Is Ebenefits The Next "healthcare.gov" Scandal?

[Snake Eyes]

Hi folks... I'm not well connected, so maybe someone with more experience and an inside track to the VA's public affairs angle could give some balance to my rant below. Sometimes not having all the facts can cloud one's understanding :-)

If you've been using eBenefits regularly the past few years, you know what an important tool it can be for veterans to file claims, follow their progress and access key resources. Unfortunately, we all know it has not been very reliable over the past several months.

I personally love the new features and re-design, but I'd gladly welcome the return of the old site IF they could make it reliable. EBENEFITS IS DOWN AGAIN! The problems that have plagued it over the past few weeks have been a real bear... and to their credit, they've tried to keep parts of the site up and running while they do their behind the scenes work. That's what the orange "Under Construction" banner has been about.

The question is: Are we dealing with yet another VA scandal? Has someone way out of their depth been contracted to do the work on the site and now it's just falling apart? I've given an overview of my own experience to the "tip line" at FoxNews.com (foxnewstips@foxnews.com) and some other places.

If you've had similar problems -- and feel they're enough of a concern, please let some news outlets know (I know the FoxNews one, like most national news outlets will keep their sources confidential).

All I could find by way of who is behind the re-design (and possibly some of the problems) is a CV posted on the Web by a person or company claiming to be instrumental in the site since 2011 and most recently involved in the portal re-design.

http://contentinsomnia.net/experience/#comment-9is the link to "Eddie's" resume.

[bh1981]

I'm not sure if it is related or not, but myhealthevet is also down although they have it updated, on their log-in screen, that they are down for scheduled maintenance until 2AM.

[broncovet]

Here is the deal:

The VA is used by politicians to "show favor" to people who have helped them win elections.

This means cushy contracts and great paying jobs for very little work. Further this means, to taxpayers and

Veterans that money that should be going to Veterans is squandered on wasteful spending, and lucrative contracts.

Ebenefits is a great example, along with healtchare dot gov. Healthcare dot gov cost something like 200 million for a site that barely works and does not work well. It should be 10 million, but 190 million is going into peoples pockets that help the president get elected.

Same thing for ebenefits. Its a high priced, low quality product, designed to overpay well connected contractors at Veterans expense.

[Notorious Kelly]

Ha Tony,

Way to track it down and pee on their tree

I like your style.

[john999]

The VA is a scandal! Fee base is a scandal and so is that new program for vets who live more than 40 miles from a VA hospital or clinic.

[Snake Eyes]

Re: MyHealthEvet.... I have no problem with planned and announced outages -- even as frequently as MyHealthEvet seems to go down. It's the obviously out of control nature of outages and service limitation on both sites.

It ticks me off that the media make a big deal out of healthcare.gov only because of the ACA's association with the president. The VA has been inefficient and scandal plagued for as long as there has been a VA (regardless of politics). Denying vets access to their information conduit and their ability to track and file claims is nothing like putting them on endless stealth waiting lists waiting for them to die. But scandal is scandal :-)

[john999]

The VA is a system designed to fail! Planned failure is cheaper than granting benefits and services. We get old and die and the VA lives on doing their dirty work as sanctioned by both parties in congress and the Prez whoever that is at the present. The benefits system fails as does the medical system and the G.I. Bill does not pay enough to support a rabbit.