Sunday April 6, 10:13 am ET
By Hope Yen, Associated Press Writ

AP IMPACT: VA Workers Charge $2.6B on Gov't Credit Cards at Luxury Hotels, High-End Retailers
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Veterans Affairs employees last year racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in government credit-card bills at casino and luxury hotels, movie theaters and high-end retailers such as Sharper Image and Franklin Covey -- and government auditors are investigating, citing past spending abuses.
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All told, VA staff charged $2.6 billion to their government credit cards.
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Yes, and then there are those few veterans, including my brother, criticize me for going after my claim, VA violation of 1722a, split pill co-payment overcharges. Well, I’m glad I’m doing it. Because this is what happens when you are not vigilant, with nobady watching the store. Here are just a few remarks from those that apparently have more money than others, and march to a different drummer.
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“So what exactly do you want them to do? Other than waste the time and money of the VA dealing with a trivial claim so that they can't help other veterans.
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It really bothers me to see people waste the VA's resources on things like this. It probably cost the VA thousands of dollars to work this claim up to the point of the BOVA, not to mention a lot of time of the people working in the VA. Even if you would have won on the claim, it would have wound up costing the VA more money so they could set up a new accounting system to deal with the change. That would likely cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars and would not really have benefited anyone that I can see.”
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Veterans get prescription drug benefits? I'd love to complain about $8.00 prescriptions. Every attempt I've made to get into the VA Health System I've been told I don't have any benefits.
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It's annoying to hear some people complain about what they are getting while others of us are "locked out" of the system entirely.
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HOGWASH! I suggest you do some homework.
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No one is doubting your claim, as much as why you are doing it. What they are trying to say is, you are tieing up valuable resources that could be better served to adjudicate an individuals claim that had to go the way of the courts. What they are saying, also, is be thankful you have the VA who charges much less a co-pay than what most greedy outside civilian insurance companies charge. When I had outside insurance, before I became TDIU, I was paying $15.00, $20.00, and $25.00 as my co-pays for my medication, so 8 dollars is fairly trivial an amount to pay for prescriptions, not to mention people that have to pay full price for medications...co-pays do not exist for them. So I do understand where you are coming from and where you are trying to go, it just seems like you are trying shove this issue down everyones collective throats to get your point. Good luck in your endeavors, yet I hope some other veterans claim hasn't been backed up because of your want to change what seems to you to be an inequity seen only by you.
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More info
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080406/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/v...HlSJBKdN0wtFgOas0NUE