May 18 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama is "madder than hell" about reports of veterans dying while awaiting health care and allegations that hospitals may have altered records to hide lengthy delays, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough said.

"Nobody is more outraged about this problem right now" than Obama, McDonough said in an interview broadcast today on CBS's "Face the Nation" program. "And he will continue to press, as it relates to this question of timely access to care, until it is fixed."

Veterans Affairs Inspector General Richard J. Griffin told a Senate committee last week he is investigating allegations that as many as 40 veterans died while awaiting care at a Phoenix hospital. He is trying to determine if the deaths were related to the delays and whether the hospital's electronic wait list purposely omitted some names.