美国国家公共电台 NPR VA Says It Will Stop Arbitrarily Dropping Caregivers From Program

 

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

For the past two years, NPR has been reporting on shortcomings in one of the VA's most popular and most troubled programs. The Caregiver Assistance Program pays stipends² to family members, mostly wives and mothers, who care for their disabled veterans at home. But many caregivers have been thrown off the program, often without explanation. Today the VA announced there will be no more discharges.

NPR's Quil Lawrence joins me now. Hey, Quil.

QUIL LAWRENCE, BYLINE³: Hey, Mary Louise.

KELLY: I feel like I should start by saying congratulations. It was your reporting that led to today's action by VA Secretary Robert Wilkie, so congratulations.

LAWRENCE: Least I can do.

KELLY: Remind us of what you found.

LAWRENCE: Well, we've been following this program, as you said. It's for post-9/11 vets⁴ right now. And once they came up with it, it just seemed right. For decades, mostly women, wives and mothers - some men - have been taking care of disabled veterans from wars like Vietnam, Korea and World War II. And with the post-9/11 generation, they thought, why don't we pay these people a stipend¹? They are doing millions of dollars of work that a nurse would have to do if the VA had to pay for that care.

So it was really popular. It got oversubscribed instantly. And the standards weren't really consistent. When we looked at it, we saw in the last few years after hearing rumors⁵ that caregivers were getting thrown off without really any consistency⁶ or any given reason. Building on that shaky foundation, Congress is now going to expand the program to veterans from earlier eras.

KELLY: Now, you had a report I remember hearing that aired just earlier this week. And that was detailing more people being thrown off the program.

LAWRENCE: Right. It was the third time we went out to look at this program in a particular region. We went to the Tennessee Valley this time. We found that they had dropped 80 percent of their caregivers in the past two years - 400 caregivers thrown off. And that included two double amputees and a triple amputee. And with a grim sense of humor, Chris Kurtz, who lost both his legs in Afghanistan and some fingers off his left hand - he said, nope, my legs haven't grown back, but I got knocked off the program. And the VA secretary, Robert Wilkie, was confronted about this at a joint⁷ hearing this week. And he was questioned here by Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat⁸ from Washington.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PATTY MURRAY: The VA assured me that it had resolved the problems that led to these type of actions, but it's very clear that's not true.

ROBERT WILKIE: My promise to you is that I am going to do everything I can to make sure everybody stays in the program. It's that important to me personally.

LAWRENCE: So that's the first step, is that they're going to halt these revocations. It's not clear if anybody's going to be reinstated.

KELLY: Just very quickly, Quil, what happens now?

LAWRENCE: Well, we're going to see how this admission act expands. There are a lot of complaints in Congress about a lack of transparency. The VA has missed its first deadline to expand the program, and vets are worried it's going to take years for them to get on.

KELLY: All right, thank you, Quil.

LAWRENCE: Thanks.

KELLY: NPR's Quil Lawrence.

1 stipend   

n.薪贴；奖学金；养老金

参考例句：

• The company is going to ajust my stipend from this month onwards.从这一个月开始公司将对我的薪金作调整。
• This sum was nearly a third of his total stipend.这笔钱几乎是他全部津贴的三分之一。

2 stipends   

n.（尤指牧师的）薪俸( stipend的名词复数 )

参考例句：

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 vets   

abbr.veterans （复数）老手，退伍军人；veterinaries （复数）兽医n.兽医( vet的名词复数 )；老兵；退伍军人；兽医诊所v.审查（某人过去的记录、资格等）( vet的第三人称单数 )；调查；检查；诊疗

参考例句：

• I helped train many young vets and veterinary nurses too. 我还帮助培训了许多年青的兽医和护士。 来自互联网
• In fact, we've expanded mental health counseling and services for our vets. 实际上，我们已经扩大了退伍军人的心理健康咨询和服务。 来自互联网

5 rumors   

n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷

参考例句：

• Rumors have it that the school was burned down. 有谣言说学校给烧掉了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Rumors of a revolt were afloat. 叛变的谣言四起。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 consistency   

n.一贯性，前后一致，稳定性；(液体的)浓度

参考例句：

• Your behaviour lacks consistency.你的行为缺乏一贯性。
• We appreciate the consistency and stability in China and in Chinese politics.我们赞赏中国及其政策的连续性和稳定性。

7 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

8 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。