As Bad As The VA Situation Is, When The Dust Settles We May All Be Better Off

[Safetyhit]

I won't bother posting links because if you don't know what's going on then you have other things to do and don't need to comment here. For the majority that do know this is certainly a noteworthy situation.

Also for those who died due to bureaucratic negligence, our sympathies and prayers are sent. Each and every individual case would be likely to make you feel deep sorrow for those that lived and suffered through such a betrayal, however they may, and I say so very cautiously, not have died in vain. They in fact may have served a greater cause that will benefit their fellow citizens for many years to come.

You see as many know the VA is a single pay healthcare system. The very sort of single pay system that most liberals starting with the president himself hope that the ACA will transform into one day, as that is what they pushed for initially before even many democrats in congress said it went too far.

Now the ramifications of such a plan have become real while aggressively transcending any political party. As legitimate as all of the other displays of the administrations' ineptitude were, this may be the one that changes everything. Not only might it destroy any hope of converting national healthcare into a single payer system as a result of it's inability to sustain itself as is, but it may also be the death blow to the entire concept of big government being better for everyone.

Let us all hope and pray that justice will be served and our brave Veterans will not have died in vain.

[SteyrAUG]

Unfortunately very few people will be astute enough to apply the lessons from this situation to the other and to suggest that Obamacare has any faults, potential or otherwise, will remain racist.

Bottom line is people voted for it because they thought it would be free. They really imagined a social security kind of example where the first recipients on the ground floor would simply be covered and it would be a small amount taken out of their paycheck.

In this type of government ponzi scheme the ground floor benefit receivers basically get in for little or no cost and their expenses are actually picked up by the next generation to pay into the program in a repeating cycle that ends with the last generation to pay in receiving no benefits when the system finally fails and the scheme can no longer support itself.

The people who supported Obamacare and a single provider insurance model did so because they though it would be free to them. That's all the thinking and investigation they devoted to the matter. Many still don't understand how fully screwed they are because the other shoe has yet to drop. People with delusions of free or radically cheaper health coverage simply aren't finding it.

The only real change is people who traditionally had no need for health insurance because they were young and healthy are now being required to buy it.

[ABNAK]

I work for the VA in a hands-on, direct patient care position. This crap makes us all look bad. I have NOTHING to do with scheduling appointments or delays in processing claims (which in fact is the other "side" of the VA, not the healthcare one). I get my work done in a thorough and timely fashion, even if (as happens fairly often) we are left short due to call-ins or vacations not picked up for OT. Yeah, we have some lazy-ass people but having worked in healthcare for 24+ years I can tell you it ain't just the VA afflicted with slugs. The majority of us do our jobs just as we would anywhere else and the vets get taken care of to the best of our ability. However, tell someone you work at the VA and you're looked at like a pariah. The VA is a HUGE organization and to paint everyone with the same broad brush isn't factually correct. (not that any of you have suggested that, just sayin')

As far as the shit that went down in AZ, there should be criminal charges brought as falsifying documents is a CRIME. To hell with allowing them to resign-----lock them up!

[Safetyhit]

I work for the VA in a hands-on, direct patient care position. This crap makes us all look bad.

This would be an ideal time to clarify that neither I nor most would associate all or even a majority VA staff as inept or guilty of neglect. Plus I don't doubt that a fellow like yourself would approve of such craziness for a moment.

As stated you know there is a bigger problem and you know you have nothing to do with it, but the reality is that the system desperately needs an overhaul. It has got to start somewhere and this seemingly impenetrable bureaucracy needs to finally start being held accountable. If and when this happens maybe the others who are in hiding start to have their walls breached as well because finally enough of the overall population has had enough.

