Rep Hall's Statement on VA Secretary Resignation

Floor Speech

While it was right of Secretary Shinseki to resign, the investigation continues and Americans await the full report due sometime in August. Hospitals providing poor health care to our veterans must be investigated, those in charge must provide the American people answers about why this was allowed to happen in the first place, and all individuals responsible for waitilisting our veterans must be held accountable."

"In the meantime, we must take immediate action and do everything we can to ensure our veterans, many of whom suffer issues stemming from their active duty service, receive quality and timely health care."

Inspector General's Initial Report Findings:

The Phoenix VA system claimed average wait times for initial appointments was 24 days and that only 43% of its 226 veterans waited more than 14 days for appointments.
In actuality, veterans were made to wait an average of 115 days before receiving initial appointments and 84% of veterans waited more than 14 days for appointments.
At least 1,700 veterans in Phoenix's VA health care system were never placed on an official waitlist or scheduled for an appointment.

Source