In an age where we are used to getting information with a few keystrokes, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has been something of a cipher. I have been eligible for VA care since 1999. I have largely avoided it for the reason noted above and others.
Navigating the VA is so labyrinthine that entire organizations have been created and devote themselves to helping Veterans navigate it. Probably the most effective are the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) and the Gary Sinise Foundation. Most states including New Mexico now have Veterans’ services departments to assist their resident Veterans with accessing benefits.
I consider myself a sophisticated consumer of healthcare and technology. I have given up on the VA and its healthcare portal. The last time I looked at the VA’s online healthcare portal, MyHealtheVet, or some such made-up word, its only interactive function was a calendar where one could manually enter one’s VA appointments. Much like any other online calendar app, like Google calendar, Outlook, or iCalendar.
I do use the VA for my hearing aids. I am deaf, it is service-connect, and they are therefore free. This is a very good deal. The providers are terrific and they work under difficult and crowded conditions. The audiology department is part of ENT at the Albuquerque VA, and that combined department is really tight on real estate. Check-in for audiology is a closet with two desks, and you wait in line outside the main doors for the ENT clinical area, so there is a lot of traffic.
There is never enough seating for patients. It seems to be a tacit rule that anyone under 75 is going to stand. I am good with this. The downside is that everyone over 75 has a hard time letting a woman stand while they sit. So there is a lot of posturing and protest and finally everyone agrees on the sitting priority.
I’ll reiterate again: the staff and providers are terrific. The systems and facilities are inadequate for demand. My audiologist always orders me extra supplies. That’s because despite being enrolled in login.gov as a military retiree and Federal contractor, the Denver VA office responsible for hearing aid supplies will not recognize me. They have their own login and refuse to recognize any of the uploads of my driver’s license for identity verification. The good news is, there are so many that the Chinese and the Russians have probably been able to access them now for cybercrime.
I do not get my primary care at the VA and I no longer get my specialty care there. I am fortunate to have good private insurance, and the military health insurance plan, Tricare, as secondary insurance. I do follow Veterans Health Administration (VHA) issues, however.
There has been a lot of coverage this year about cuts to personnel and funding at the VA. Here is what I can tell you is happening: no one knows.
The continuing resolution passed in March to finally fund the government through the end of the fiscal year only partially funded the mandatory Toxic Exposures Fund (TEF). This is the non-discretionary fund created in 2024 to fund care for Veterans exposed to Agent Orange, toxic materials from the burn pits during Operation Desert Storm, depleted uranium, asbestos in shipyards, and other hazardous substances. It also zeroed out the advance funding in the budget for FY 26.
The VA Secretary’s budget for next fiscal year has full funding in place for the TEF. Which will it be?
Perhaps just as concerning is the staffing at the VA. The Secretary announced personnel cuts of 83,000 this fiscal year, or 15%, in addition to a hiring freeze. Authorized headcount is about 550,000. The cuts and the freeze will take staffing to 399,000. It is impossible this will not impact delivery of care. The FY 26 budget from the Secretary also shows a cut in Medical Services and a significant increase in “Community Care.” Community Care is when the VA pays for Veterans to receive private health services. This could work but currently requires a great deal of pre-authorization. There is nothing right now that shows a change in approval policy.
The frustrating thing with all of this is that no information is coming out from the VA. The VA is not holding press conferences. VA staff charged with making the personnel cuts have been forced to sign non-disclosure agreements. This is not normal government operations. This is not okay.
Merritt Hamilton Allen is a PR executive and former Navy officer. She appeared regularly as a panelist on NM PBS and is a frequent guest on News Radio KKOB. A Republican for 36 years, she became an independent upon reading the 2024 Republican platform. She lives amicably with her Democratic husband north of I-40 where they run one head of dog, and one of cat. She can be reached at news.ind.merritt@gmail.com.
I find the VA in Albuquerque fantastic. You must have gone to a different ENT clinic or you’re just blind! I have never had to stand while waiting for an appointment! What “closet” are the staff sitting in? Maybe you are just an elite looking down at something that serves most veterans with EXCELLENTLY!
Wow! Your experience sure has been different from mine! I use their crappy website for many things, like refilling Rx’s and talking to my doctor’s team via secure messaging. I consider myself fortunate as I am seen at the Women’s Clinic in ABQ, and I’ve had the same primary doctor there for over a decade. I’ve never been denied a test that I’ve requested. The waits are not bad.
Also, a month or two ago the director of the ABQ VA Med Ctr held an in-person town hall. So they ARE trying to share information. You must not be on the right notification lists.
Yes, the possible upcoming staffing cuts make me VERY nervous, but that’s thanks to the insanity of this current administration.
Everything Trump does is without letting any one know. I think it’s because he doesn’t know or think things through. His goal is to be in the news, not make a plan work.