

Courtesy: Disabled Veterans Rehabilitation Fund, Inc.

(WASHINGTON, D.C) - An Inspector General investigation requested by Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI) found that the Department of Veterans Affairs is unable to sufficiently monitor whether veterans are being wrongly charged for care related to military sexual trauma.

Last year, Akaka requested an investigation after being contacted by a veteran who was being inappropriately charged for care at a VA facility in Texas.

Under existing law, veterans are entitled to free VA treatment for conditions related to military sexual trauma. In response to the investigation, VA leadership committed to changing monitoring across the VA health care system so potential billing errors can be corrected.

“I am concerned that some veterans may still be charged for care they should receive for free, unnecessarily adding complications to the recovery process” said Akaka. “However, I am pleased that VA’s leadership is ordering changes system-wide as the Inspector General recommended. I will continue to monitor this issue.”

Senator Akaka also thanked the veteran who initially contacted him to share evidence of this problem last year. “If she had not stood up for her fellow veterans, these national changes would not be in the works. Once again, this veteran has served her country well.”

The VA Inspector General report is available here: va.gov/oig/54/reports/VAOIG-09-01110-81.pdf.

Reports From Iraq

Salem-News.com Top Stories
Irvine Councilor Christina Shea Speaks Out on Environmental Mess at El Toro

---

Salem-News.com Asks Viewers for Support

---

Postwar Photographs of Lebanon by Amelia Opalinska, Round II

---

Stupidity Reacts and the Stupid Respond

---

When a Beatle Should Keep his Mouth Shut

---

Name:

Enter the text from the image to confirm you are human.(Cookies are required)

HTML tags and certain characters are removed - (numbers, letters only or post may be cut short.) certain words are banned to stop spammers. All comments and messages are approved by people and self promotional links or unacceptable comments are denied.