AP FACT CHECK: Trump on veterans' health
care, economy
CALVIN
WOODWARD and HOPE YEN,Associated Press 3 hours
ago
·
U.S. President Donald Trump, left, speaks with Philippine
President Rodrigo Duterte before the opening ceremony of the 31st Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Manila, Philippines, Monday, Nov.
13, 2017. (Mark Cristino/Pool Photo via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Veterans Day prompted President Donald
Trump and his administration to take stock of what's been done to fix health
care for those in uniform. They claimed more progress than has been made.
That tendency to overreach extended to trade and the
economy as Trump visited Japan, South Korea, Japan and then Vietnam, where he
told U.S. veterans of the Vietnam War that the Department of Veterans Affairs
has made "amazing" strides and already "is a whole new
place."
His remarks and a White House account of progress at the
VA did not acknowledge old problems that persist. For example, a key effort to
improve waiting times by revamping the VA's electronic medical record system
may not be completed for eight more years — when Trump will be out of office.
A look at some statements about the VA and other topics
arising from his travels and over the past week:
WHITE HOUSE: "President Trump signed the Veterans
Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act of 2017, taking action to streamline
the appeals process for disability compensation claims within the VA. More than
470,000 veterans are awaiting pending decisions regarding their appeals."
THE FACTS: Trump signed the bill in August, part of a bid
to reduce a rapidly growing claims backlog, but its immediate impact is
overstated, as it will have no effect on the 470,000 pending claims.
Under the legislation, veterans will be able to file
"express" appeals if they waive their right to a hearing or the
ability to submit new evidence.
While lawmakers hope the legislation ultimately could
reduce average wait times to less than a year, it applies almost entirely to
newly filed appeals.
Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin has said the VA
would need Congress to approve an additional $800 million for "hiring
surges" of additional appeals processors if the VA hoped to clear its
current backlog within 10 years.
___
TRUMP: "Right now, our trade with Japan is not fair
and it's not open, but I know it will be, soon. We want free and reciprocal
trade, but right now our trade with Japan is not free and it's not
reciprocal." And: "Many millions of cars are sold by Japan into the
United States, whereas virtually no cars go from the United States into
Japan." — remarks to business leaders in Tokyo on Monday.
THE FACTS: When Trump calls for reciprocity in Japan-U.S.
trade, he might want to be careful what he wishes for.
With autos, for example, Japan places no tariff on fully
assembled vehicles that are imported. But the U.S. has a 2.5 percent tariff on
most imported vehicles — 25 percent on pickup trucks. That imbalance — or lack
of reciprocity — favors the U.S.
It's true U.S. vehicle sales in Japan pale in comparison
with Japanese sales in the U.S. Detroit has long complained about regulations
that stop U.S. carmakers from opening dealerships or selling cars in Japan. But
there are other reasons for the disparity in the auto trade, as well. For
example, Japan uses right-hand-drive vehicles; the U.S. mainly makes
left-hand-drive vehicles in its domestic industry.
And Trump's point about Japanese vehicles pouring into
the U.S. is somewhat off the mark. Made-in-Japan vehicles are a distinct
minority of the vehicles sold in the U.S. by Japanese automakers.
More than half the vehicles sold in the U.S. by Japanese
manufacturers are built in the U.S., says the Japan Automobile Manufacturers
Association. Three-quarters of them are built in North America.
___
WHITE HOUSE statement Thursday: "President Trump
announced that the Department of Veterans Affairs will adopt the same
Electronic Health Record as the Department of Defense. VA's adoption ... will
ultimately result in all patient data residing in one common system, enabling
the immediate availability of service members' medical records and seamless
care between the departments."
THE FACTS: While the administration did announce in June
that it would overhaul the VA's aging information technology system, Shulkin
admitted to Congress last month that the project to revamp electronic medical
records won't be completed for seven to eight years. The full costs of the
project also are not known and have yet to be budgeted.
An upgraded IT system is central to the VA's effort to
reduce wait times for medical care as well as to fulfill Trump's promise of
increasing private care options for veterans. Under Shulkin's plan to expand
the Choice private-sector program, the VA would outsource more routine
veterans' care to private providers including MinuteClinics while treating more
complex injuries. Success of that plan requires a seamless sharing of medical
records not only with the Pentagon but also with private physicians, a capability
the VA does not currently have.
Shulkin also has yet to negotiate pricing for the no-bid
contract with the company that designed the Pentagon's IT system, estimated to
cost at least $16 billion. The big price tag has spurred bills in Congress to
require regular updates from the VA on timeliness and cost projections, as well
as risks such as breaches to patient privacy.
___
WILBUR ROSS, U.S. commerce secretary: "Today's
signings are a good example of how we can productively build up our bilateral
trade." — remarks Thursday in Beijing.
XI JINPING, China's president: "During this visit,
the two sides signed over $250 billion U.S. of commercial deals and two-way
investment agreements." — remarks Thursday in Beijing.
THE FACTS: Papers signed in China during Trump's visit
were largely a packaging of previously worked-out deals, tentative investments,
statements of intent and extensions of business with existing Chinese
customers, with some new orders. They do not point to a turnaround in
deep-seated trade tensions between China and the U.S.
