The secretary of veterans Doug Collins and representative Juan Ciscomani from Arizona at Tucson Va Medical Center on April 28.
Public media of Katya Mendoza / Arizona
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Public media of Katya Mendoza / Arizona
The data that the employees of the Veterans Department Department shared with NPR show that 11,273 agency employees at the national level have requested resignation, which the Trump administration offers within the framework of its DOGE initiative to reduce the work of the VA by 15%.
The main positions of all networks that require a deferred resignation are nurses (around 1,300), medical support assistants (around 800) and social workers (around 300).
A screenshot of data from the Veterans Department shared with NPR
Quil Lawrence / NPR
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Quil Lawrence / NPR
The secretary of veterans Doug Collins was categorical that the cuts of staff will not affect the health care of veterans. During a controversial Senate hearing on Tuesday, he accused the Democrats of fear.
“I will not let you sit here and scare my veterans and scare my employees, because no one has discussed dismissal of the doctors or to dismiss nurses,” Collins replied to a question from the Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. “We have always said that we are going to keep frontal health care.”
Blumenthal replied that the secretary did not explain how he would reach his declared objective to bring the AV back to his size 2019 without affecting care.
“It just can’t be done. And you can give us a lot of verbiage here, but you don’t give us any facts. And the facts are essential to the responsibility,” said Blumenthal.
The Veterans Department is the second department of the United States government, after the Ministry of Defense. The VA employs around 470,000 people, the agency of whom says that more than 371,000 are health professionals. They work in 1,380 national health care establishments, including 170 medical centers VA and 1,193 ambulatory clinics.
On Thursday, the VA press secretary, Pete Kasperowicz, told NPR that the agency will be very prudent in approving the resignation deferred for health care staff.
“Although all employees will be able to apply for these programs, employees who provide direct or indirect care for veterans will only be approved in very limited circumstances when their separation meets the needs of the mission. The approval of the staff at these positions requires several high-level opinions, and will provide that very few these applications are approved,” he said.
During the hearing on Tuesday, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont underlined the concerns concerning an already existing shortage of medical providers in the VA, asking Collins: “Do you recognize that there is a shortage of doctors, nurses, AV social workers?”
“I recognize that there is a shortage for everyone in the health care industry on these same questions,” replied Collins.
“But in the va?” Sanders asked.
“We are the same as all other health care systems. We have trouble recruiting doctors, nurses and others, just like anyone else, and that’s something that is constantly concerned.”
Collins said that his objective with the reduction of the workforce was to increase productivity, eliminate waste and bureaucracy and increase efficiency in order to improve health care and benefits for veterans.
“We have been categorical that we do not reduce the advantages and health care, improving them only,” said Collins.
But VA staff (25% of whom are veterans themselves) and veterinarians who use the care is concerned. In a recent survey of American veterans in Iraq and Afghanistan, more than 4 in 5 veterans (81%) said they feared that the recent federal cuts could have an impact on the benefits and health care of veterans.
During a demonstration of May 2 outside the installation of VA in Tucson, Arizona, Alex Maldonado, veteran and organizer of the veterans of the Peace Group, said that the cuts offered to VA staff are too large.
“These are the people we need right now to answer the phones, talk to the veterans, tell us about our appointments, just someone to talk to,” said Maldonado.
“Many veterans call us, and they are worried because they are afraid that it affects their health care, that will affect the advantages,” said Dan Clare, with disabled American veterans.
“The secretary could be able to find efficiency gains, could be able to do incredible things,” said Clare “is just that we do not get the answers to whom is cut, what jobs disappear, how it can affect veterans.”
It is difficult for veterans and VA employees. An employee of VA, who wanted to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, said: “The mental stress that so many people work, not knowing the status of their work, which also indirectly affects patient care.”
VA employees were informed by e-mail that the delayed resignation request date, which was initially set for April 30, has now been extended until May 16.
Employees who request and are approved for the deferred resignation would separate from the agency by September 30 and go on administrative leave on the 1st or seven days later, or seven days after the employee and the director signed the necessary documents if the employee is 40 years or more, according to Myfedbenefitshelp.com.
