The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing lifelong healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers and outpatient clinics located throughout the country. Non-healthcare benefits include disability compensation,vocational rehabilitation,education assistance,home loans,and life insurance. The VA also provides burial and memorial benefits to eligible veterans and family members at 135 national cemeteries.
Eric Ken Shinseki is a retired United States Army general who served as the seventh United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs (2009–2014) and the 34th Chief of Staff of the Army (1999–2003). Shinseki is a veteran of two tours of combat in the Vietnam War,in which he was awarded three Bronze Star Medals for valor and two Purple Hearts. He was the first Asian-American four-star general,and the first Asian-American Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
Charles Timothy Hagel is an American military veteran and former politician who served as the 24th United States secretary of defense from 2013 to 2015 in the administration of Barack Obama. He previously served as chairman of the president's Intelligence Advisory Board from 2009 to 2013 and as a United States senator representing Nebraska from 1997 to 2009.
Ashton Baldwin Carter was an American government official and academic who served as the 25th United States secretary of defense from February 2015 to January 2017. He later served as director of the Belfer Center for Science &International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School.
Robert MacDonald may refer to:
The Under Secretary for Benefits (USB),in the United States Department of Veterans Affairs,directs the Veterans Benefits Administration through regional offices in 50 states,the District of Columbia,Puerto Rico,and the Philippines. The Under Secretary is responsible for the administration of benefits provided by the Department to veterans and dependents,including compensation,pension,education,home loan guaranty,vocational rehabilitation,and life insurance.
The Procter &Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati,Ohio,founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer health,personal care and hygiene products;these products are organized into several segments including beauty;grooming;health care;fabric and home care;and baby,feminine,and family care. Before the sale of Pringles and Duracell to Kellogg's and Berkshire Hathaway,respectively,its product portfolio also included food,snacks,beverages,and batteries. P&G is incorporated in Ohio.
Barack Obama assumed office as president of the United States on January 20,2009,and his term ended on January 20,2017. The president has the authority to nominate members of his Cabinet to the United States Senate for confirmation under the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution.
David Jonathon Shulkin is an American physician and former government official. In 2017,Shulkin became the ninth United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs and served under President Donald Trump. He was the Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Health from 2015 until 2017,appointed by President Barack Obama. On March 28,2018,President Trump dismissed Shulkin from his position by tweet,and announced that Physician to the President Ronny Jackson would be nominated as Shulkin's successor,although Jackson's nomination was withdrawn on April 26,2018,after allegations surfaced of misconduct and mismanagement while serving in the White House. He was succeeded by Under Secretary of Defense Robert Wilkie.
Robert Orton Work is an American national security professional who served as the 32nd United States Deputy Secretary of Defense for both the Obama and Trump administrations from 2014 to 2017. Prior to that,Work was the United States Under Secretary of the Navy from 2009 to 2013,and before that served as a colonel in the United States Marine Corps;Work retired in 2001 and worked as a civilian at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) and the George Washington University in various positions relating to military and strategic study. From 2013 to 2014,he was the CEO of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). After his time as Deputy Secretary of Defense,he went on to serve on the board of Raytheon. As of October 2023,he serves on the Special Competitive Studies Project's board of advisors.
Sloan Duncan Gibson IV is the former United States Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Gibson was confirmed as the Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs by the United States Senate on February 11,2014,replacing former Deputy Secretary W. Scott Gould who resigned on May 17,2013. He became the acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs after Secretary Eric Shinseki resigned on May 30,2014. Gibson held the acting secretary and deputy secretary positions concurrently until Robert McDonald was sworn in as the Secretary of Veterans Affairs on July 30,2014.
The 2014 Veterans Health Administration controversy is a reported pattern of negligence in the treatment of United States military veterans. Critics charged that patients at the VHA hospitals had not met the target of getting an appointment within 14 days. In some hospitals,the staff falsified appointment records to appear to meet the 14-day target. Some patients died while they were on the waiting list. Defenders agreed that it was unacceptable to falsify data,but the 14-day target was unrealistic in understaffed facilities like Phoenix,and most private insurers did not meet a 14-day target either. By most measures,the VHA system provides "excellent care at low cost," wrote Paul Krugman,who believes that the attacks on the VHA system are motivated by conservatives who want to discredit a government program that works well. Conservative legislators have proposed privatizing the VHA,and legislative reforms that will make it easier for veterans to go to private doctors.
The Veterans' Access to Care through Choice,Accountability,and Transparency Act of 2014,also known as the Veterans Choice Act,is a United States public law that is intended to address the ongoing Veterans Health Administration scandal of 2014. The law expanded the number of options veterans have for receiving care and granted the United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs more power to fire senior executives. The Veterans Health Administration scandal of 2014 began with the discovery that there was on-going systematic lying by the Veterans Health Administration about the wait times veterans experienced waiting to be seen by doctors. By June 5,2014,Veterans Affairs internal investigations had identified a total of 35 veterans who had died while waiting for care in the Phoenix VHA system. Another audit determined that "more than 57,000 veterans waited at least 90 days to see a doctor,while another 63,000 over the last decade never received an initial appointment."
Deborah Ann "Deb" Henretta is an American businesswoman. She is a senior adviser for General Assembly,a global education and technology company,as well as SSA &Company,a New York-based management consulting firm. Prior to her current position,she retired in 2015 from a 30-year career at Procter &Gamble,culminating in becoming one of only two top-level women executives for the consumer goods organization.
The 2018 United States Senate election in Virginia took place on November 6,2018,to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the Commonwealth of Virginia,concurrently with other elections to the U.S. Senate,elections to the United States House of Representatives,and various state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic Senator Tim Kaine,who had been his party's unsuccessful nominee for vice president two years earlier,was re-elected to a second term in office,winning this seat by the largest margin since 1988. This was the first election since 1994 that anyone had been re-elected to this seat.
Delos Marshall "Toby" Cosgrove is an American Vietnam War veteran and former heart surgeon. He served as the president and chief executive of the Cleveland Clinic from 2004 until 2017.
Donald Michael Remy is an American attorney,former military officer,and athletic administrator who served in the Biden administration as the 9th United States Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs between July 2021 and April 2023.
Melanie "Mel" Healey is a Brazilian business executive. She is the former group president for the North American division of Procter &Gamble.
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