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AP Investigation: Incidents of Long Wait Times Lower at Maine VA Clinics

AUGUSTA, Maine - A year after revelations that sick veterans were facing excessively long wait times for care at facilities run by the Veterans Affairs Administration - and that the VA was actively covering up those long wait times - some things have changed at the VA.

But, nationwide, one of those things is not wait times. According to an Associated Press investigation released today, the number of patients facing long wait times hasn't dropped at all -- in fact, the number of appointments that take more than 90 days to set up has almost doubled.

In Maine, at the Togus VA Medical Center in Augusta and the state's outpatient clinics, things are looking better.

Patrick Whittle, of the Maine Associated Press, looked at what the investigation revealed about Maine's VA wait times. Whittle talked with MPBN's Nora Flaherty.

 

Nora is originally from the Boston area but has lived in Chicago, Michigan, New York City and at the northern tip of New York state. Nora began working in public radio at Michigan Radio in Ann Arbor and has been an on-air host, a reporter, a digital editor, a producer, and, when they let her, played records.