[Hmac]

Like many medical and surgical residents, I spent a fair amount of my training at a VA hospital, a fairly large one affiliated with two major Midwestern university medical centers. It was a cluster **** 35 years ago too and served to profoundly shape my firm conviction that government-run health care, especially as a single-payer source, will never work in the US. Apparently it's worse now. We didn't keep any "secret lists", since the VA didn't really care about making veterans wait for service back then, but we did keep "the hernia book"...a list of veterans seen in clinic with hernias. Extremely common medical condition among veterans, we could not accommodate their surgery in a timely fashion because we only got so much OR time per week (VA was brutally against paying OR staff overtime) so we gad to ration the number we could do. Last rotation I did there as Chief Resident, the waiting list for the hernia book was over two years.

[Eurodriver]

Unfortunately very few people will be astute enough to apply the lessons from this situation to the other and to suggest that Obamacare has any faults, potential or otherwise, will remain racist.

Bottom line is people voted for it because they thought it would be free.

The only real change is people who traditionally had no need for health insurance because they were young and healthy are now being required to buy it.

[scottryan]

I won't bother posting links because if you don't know what's going on then you have other things to do and don't need to comment here. For the majority that do know this is certainly a noteworthy situation.

Also for those who died due to bureaucratic negligence, our sympathies and prayers are sent. Each and every individual case would be likely to make you feel deep sorrow for those that lived and suffered through such a betrayal, however they may, and I say so very cautiously, not have died in vain. They in fact may have served a greater cause that will benefit their fellow citizens for many years to come.

You see as many know the VA is a single pay healthcare system. The very sort of single pay system that most liberals starting with the president himself hope that the ACA will transform into one day, as that is what they pushed for initially before even many democrats in congress said it went too far.

Now the ramifications of such a plan have become real while aggressively transcending any political party. As legitimate as all of the other displays of the administrations' ineptitude were, this may be the one that changes everything. Not only might it destroy any hope of converting national healthcare into a single payer system as a result of it's inability to sustain itself as is, but it may also be the death blow to the entire concept of big government being better for everyone.

Let us all hope and pray that justice will be served and our brave Veterans will not have died in vain.

If people were that astute, bam bam the hood rat would have never been elected in the first place. This is wishful thinking.

[ABNAK]

This would be an ideal time to clarify that neither I nor most would associate all or even a majority VA staff as inept or guilty of neglect. Plus I don't doubt that a fellow like yourself would approve of such craziness for a moment.

As stated you know there is a bigger problem and you know you have nothing to do with it, but the reality is that the system desperately needs an overhaul. It has got to start somewhere and this seemingly impenetrable bureaucracy needs to finally start being held accountable. If and when this happens maybe the others who are in hiding start to have their walls breached as well because finally enough of the overall population has had enough.

Absolutely.

[Sensei]

Like many medical and surgical residents, I spent a fair amount of my training at a VA hospital, a fairly large one affiliated with two major Midwestern university medical centers. It was a cluster **** 35 years ago too and served to profoundly shape my firm conviction that government-run health care, especially as a single-payer source, will never work in the US. Apparently it's worse now. We didn't keep any "secret lists", since the VA didn't really care about making veterans wait for service back then, but we did keep "the hernia book"...a list of veterans seen in clinic with hernias. Extremely common medical condition among veterans, we could not accommodate their surgery in a timely fashion because we only got so much OR time per week (VA was brutally against paying OR staff overtime) so we gad to ration the number we could do. Last rotation I did there as Chief Resident, the waiting list for the hernia book was over two years.

I did a month of in-patient internal medicine at the Richmond, VA McGuire VA during my 3rd year clerkships (circa 2002). Even post-9/11 it was a disaster. We'd joke that the only good thing about Gen Med 4th Floor C was that it was close to a hospital.

I know a couple of PM&R and internal medicine physicians who "work" in the VA system. They are also COL / O6's in the National Guard. Between their state and federal benefit packages, they will make more in retirement than most primary care physicians make in salary.

[T2C]

Qualified Veterans should be treated in private hospitals. Those in need of counseling should be able to seek a doctor in the private sector. The VA should be nothing more than a clearing house to pay bills.