Mayor Benjamin on VA Hospital Deaths

(WOLO) COLUMBIOA,S.C., — Allegations and new reports of the mistreatment of Veterans. Mayor Benjamin telling ABC Columbia News they read reports where hundreds of our military men and women have died waiting for healthcare. The investigation brewing a political firestorm, that’s boiled over into South Carolina. Last week Mayor Benjamin says he joined forces with other city Mayors and sent a letter to General Eric Shinseki urging him to take immediate action regarding the incidents. Over the weekend – Under Secretary for Health Care at the VA in Washington Robert Petzel resigned. But for some like South Carolina State Senator Lindsey Graham there may be a better way to get accountability when it comes to care or the lack thereof. ” if you want to fix the va health care allow the veterans to vote with their feet. if they want to go somewhere else they can. if the va is doing a good job they will stay. if the va is doing a bad job they’ll leave and then we’ll know what facilities need to be closed.” While Mayor Steve Benjamin created a veterans committee to deal with benefit claims back in 2012 – he says health care and timely access to it is equally important. None of these latest allegations have been reported here at the South Carolina Dorn VA Hospital – officials tell us they’re always working to provide high quality care. officials released a statement saying in part: “Our progress includes enrolling two million more veterans in high-quality va healthcare, reducing veterans’ homelessness by 24 percent, providing post-9/11 gi bill educational benefits to more than one million students, and decreasing the disability claims backlog by nearly 50 percent.” Mayor Benjamin says “they may not have all of the promise of the american dream available to them right now, but they ought to be able to have the very basic, very basic promises we made to them fulfilled.”