Watchdog rebukes VA over failure to refund $110M in medical fees

A federal watchdog on Wednesday criticized Veterans Affairs leaders for failing to refund millions of dollars in canceled medical co-pay charges to veterans, despite knowing about the problem for years.

The reprimand from the Office of Special Counsel, or OSC, comes after a whistleblower report that department administrators had “no agency policies, procedures, or plans” to get the backlog of repayments addressed despite being aware of the problem.

In messages to OSC, VA officials acknowledged conducting a recent review into the problem and blamed it on staffing issues. They pledged to “stay current with refund requests and work the backlog as time allows.”