Say No! To Peak Nomination

[allan]

fwd from Colonel Dan

http://www.bluewaternavy.org/ http://www.vnvets.blogspot.com/

contact your Congressman & Senator

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From: LRUSMC@aol.com [mailto:LRUSMC@aol.com]

Sent: Monday, November 12, 2007 9:20 AM

To: LRUSMC@aol.com

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"Therefore I say; know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril. When you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal. If ignorant both of your enemy and of yourself, you are certain in every battle to be in peril." ~~ Sun Tzu

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An editorial from our friends at BlueWaterNavy.org (with which I totally agree!!)

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Say NO!! to the Peake Nomination

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I believe there is NO POSSIBLE WAY, on God's green Earth, that anyone could possibly look at James Peake's background and not conclude that his nomination and possible appointment as Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs is anything but pure, unadulterated corruption and cronyism at its very worst.

I don't know the man. I don't care to. All I need to do is to look at his personal and business relationships with Anthony Principi, and the company QTC Management, Inc. and I am absolutely certain that his appointment to a public office that deals with veteran health care is absolutely absurd and very probably illegal. It is at least one of the most blatantly unethical appointments that George Bush has attempted to date.

This man has served right along side one of the most questionable personalities to ever have held a cabinet post, Anthony Principi. The mere mention of that name sends many veterans' blood boiling and reminds us that dishonesty pays ... and pays BIG.

Let me relate a little history. One of the first personalities to begin the severe decline in veteran services by the Department of Veteran Affairs was Anthony Prinicipi. The VA budgets and operations fell apart on Principi's watch. Principi was Chairman of the Board of QTC, a medical services company, prior to his appointment as Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

While holding that high government office, QTC was awarded billions of dollars worth of medical contracts by the Department of Veterans Affairs. That in itself should have sent up red flags so high that the man should have been strung up the day those agreements were signed.

After leaving the office of Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Anthony Principi returned to QTC as Chairman of the Board, to enjoy the business of living out some of the most lucrative government contracts for outsourced medical services in the history of this country. Once again, the man wasn't arrested and jailed for his actions. That was and still is an appalling miscarriage of justice. There was what is deemed to have been a thorough investigation of the actions of Principi and his end rewards by government agencies, but no wrongdoings were found. Funny there wasn't a third part investigation service involved.

Sitting on the Board of Directors of QTC is our new player in this game, James Peake. Sometimes I might dress funny, or miss a joke, but I honestly believe I'm not a stupid man. And if I am, I'm not blind. When I see a possible "should be" felon running a company that thrives on what in my humble opinion are blatantly illegal contracts with the US Government, and I see sitting next to him a man who is in a position to know the intricate details of the fleecing of public funds, I understandably conclude that this duo is complicit in these alleged crimes.

To have the sheer gall and absurd misconception of immunity from prosecution as to attempt to appoint a known associate with one of the possibly most scrupulous and scandalous of thieves of this new century, is blind idiocy, pure and simple. It makes one wonder if perhaps the personage or Office of the President is getting some kick-back for making these two gentlemen fat and rich at the expense of public funds. Actually, the payback is probably through the Party Committee connections.

This one is so easily spotted that George Bush needs to see his shrink. The American public needs to stand on their roof tops and shout "Enough is Enough!!"

But all this information will be hidden during the confirmation hearings, I'll wager. A search under 'QTC' on the VAWatchDog.org web site will confirm all this information and provide additional eyebrow-raising information on the alleged corruption that has plagued the Department of Veterans Affairs while Principi was associated with it.

Web site listing the Board of Directors of QTC Management, Inc is at http://www.qtcm.com/general/about/board.asp

[Wings]

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Profiting at the expense of disabled veterans is a DISGRACE!! ~Wings

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/42163.php --Department of Veterans Affairs contracts worth up to $1.2 billion with a medical examination firm headed by former VA Secretary Anthony Principi are coming into question, the Los Angeles Times reports. Before Principi became VA secretary in 2001, he served in 1996 as chairman of a congressional task force on veterans' issues that recommended a standardized, comprehensive physical exam for outgoing military personnel. The recommendation led to exams being conducted by QTC Management beginning in 1998. Principi joined QTC as president in 1999 and then returned as chairman of the board after serving as VA secretary for four years. The firm conducts exams on soldiers before they are discharged and on veterans seeking disability assistance, the results of which "play a substantial role in VA disability benefit decisions," according to the Times. The Times reports that just after becoming VA secretary, Principi appointed a task force on the backlog of veterans claims, which delivered a report that was favorable to QTC and recommended that its program be extended or expanded. Language in the 2003 VA budget authorized extension and expansion of QTC's exam program as requested by the VA. In amendments made to two successive QTC contracts with the VA, the number of exam sites increased and performance bonuses were awarded. The amendments caused QTC's revenue to increase from $8 million in fees in 1998 to $69.1 million in 2005. According to VA records, QTC collected about $246 million in fees during Principi's four-year tenure as secretary of the department. The Congressional Budget Office projections show the contracts could be worth as much as $1.2 billion through 2008. In an e-mail response to the Times, Principi said that he recused himself "entirely from any issues or business that QTC might have had with the VA" while heading the agency. He added that he has complied with federal statutes prohibiting contact with VA after he left the department. According to the Times, QTC was sold to Massachusetts-based venture capital firm Spectrum for a reported $270 million last year.

