Veterans' Affairs Committee - King_SVAC Confirmation Hearing Pt 2_01.21.25
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continue the outreach program that secretary Mcdonough started.
>> Senator king.
>> Thank you. I want to make something very clear. I don't want ai to decide if one of my veterans is entitled to the benefits they have earned, period. Kapish? Mr. Collins: There is no veteran that will miss the benefits they have earned by the way that we process their claims. If there are better ways to process a claim and our veterans can get benefits quicker, I will look at any opportunity to get their benefits quicker. If that involves ai, then I am not willing to take it off the table. I am not willing to be in a position where ai is randomly in a situation especially with benefits and others that are more difficult. There will always be a person to oversee the process.
>> The experience just far -- thus far with ai in insurance is not positive. I don't want our veterans to go
00:01:00
through claims litigation in order to overturn the decision of a machine somewhere. I understand you are not willing to take it off the table. I hope it will be handled with great care because it will be very tempting to reduce staff and replace it with this technology. I am not confident in the technology right now to be making these life or death decisions for our veterans. Mr. Collins: I understand and respect your position. I view this as life or death. These are decisions that can be made at how we look at the best efficiencies. There will always be especially when it comes to the veterans benefits, someone who oversees that to make sure it is working properly.
>> Thank you. You will be under tremendous pressure as we move into this difficult budgetary situation. There is a lot of pressure to reduce the budget. It has been pointed out that the veterans administration is one of the largest pots of money in the federal government. It is very easy to focus on the
00:02:01
bureaucracy of that term which carries with it a negative connotation. I would point out that in many cases staff cuts equal benefit cuts. If there is no one to answer the phone or if the process is delayed to the point where the veteran dies or just gives up, that is a benefit cut. As you are under this pressure and I believe you will be, I hope you will take care to balance necessary efficiencies against the loss of services. As you have said repeatedly, you don't want us to have to be advocating for our veterans because they have to get their benefits without having to come to a congressional office. If staff cuts end up having nobody to answer the phone or answer the phone only after 100 rings or say we will have to talk to you six days from now or six months from now, that will only aggravate the problem and
00:03:03
you will be hearing from us on a daily basis instead of every other day. Mr. Collins: Your point is taken. The interesting question is as these very things arise right now at the staffing levels, there is more of an issue of are we doing things as efficiently and processing where we can with the current staff that we have with us. Sometimes you have to look at the process. Why is it that we are back at 250,000 backlog of benefits when we have $130 billion increased funds and 70,000 employees? Somethg G is broken about that.
>> I agree. I commend you for wanting to follow up on that. I have no problem with efficiency. I cannot complain about a hiring freeze. I signed a hiring freeze at my inaugural address as governor. Onon the other hand I think the point that senator Blumenthal was making, a hiring freeze should not apply to direct care workers. If my hospital needs a cardiologist and it has been
00:04:03
open for a couple of months because they are hard to find, this hiring freeze should not prohibit them from continuing to search for and find a cardiologist and sign them up. I hope you will distinguish between direct care workers and others who serve veterans behind the scenes. Mr. Collins: Thank you, senator. We will always make sure that no matter what the issue is, I will always fight for making sure our veterans are getting the care in the proper way that they need to.
>> Final point, one of the things you will have to face is increasing demands for mental health services and long-term care. Long-term care as veterans age will become a greater issue. The Elizabeth toll act starts to address that. I commend that to your thought process and perhaps you can have people thinking about how we will provide those services that will become more and more necessary as time goes on. Mr. Collins: Thank you, senator. I appreciate that. Those of the things that are
00:05:04
already keeping me up at night. I look forward to reaching out for your help on that as well.
>> I commend you for your
>> Senator king.
>> Thank you. I want to make something very clear. I don't want ai to decide if one of my veterans is entitled to the benefits they have earned, period. Kapish? Mr. Collins: There is no veteran that will miss the benefits they have earned by the way that we process their claims. If there are better ways to process a claim and our veterans can get benefits quicker, I will look at any opportunity to get their benefits quicker. If that involves ai, then I am not willing to take it off the table. I am not willing to be in a position where ai is randomly in a situation especially with benefits and others that are more difficult. There will always be a person to oversee the process.
>> The experience just far -- thus far with ai in insurance is not positive. I don't want our veterans to go
00:01:00
through claims litigation in order to overturn the decision of a machine somewhere. I understand you are not willing to take it off the table. I hope it will be handled with great care because it will be very tempting to reduce staff and replace it with this technology. I am not confident in the technology right now to be making these life or death decisions for our veterans. Mr. Collins: I understand and respect your position. I view this as life or death. These are decisions that can be made at how we look at the best efficiencies. There will always be especially when it comes to the veterans benefits, someone who oversees that to make sure it is working properly.
>> Thank you. You will be under tremendous pressure as we move into this difficult budgetary situation. There is a lot of pressure to reduce the budget. It has been pointed out that the veterans administration is one of the largest pots of money in the federal government. It is very easy to focus on the
00:02:01
bureaucracy of that term which carries with it a negative connotation. I would point out that in many cases staff cuts equal benefit cuts. If there is no one to answer the phone or if the process is delayed to the point where the veteran dies or just gives up, that is a benefit cut. As you are under this pressure and I believe you will be, I hope you will take care to balance necessary efficiencies against the loss of services. As you have said repeatedly, you don't want us to have to be advocating for our veterans because they have to get their benefits without having to come to a congressional office. If staff cuts end up having nobody to answer the phone or answer the phone only after 100 rings or say we will have to talk to you six days from now or six months from now, that will only aggravate the problem and
00:03:03
you will be hearing from us on a daily basis instead of every other day. Mr. Collins: Your point is taken. The interesting question is as these very things arise right now at the staffing levels, there is more of an issue of are we doing things as efficiently and processing where we can with the current staff that we have with us. Sometimes you have to look at the process. Why is it that we are back at 250,000 backlog of benefits when we have $130 billion increased funds and 70,000 employees? Somethg G is broken about that.
>> I agree. I commend you for wanting to follow up on that. I have no problem with efficiency. I cannot complain about a hiring freeze. I signed a hiring freeze at my inaugural address as governor. Onon the other hand I think the point that senator Blumenthal was making, a hiring freeze should not apply to direct care workers. If my hospital needs a cardiologist and it has been
00:04:03
open for a couple of months because they are hard to find, this hiring freeze should not prohibit them from continuing to search for and find a cardiologist and sign them up. I hope you will distinguish between direct care workers and others who serve veterans behind the scenes. Mr. Collins: Thank you, senator. We will always make sure that no matter what the issue is, I will always fight for making sure our veterans are getting the care in the proper way that they need to.
>> Final point, one of the things you will have to face is increasing demands for mental health services and long-term care. Long-term care as veterans age will become a greater issue. The Elizabeth toll act starts to address that. I commend that to your thought process and perhaps you can have people thinking about how we will provide those services that will become more and more necessary as time goes on. Mr. Collins: Thank you, senator. I appreciate that. Those of the things that are
00:05:04
already keeping me up at night. I look forward to reaching out for your help on that as well.
>> I commend you for your
Veterans' Affairs Committee - King_SVAC Confirmation Hearing Pt 2_01.21.25
01/21/2025 05:25:05 PM
01/21/2025 05:30:16 PM