Such signing ceremonies in China are often just that,
ceremonial. They typically represent purchases that Chinese customers already
planned to make and held off on announcing. General Motors' $2.2 billion piece
of the package, for example, consists mostly of selling parts to its existing
joint venture with the Chinese government.
Alaska, however, welcomed an agreement that could spur
construction of a long-sought pipeline to ship natural gas from the North Slope
to a port for export to Asia. Oil companies backed away from the project, but
the agreement with Chinese interests means all parties will work toward a
decision by the end of next year on whether to proceed.
___
WHITE HOUSE: "President Trump has ensured continued
access to care in the Veterans Choice Program by signing the VA Choice and
Quality Employment Act, authorizing $2.1 billion in additional funds for the
Veterans Choice Program."
THE FACTS: This statement glosses over one of several
budget shortfalls by the VA. Congress was forced in August to approve $2.1
billion in emergency money to keep Choice running after the VA had repeatedly
understated costs of the program, assuring lawmakers for much of the year that
money would last until January. Shulkin subsequently revealed an emergency
shortfall in June that threatened medical care for tens of thousands of
veterans.
The $2.1 billion was intended to last until February. But
weeks after receiving the money, the VA acknowledged that money for Choice
would again run out sooner than expected, requiring Congress to approve
additional stopgap financing before the end of the year or face disruptions to
veterans' health care.
Lawmakers have yet to act, in part as the Trump
administration sorts out longer-term costs to the private-sector program.
___
WHITE HOUSE: "The VA has launched its 'Access and
Quality Tool,' allowing veterans to see online the wait times at VA
locations."
THE FACTS: An effort started by Shulkin when he was VA
undersecretary of health in President Barack Obama's administration, the VA
website www.accesstocare.va.gov provides data on wait times as well as on
veterans' satisfaction ratings in getting timely appointments, something that
no other health care system in the country does.
Still, major veterans groups such as Veterans of Foreign
Wars have faulted the data for being misleading and not depicting wait times
the way a typical person would view it.
The Government Accountability Office, for instance, has
noted that the data for returning patients do not include the amount of wait
time from when a veteran initially asks for care and when a scheduler reaches
out to set an appointment, which it said could be lengthy. In addition, GAO
earlier this year continued to find evidence that VA data can be unreliable because
of schedulers recording wrong dates or changing dates outright, though the VA
says it is implementing new checks and training to help identify
"outliers" in scheduling.
Veterans of Foreign Wars told Congress last month that
its survey found only 67 percent of veterans said they had obtained a VA
appointment within 30 days, less than the 93 percent that VA reports.
___
WHITE HOUSE: "The White House has opened a brand new
VA Hotline staffed principally by veterans and direct family members of
veterans to ensure that no complaint goes unaddressed."
THE FACTS: It opened, but it did not get off to a smooth
start. Trump pledged during the presidential campaign to create a "private
White House hotline" answered by a real person 24 hours a day to take
complaints from veterans, leading the VA to create a hotline beginning in June.
Originally scheduled to be fully operational by Aug. 15, it has encountered
some delays. In a letter to the VA last month, Sen. Jon Tester, the top
Democrat on the Veterans Affairs Committee, complained, "The White House
is frequently routing these calls back to local VA offices, which are often
understaffed and do not have the ability to address the additional casework in
a timely manner."
Tester noted the VA already had several existing options
for receiving complaints from veterans and urged better coordination to make
sure no one falls through the cracks.
___
TRUMP: "Numbers are phenomenal over the last — since
November 8th, Election Day. Our unemployment is at a 17-year low. We've gotten
almost 2 million more people in the workforce in just that short period of
time. I've reduced regulations terrifically, frankly, if I do say so
myself." — remarks to business leaders in Tokyo, Monday. Tweet from
previous weekend: "Unemployment is down to 4.1%, lowest in 17 years. 1.5
million new jobs created since I took office. Highest stock Market ever, up
$5.4 trill."
THE FACTS: His numbers are close to the mark. Trump can
rightfully brag about the U.S. economy, but it's not quite as exceptional as he
says, and he can't yet legitimately claim that his record on job creation is
vastly superior to Obama's. Many of the economic figures he cites are advancing
a recovery from the Great Recession that dates back to the middle of 2009.
The unemployment rate did slip to 4.1 percent in October.
But that was in part because many Americans gave up searching for work — one of
the criticisms Trump made of Obama's record during the 2016 campaign.
Trump also takes credit for helping create on average
168,500 jobs a month, but Obama in 2016 averaged about 187,000 jobs a month. Of
course, hiring should slow as the unemployment rate declines because fewer
people are searching for work. When someone stops seeking a job and drops out
of the labor force, this person is no longer counted among the officially
unemployed.
As for the stock market, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
returned to its previous peak in March 2013 and has been setting records ever
since. The promise of corporate tax cuts by Trump has helped the stock market,
but many of the gains rest on the foundations of an economic recovery that saw
corporate profits climb.
___
Associated Press writers David Koenig in Dallas, Tom
Krisher in Detroit and Joe McDonald in Beijing contributed to this report.
