Newsmax: Privatize the VA

[unhappycamper]

http://www.newsmax.com/MichaelShannon/VA-Scandal/2015/07/30/id/659647/

Privatize the VA
By Michael Shannon | Thursday, 30 Jul 2015 12:31 PM

Combat veterans are learning the hard way they may cheat death on the battlefield only to find the Grim Reaper saving a seat for them in the Veterans Administration healthcare queue.

AP found an internal VA report “indicating that nearly one–third of veterans with pending applications for VA healthcare likely have already died.”

VA bureaucrats complain it’s hard to know if the vets were really “seeking VA healthcare or had merely indicated interest in signing up.” With the VA, it’s probably a good idea to get on the waiting list the day you graduate from boot camp.

~snip~

It’s time for the Vietnam solution: Destroy the VA in order to save it. Privatize the hospitals, give a generous severance package to all the paper pushers, let the senior executives make that fortune in the private sector we’re always hearing about, and give vets that qualify a card that entitles them to medical care anywhere they want to go.

--

As you may know the VA has hit Congress up for $3.4 billion or so to keep the system running. Typical Republican response to to the problems - privatize it.


http://www.businessinsider.com/veterans-are-desperate-for-34-billion-from-congress-for-medical-care-2015-7
http://www.stripes.com/dod-money-for-outside-health-care-could-run-out-this-week-1.360002
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/emergency-bill-fund-veterans-affairs-department-32742493
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/cerner-wins-dod-contract-to-overhaul-electronic-health-records/2015/07/29/7fbfccfa-35f5-11e5-b673-1df005a0fb28_story.html
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/23/va-has-41500-unfilled-medical-jobs-forcing-vets-into-costly-private-care/30504525/
(Critics warn of $11 billion Pentagon health records fiasco) http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/pentagon-electronic-health-record-critics-120730.html
http://www.govexec.com/contracting/2015/05/va-put-vets-risk-spending-billions-unlawfully-whistleblower-says/112828/

One LTTE jumped out:

http://www.jdnews.com/article/20150801/OPINION/150739699

Prior to the June 25 hearing on the state of VA’s fiscal year 2015 budget in Washington, D.C., Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., reportedly released the following statement.

“VA’s continued lack of transparency and refusal to be forthright with Congress is unacceptable. It was not until I called a hearing in response to warnings from the field about the budget that VA admitted to a $2.6 billion shortfall. Secretary McDonald has testified four times within nearly as many months about VA’s budget, without ever mentioning a shortfall of this magnitude. Less than three weeks ago, VA came to Congress asking to remove $534 million from medical care to pay for the largest construction failure in VA history. Talking around the facts and alluding to the need for budget flexibility without justification or supporting data has become an all too familiar practice at VA. I look forward to discussing with Deputy Secretary Gibson how such a massive shortfall could have come as a surprise to the department, and how to put an end to these frequent cost overruns while ensuring veterans receive the care they have earned.”

What I gather from this excerpt from the committee’s chairman is that, due to fiscal irresponsibility, there will be a shortfall in funding for veterans. How will this affect the veterans who receive health care or compensations remains to be seen. It can also affect the widows that receive DIC and perhaps the dependent students that are going to school on the post 9/11 or chapter 35.

What strikes me is that here we are at the 11th hour and I have seen no mention of it in the media. We are talking about people who served this country. It makes it seem as if these men and women are of little importance anymore as hostilities are supposedly over.

[Frustratedlady]

1. Absolutely NOT!

Privatizing anything governmental is a mistake. Look at the prisons...charter schools. NO!

[daleanime]

2. Amen.....

[Warhorse99]

4. Another Way for the 1 %ers to Profit From War

Having seen how the Cheney Administration provided Halliburton and Blackwater with the keys to the DoD bank vault, the Repubs want to continue to profit off the care (or lack thereof) from us veterans.

They look at us just like battle-damaged Hummers; just scrap them (us) and get us out of sight and out of mind as soon as they have milked as much profit as they can.

[djean111]

3. We need to fix the VA, not privatize it. Once there is the incentive to

give less health care in order to make more profit, things will get even worse.
I do see that they are bad now. But maybe single payer for all would be more of an answer.

[rainbow4321]

5. VA can't manage it's money

The Dallas VA has now been scolded for using acute care beds the wrong way. Which is not news to front line workers but I guess with ongoing budget issues with the VA, now the brass is trying to cover their asses.
Acute care beds are just that....for short term stays that last long enough to get the acute problem fixed. The patient either then goes home or gets sent to a long term care bed or facility.
Instead, in Dallas, we keep long term care patients with chronic problems in the acute beds. For weeks or months.
Word came down that Dallas VA has the lowest discharge rate nationwide..meaning we hang into patients waaaayyyy longer than other VA places nationwide. No shit...we could have told you that.

So now that the higher ups have called Dallas out, our census has plummeted. Maybe it's because it's summer and it's a slower time (though we've never had that happen before)...but many of the wards are very empty right now or at a much lower census than normal.

Hopefully this is a sign that the DC Feds are for real this time and are showing facilities that their budgets are going to be scrutinized more closely. That is what needs to happen to get their money affair in order.

[The River]

6. I'm Very Happy with the VA

They have saved my life twice.

This is just more corporate greed in action. I hope the next (D) President will
be able to resist the corporate lobbyists and their "donations".

I'm just grateful I'm not a young vet.

[msongs]

7. turn it over to medicare so vets can get doctors of their own choosing nt

[The River]

8. Shows How Little You Know

You can choose your own doctors at the VA.
If you don't like a particular Dr., ask for a new one.
It's an integrated system. All the doctors communicate with each other.
Try going to a normal MD and ask him to arrange for appointments with
other specialists.

People like you are part of the problem..

[1939]

10. Doctors aren't the problem with the VA

The clerks and jerks you have to deal with before you see a doctor is the problem. I have Medicare backed by Tricare for Life (military retiree). I go to any doctor or specialist I want and they bill Medicare. What Medicare doesn't pay (deductible and co-pay), they toss over the fence and Tricare pays it. It is a wonderful system. If I don't like the clerks and jerks in a doctor's office, I find another doctor who has a better outer office.

As someone noted, the VA should just give qualified veterans a card which allows them the same flexibility and freedom.

[DashOneBravo]

9. It's a bad idea.

There are a lot of world class VA hospitals. We just need to fix the bad ones.

[rasputin1952]

11. The obvious thing to do is create less veterans...

Wars create casualties, that costs the VA; end the wars, a sudden windfall of cash to take care of those who need it!

Republicans, (and some Democrats), love war, after all, they don't have to fight them, just send other's kids. I believe what Smedley Butler said, "there are two times a war should be fought, first, if we directly attacked; second, to protect The Bill of Rights". Notice he did not say defend the Constitution, that sets up the government; it is The Bill of Rights that protects us from said government!

"War is a Racket...a few profit; the many pay"
Smedley D. Butler MG USMC Retired
Twice awarded the Medal of Honor and A Distinguished Service Cross from the Army for his service during WWI.

Ras