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OvERStGHT AND INVESTtGATtoNS

August 11,2015
The Honorable Robert A. McDonald
Secretary
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
810 Vermont Avenue
Washington DC, 20420
Dear Secretary McDonald:

I write to express my serious concerns regarding recent reports that the Department of Veterans Affairs
(VA) wrongfully denied health care to more than 35,000 combat veterans-including hundreds of veterans in
my home state of Arizona-as a result of a computer error. I urge you to rectifu this unacceptable mistake as
soon as possible and strongly encourage the VA to take immediate action to ensure that similar enrollment
problems do not occur in the future.

As you know, combat veterans have five years to claim eligibility for free health care and are exempt
from means-tested requirements, including restrictions based on household income. Unfortunately, news
reports indicate that a significant number of veterans were denied care because they were erroneously marked as
having failed to submit financial information that they were not, in fact, obligated to provide. Most of those
affected were veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and as many as 16,000 of them have been waiting to
access VA services for more than 5 years because of this error.

Thankfully, I understand that the VA is currently taking steps to address the issue. New computer
protocols have reportedly been implemented and VA employees are calling the affected veterans to inform them
of what occurred and to provide updates on the status of their applications. However, it appears that to date,
few if any of those denied care because of this error have been sucpessfully enrolled in the VA health system.
Further delays are unacceptable and I strongly encourage you to expedite your administrative procosses
to ensure that these veterans can receive VA care as soon as possible. I also urge you to assess the potential for
similar malfunctions and to implement the measures necessary to ensure that there is no recurrence of this or
other enrollment problems.
Thank you for attention to this request. The men and women affected by this error risked their lives for
our nation, and they deserve better from our government. I look forward to working with you to ensure that
America lives up to its promises to these brave veterans.

Member of Congress
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