VA Oversight Update

Dear Friend,

I’m continuing my efforts to hold the Veterans Administration accountable to ensure that our vets are getting the proper care they deserve. We’ve recently learned of troubling reports, both from whistleblowers and from an internal VA audit, about misconduct within the Philadelphia VA Claims Office.

What did they find? Dozens of boxes full of ignored mail from veterans, discarded and maybe destroyed. Employees manipulating data to make wait times appear shorter – and then pressured whistleblowers to prevent them from coming forward.

During a recent hearing in Washington, D.C., I had the opportunity to speak to whistleblowers from the Philadelphia VA. Here you can see that we discussed some of the issues the Philadelphia facility has been experiencing.

Along with my colleague Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (PA-08), I wrote to VA Undersecretary Allison Hickey about the reports of mail from veterans being destroyed across the country. Rep. Fitzpatrick and I are going to continue working to investigate this pattern of concealed or destroyed mail from veterans, particularly in our region. To read more about this, click here.

Photos obtained from a whistleblower at the Philadelphia VA Regional Office showing boxes of ignored and unread letters from veterans from 2008 and 2009.

Sincerely,

Congressman Pat Meehan