'All about the money' — VA apologizes after accidental voicemail

The Department of Veterans Affairs is apologizing to a veteran who received a voicemail from a facility in El Paso, Texas, in which VA employees can be heard speculating that the veteran wanted to maintain his 100% disability rating, while one of them says: “It’s all about the money.”

“VA deeply apologizes to this veteran, and we are contacting him immediately,” VA press secretary Terrence Hayes told Task & Purpose on Tuesday. “The lack of care and compassion shown by these staff is unacceptable, and we are urgently investigating this incident – and will take swift and appropriate action. Veterans deserve respect and the very best care our country has to offer, and we at VA will never accept anything less from our employees.”

It is unclear exactly when the call took place. First, an audio recording of the spoken message was made posted on Instagram on Monday. The patient’s name and the calling El Paso VA employee have both been removed from the recording. It appears the VA employee was unaware that she had not hung up after leaving a short message asking the veteran to call her back.

In the brief conversation, a male VA employee, who has not been identified, asks the female employee if the veteran should come in for a lung exam, prompting the woman to check the patient’s diagnosis.

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Then the male employee says, “Yes, it’s all about the money. Trust me, I know this.”

The woman responds by saying the man is “100%,” a likely reference to his disability rating. She adds that he’s “probably trying to keep it.”

“There’s so much going on at the VA that he thinks he’s going to lose his disability,” says the male VA employee. “And again, he probably wants travel expenses as well.”

“Oh yes,” the female VA employee replies. “I’ve heard people get angry about that. Their travel reimbursement was wrong (garbled audio) and I said, ‘We had nothing to do with that. Calm down.'”

Task and goal cannot reach the Instagram user who posted the audio of the conversation.

So far in 2024, the VA has provided $187 billion in benefits to 6.7 million veterans and survivors, according to the VA. The percentage of living veterans hosting disabled veterans has also increased from 18% in 2014 to 33% today.

But like any other organization, there have been times when the VA has faced public scrutiny and criticism. A VA employee in Georgia was suspended indefinitely without pay after him body-slammed a 73-year-old veteran in 2022. The following year, VA claims processors told NBC News they struggled to keep up with the new cases after the PACT law expanded benefits for veterans exposed to toxins.

‘All about the money’ — VA apologizes after accidental voicemail

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