There is a 50% rise in the number of veterans looking out to have health care, but ending up on waiting lists of a month or more in comparison to a year ago.

The Department of Veterans Affairs witnessed a budget shortfall of almost $3 billion. The department has been considering measures like furloughs, hiring freezes and other measures to reduce the gap.

Last year, has increased the capacity by more than 7 million patient visits per year. But department officials have not expected how much physician workloads and demand from veterans will soar. As per the Times, some popular veterans' hospitals were witnessing rise in demand by one-fifth.

The Times were able to internal department budget documents and took interviews with department officials. On the basis of them it has been found that doctors and nurses have taken care of 2.7 million more appointments than in any previous year.

Among other things, the paper reported that an intense debate took place at the VA over a proposal that they can address shortage of funds for a new, more effective hepatitis C treatment by making cuts on new treatments among veterans.

This week, there are chances that the agency officials to petition Congress to allow them to shift money into programs that are running short of cash. Sloan D. Gibson, department's deputy secretary, said, "We are not meeting the needs of veterans, and veterans are signaling that to us by coming in for additional care, and we can't deliver it as timely as we want to".