Fee Review

According to the Times, "QTC's initial performance drew some criticism," and a review mandated by Congress by a private consulting firm found the company's fees were "much higher than expected." For example, a QTC hearing exam averaged $495.55, compared with $89.80 for an in-house VA exam. The consulting firm recommended further cost comparison studies that were never completed. VA officials said in an e-mail response to the Times that the follow-up study was not needed because QTC fees were "found to be reasonable and fair."

Comments

North Carolina attorney Hugh Cox, who represents veterans, alleges that QTC works with the VA to deny veterans' disability claims. Cox wrote in an e-mail to the Times, "Significant numbers of QTC medical examiners issue addendums to previous medical reports creating an appearance that VA officials communicate off-the-record with the QTC examiners to alter the veteran's chance of receiving benefits." Seattle psychiatrist Philip Plattner, who has worked at veterans health facilities for 23 years and launched a letter writing campaign to Congress about QTC, said the QTC and VA partnership appeared to be a "good-old-boys plan to privatize VA services, which will cost our country and our veterans dearly" (Roche, Los Angeles Times, 4/23).

Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/42163.php

[allan]

Profiting at the expense of disabled veterans is a DISGRACE!! ~Wings

Thats very true Lady. It can also be deadly.

I long for the research that shows how many Veterans have taken their life as a result of these thieves getting paid to deny their claims.

I also long for stiff, enforced penalties and jail time for those with bloody hands like many of the QTC rating contractors.

Seattle VARO, Bay Pines and St Petersburg VARO rating specialists and contracted IMO doctors need to have a close inspection of "PAST" decisions and medical opinions.

After a veteran receives a favorable C&P medical examination with medical opinion stating

on a more probable than not bases", the VARO rating specialists can scribble on a note to one of their staff "contract" consultants, that they couldn't get an answer to their questions.

They will continue to obtain the IMO thats needed to deny your claim, while ignoring "any" favorable IMO's you produce.

After seeing Psychologists for depression and going through an "outreach" clinic over several months, they sent me to QTC to be evaluated for PTSD.

I don't believe Betty & I were in the office ten minutes when the QTC C&P examiner said," you don't have PTSD, thanks for coming".

That was over ten years ago and I'm still dealing with PTSD symptoms.

It's blood money.

The death of every veteran that has died by suicide should be investigated to include the denial of their claims. If VA C&P examiners or QTC examiners falsely deny that veterans benefits, they are partially responsible for their death and should be charged with manslaughter.

Allan

[john999]

ABC had a good report about suicides among vets. I think the VA is really going to get the worst of all possible press over this. The suicide rate among vets is much higher than non-vets. This is a bomb that is ticking and I hope it blows the VA to hell.

[Pete53]

CBS did some checking into Veteran Suicide and said that 120 a week in 2005 over 4 times what regular suicide rate is.

[Ricky]

Come on guys. Surely you are not thinking that our government, the dedicated political appointees and blood sucking managers within the VA could do such a thing. Every since the Army docs gave me the old cut out sugar and do more pt thing for over 10 years to resolve my 250-310 blood sugar levels, the VA has tried for 3 years now to resolve my claim for a stroke that nearly took my life in 2005. Now that is what I call service - just think how hard they have worked the past three years to make sure my claim is solid. Boy that is a whole bunch of help (VCAA)if you ask me hahahahahahahahaha. They all need to go to jail with all of the POTUS's and Sec's of VA. Once in those positions they all become power hungry SOB's and as long as it ain't one of them or their precious children or grandchildren then who cares. Hell this is the US and there are a bunch of young ones out there-I mean my God there is an endless supply of youth in America so the bas-*&^ds never look back. Back room meetings between the government and QTC guys nope never happened never will - yeah right!

Oh yeah forgot to add - we should probably look for that idiot Nicholson somewhere on the board of QTC pretty soon. After all he did find a cure for PTSD did he not? Yep he said so on national tv........

Edited November 14, 2007 by Ricky

[JR Reihs]

He will only be there for a very SHORT time, so why worry.