Imagine having access to up to $100 million of support to help homeless veterans. How would you use those funds during a national health crisis?
Such was the case for the Connected Care Program at the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic. You’d think a lot could get accomplished with access to so much monetary support. But, things didn’t go exactly as planned.
A recent Veterans Health Administration report revealed a massive failure. Thousands of phones bought for veterans with those funds were never used. The program wasn’t all bad, though, as TeleHealth access did increase.
Read on to learn more about the Connected Care Program and its estimated impact on veterans.
Connected Care Program: How it Started
The Connected Care Program got authorized by the FCC in April of 2020. The goal of this massive program was to provide telehealth service access to those in need. The program prioritized homeless veterans and low-income Americans.
Approximately $100 million got pledged towards the effort to increase access to Telehealth. In all, the funding went to 59 projects, including funding the VA.
Projects got authorized to fund 85% of the technology required to improve telehealth. In other words, project managers could buy smartphones for users. The idea was that these phones would allow veterans or others to have access to healthcare.
How it Went: Most Smartphones Went Unused
Reports say the Department of Veterans Affairs received access to $7 million. They used that money to buy approximately 10,000 phones. The phones also had unlimited prepaid calling plans.
News of the program spread in different military news outlets. VA officials made a good faith effort to distribute those phones to veterans who could use them.
Despite that, there was a major intelligence issue. About 85% of the phones never got used at all. Officials cite a ‘lack of information’ as the reason for the failure. In all, the program resulted in a waste of about $2 million!
Access to TeleHealth Did Make a Difference
While $2 million in losses is nothing to scoff at, the program wasn’t a complete failure. Measurable results got recorded. Telehealth visits increased from 2,500 to about 38,000 between Feb. 2020 and Sep. 2020.
More veterans could access VA Mobile, and they got the care they needed.
The question is — how accurate are these results? Did these visits only increase due to the pandemic? Or, did the phones help propel the visits? More research is necessary before we come to a conclusion.
Helping Homeless Veterans in 2022 and Beyond
Helping homeless veterans should be a top priority for everyone in 2022 and beyond. Veterans made the ultimate sacrifice to support us, so we need to show them the care they deserve.
The bad news is that good intentions won’t solve the current problem. As is clear by the above example, throwing tons of money at a problem doesn’t always work, either. We need to work together to come up with better ideas and workable solutions.
In the meantime, you’ll want to stay up-to-date on the most recent benefit information. That way, you can take advantage of any benefits you deserve. Head over to our benefits new section for more of our latest articles.
This article originally appeared on USMilitary.org and has been published with permission.
How do I get a phone
I’m a disabled veteran and I need a new smart phone my phone number is 6058585596 thanks
I just read about this program today (21 August 2022). The VA claims to have spread the word via numerous military news outlets, but I never heard anything about it prior to this date – and apparently a lot of other veterans didn’t either. Since 85% of the 10,000 purchased cell phones and service plans were never used, there should still be 8,500 of them still be available! If not, where are they? What happened to them? Why is the VA not trying harder to distribute them instead of flushing nearly two million dollars down the toilet (the seats of which our government probably pays $5,000 a piece for)? I often hear people shamefully complaining about how low-income individuals receive simple, basic, oftentimes necessary and life-sustaining “handouts” all the time – but never do they hold the people who run our government accountable for the millions – and most likely billions – of dollars in taxpayer money that gets tossed in the dumpster every single year. The waste in this country is reprehensible, and this Connected Care Program is just one miniscule example of it. I could use one of those cell phones myself, and I’m damned sure there are more than 8,499 other people who could as well. How do we get one?
Just wondering if I spent 4 years in the National Guards and came out with a honorable discharge because I was away for our two weeks and I was in the hospital when they was leaving and came and got me out of hospital and 3 days in they sent me home for a bleeding ulcer in witch that’s what I was in hospital for to start with.
Huh?
Did not know, how do I get one of these phones, someone please help.
Hello and good day.
What is the procedure, of getting a phone from VA? Please let me know something.
Sincerely Thanks. Raymond Worden
CAN SOMEONE HELP ME GET AN IPHONE. I AM 70% DISABLED VIETNAM MILITARY VETERAN–WISCONSIN
How do i get a va phone?
Call the president and tell him you are a woman basketball player and you were heading to Russia on a hash oil mission and you should get free phone plane ticket to anywhere you want to go and get out of jail card good for communist country’s and last but not least free criminal representation with communist prisoner swaps how’s that what you only want a roof over your head what the fuck you vetrans want everything all you did was put your life on the line to protect the United States and go without showering for days on end because we only had water for drinking and food shit they give us the choice of 12 dehydrated food three something we got one dehydrated prepared for us but same 12 for over a year and a tent 15 person when we were in the rear that 25 miles to 45 from front line and I don’t want to brag anymore about our first class amenities daily scud attakes or fly by with Patriot missile hit that were brought down in friendly air space there for our people get hit by shrapnel and friendly casualties were more than likely so what kind of favors are the United States going to do for us let us live and die please don’t go out of your way because I know you love to tell people what you are doing for us or tell us what you had for us but we didn’t get it ok once in awhile but I feel like we’re better off left where we were because coming home to be told lies and your left over Medicare is more of a slap in the face when we see what the illegals are getting and how we are treated everyone we go to VA for health care I think the one that didn’t make it home are the heroes and why did I not get to stay because coming home was worse than staying are they don’t appreciate or give one fuck about us anyway and if you let us finish our mission instead of pulling us back that close to a victory is nothing but a disgrace to us and the people and systems we were to protect
I have a smart phone by the VA. It’s an iphone SE (second generation). 64 gig of internal memory, no memory card slot or headphone jack. 1 year of service paid unlimited talk, text, and data, through T-Mobile. Talk to your primary care provider through your local VA medical center or social work as well. After a year you are responsible for the service plan and are able to trade in the phone for an upgrade. Nice phone, a small screen, but who is going to complain. Iphone in my opinion has more security features and privacy as well. Full of cool analytics and you can block and see your sites that track your personal info. Google is pretty much the worst about it. With apple it’s not required to have Google as are many of the Android phones out there. If you do end up with an Android phone I recommend downloading the App “Sophos Interceptor X” and “Sophos Workspace” good apps for Android privacy and security. Free on Google Play. You can also get free VPN through the app “DNS changer – trust DNS” also available on play store.
How do I get a phone
Paul – 605-743-4743 – how do I get a phone
Biden, give me a call if you are a Veteran and get a new iPhone
Well I really liked studying it. This information procured by you is very practical for proper planning.
Next to my Mortgage payment which is my biggest payout each month AT&T follows second. I have paid them all my life since the time they were referred to as Ma Bell..
A complimentary smart phone would be highly appreciated at this time in my life.Everything keeps getting more and more costly including the mortgage.
How does a homeless person keep their phone charged
can we keep the same plan or can we upgrade it? plus can we trade the phone in for a newer one when my year is up?
I’ve got some old cell phones I’d like to give away. Where do I send them and to whos attention?