Page 9 - Phoenix Va News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Right now a half million veterans are waiting more than 9 on days to see a doctor. tonight for the first time, a senior v.a. official sits down to answer what is really going on and why the v.a. is not getting better. our drew griffin ton is keeping them honest. >> reporter: wait times are not getting better. listen to what this whistle-blower says is happening right now at the phoenix v.a., the same phoenix v.a. where last year cnn unkoufrd the fact that veterans were dies. >> the reality is veterans are waiting three, six months sometimes. >> reporter: like most of our sources inside the v.a...

Numbers. when asked, we were sent this document, and the dates and the future and scheduled date and various readjustment fs for the no-show or the cancel by a veteran. according to statement from the v.a. this methodology allows v.a. to capture the full wait time experience of the patient. sources involved in actual schedulinging tell cnn it is just confusing. >> the staff who are telling us that what they think they are seeing is recalculations, number manipulations to paint a rosier picture than it is. >> absolutely not. i wouldn't stand for it not for a minute. >> the new leadership at the...

Kind of on them. >> so jake if proper procedures were followed in this case i mean it's got to be asked, is the v.a. dealing with suicidal veterans adequately enough? >> reporter: that's a great question. although there are plenty of suicidal veterans who do get into the v.a. system and access it this is hardly the first instance like this this richard miles story a cry for help not heard. i've spoken to many experts and they say it's difficult to tell that a veteran is suicidal if he says he is not, though looking back at the richard miles case with all the red flags, the missing persons repo...

Not even a visit. >> they feel like what they get is a lot of rhetoric, a lot of promises, a lot of talk. one press briefing in washington, d.c ed henry asked a fantastic question yesterday of josh earnest about why he isn't going to phoenix and he rehashed how things are getting fixed and they're better. all they hear are words and promises. they want to see a leader, a commander in chief who stands up and says this is a priority and we really care about this. we're going to fix this because they haven't seen the changes yet. >> the president is also going to go to michigan to stand inside a ...

Are you concerned that the president is missing an opportunity? >> to say the least. it's not as if -- that's why we're calling on him to go to the v.a. it's not as if we're calling on him to fly there. he's already doing that. he's got a speech there tomorrow morning. all he has to do is go one extra mile to go to the facility and demonstrate that the v.a. and this scandal is still a priority for him. we haven't forgotten what happened at phoenix. we haven't forgotten what happened in april. we haven't forgotten that there are still veterans waiting on list, like secret lists across this nati...