Herschel Walker's ties to veterans program face scrutiny

[Demovictory9]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/herschel-walkers-ties-to-veterans-program-face-scrutiny/ar-AAXxYYu

ASHINGTON (AP) — Herschel Walker, the football legend and leading Republican Senate candidate in Georgia, often boasts of his work helping service members and veterans struggling with mental health.

In interviews and campaign appearances, the former Dallas Cowboy and Heisman Trophy winner takes credit for founding, co-founding and sometimes operating a program called Patriot Support. The program, he says, has taken him to military bases all over the world.

“About fifteen years ago, I started a program called Patriot Support,” Walker said in an interview with conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt last October. “People need to know I started a military program, a military program that treats (thousands) of soldiers a year,” he told Savannah TV station WTGS in February.

But corporate documents, court records and Senate disclosures reviewed by The Associated Press tell a more complicated story. Together they present a portrait of a celebrity spokesman who overstated his role in a for-profit program that is alleged to have preyed upon veterans and service members while defrauding the government.

------

But Patriot Support is not a charity. It's a for-profit program specifically marketed to veterans that is offered by Universal Health Services, one of the largest hospital chains in the U.S. Walker wasn't the program's founder, either. It was created 11 years before Universal Health Services says it hired Walker as a spokesman, which paid him a salary of $331,000 last year.

[AZProgressive]

1. That is horrible

From the link:

Prosecutors allege Universal Health Services and its affiliates aggressively pushed those with government-sponsored insurance into inpatient mental health care to drive revenue. That's because, unlike typical private insurers, government plans do not limit the duration of hospital stays for psychiatric care so long as specific criteria are met, making such patients more profitable, the government alleged.

To achieve this end, the company pushed staff at its mental health facilities to misdiagnose patients and falsify documents in order to hospitalize those who did not require it, according to court records. In other cases, they failed to discharge those who no longer needed hospitalization, according to the DOJ.

A lengthy 2016 investigation by the website BuzzFeed included interviews with former patients, including a veteran, who said they went to Universal Health Services seeking a consultation or counseling only to find themselves held in inpatient care, sometimes against their will.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/herschel-walkers-ties-to-veterans-program-face-scrutiny/ar-AAXxYYu

[vlyons]

2. just another Republican grifter

and a stupid one at that

[Demovictory9]

3. yeah, but article goes on to say that he has God status in GA from way back

not sure if these stories of his grift can overcome that

[CurtEastPoint]

7. as a Georgian, there is truth to that. Also it scares me that he could win.

[Jarqui]

4. Here's the audio of his quote during his interview by Hugh Hewitt

?t=1974

It is not out of context.
He claimed that he started the program - which he didn't.
The tone infers that it is a charity as Hugh Heitt thanks him for visiting all the bases.
He did not disclose they were paying him $331,000/yr to visit the bases to recruit patients for the "program".

How this man can be a candidate for the US Senate boggles the mind. Yet, he'd fit right in with the Repugs in Washington.

[Roy Rolling]

5. Nobody Asks

WTF! Why is a health insurance company paying a washed-up football player $331,000 a year?

This is why healthcare is fucked up in America.

[Icanthinkformyself]

6. Honestly,

does anyone expect a Republican running for office to be honest? Or, any Republican at any time, anywhere. His 'program' sounds like the 'Wounded Warriors Project' scam. All of these 'private' charities are nothing more than slush funds for paying off those who parrot the Fear, Fraud and Fascists Party line of hatred, grievance and playing victim. These 'foundations' should be disbanded, their assets liquidated and turned over to our DOD to be used to take care of the people it has used as cannon fodder. They are part of the conservatives and Republicans money laundering operations. Every charitable organization run by a conservative or Republicans should be investigated as a fraud, 'cause it probably is.
I still haven't seen the media shift to reality yet when it comes to 'reporting' on the mid-terms. Democrats are doing very well across the country in every area. School boards and administrative offices and election officials, all overwhelmingly Democratic and, more importantly and foretelling, far more are progressive than DINO. And, look for the union label coming to a Starbucks and Amazon near you.

[Darkstar53142]

8. This is a form of stolen valor...

When con men and those with mental illness fake being in the armed forces, they are vilified when exposed.

This dude is no different and should not be treated in such a manner.

[Wounded Bear]

9. GMTA...my first thought also...nt