Discussion for article #223087
Yes, we need a select committee on the VA and jobs. Two real scandals the GOP missed from 2000 to 2008.
Thank you Colbert. Your prize, a lap dance from Kristol and Krauthammer.
A real scandal 30 years in the making, And yes repugs it is all about money.
That was funny in a strange kind of sad wayâŚColbert is a stitch.
The thing Iâve been curious about is how both the Sequester and the Government shutdown affected problems in the overall VA system in recent years.
I know that the VA wasnât supposed to be touched through Sequestration, but an article I read from âStars and Stripesâ outlined how there would be many ways the VA will in fact be impacted over time, due to associated services and personnel staffing that help out on the civilian side as ancillary or adjunct in providing services.
The Government Shutdown initiated by House Rethugs with Carnival Cruz as their Grand Poobah also had some affect on services. The VA was unable to process claims during the shutdown so I wonder to what degree that affect had on this mess.
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All very good questions, but the real answer I feel is going to beâŚ
When you go to war, as we get better and better at saving lives on the actual battlefields, you are going to have handle more cases of veterans with health problems. Thus you not only have to gear up spending for the VA, you have to gear up a lot more spending. War is expensive. For decades afterwards.
The focus however is going to be on mismanagement, which apparently, there is quite a bit.
The extent of the problems is still unknown, but one thing thatâs distressing about the VAâs problems is that the VA was one of my favorite illustrations of why a âgovernment takeover of healthcareâ (which the ACA is often accused of being, but which it manifestly is not) might actually be a good thing.
For years, the healthcare provided by the VA has been more efficient, has produced measurably better patient outcomes, and has gotten higher grades from its patients, than any market-driven private healthcare. Thatâs now all in doubt, since we donât know just how badly the books might have been cooked. A pity, since the underlying conclusion might still be justified, i.e., that the Government actually can run a hospital better than Surgery âRâ Us.
Yeah, two wars at once, with an influx of veterans coming home and using VA services to bust an already broken system in need of better supportâŚwho couldâve seen that comingâŚ
I couldâve predicted that in my sleep. Thanks again W for leaving us a pile of shit to deal with after youâre goneâŚ
When a couple of academics figured out the cost for the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, the figure was well into the trillions, which included the care that Veterans would need to receive for injuries gotten from IEDs and PTSD. It wasnât just about how many up-armored humvees, body armor, convoys, bombs, firearms and Veteran paychecks had been issued to account for. Remember the military was slow to provide those up-armored protections. Families back home were sending their loved ones body armor because the military wasnât doing enough to address the shortage even when it was all too obvious and necessary. Kevlar I believe became the top choice when it came to care packages sent oversees for awhile there.
The cost of these wars were all in the headlines prior to this President taking office. Is it any wonder weâre now in this backlog mess with the VA?
I remember hearing about many of these same problems during and especially after the Vietnam War within the VA. This problem goes waaaay back. If you want a country that always has to find some fucking war to fight to stroke some idiot politicianâs egoâŚexpect this to continue to be the norm. We owe our veterans so much better than this.
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This is from 11 years ago as Bush and the Republican majority were doing budget fixes on the back of veterans:
âBush Administration budget cuts force more than 200,000 veterans to wait for health care. Over 200,000 United States veterans have to wait more than six months for a medical visit because of health care shortages. (âVA Health Care Funding Alert,â Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States Press Release, January 31, 2003)â
Make of it what you will.
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The biggest problem as I understand it is that there arenât enough doctors in the VA system to accommodate the overwhelming number of new patients coming into the system. That actually has been a problem with overall healthcare in this country not keeping up with population growth and baby-boomers aging out. New incentives need to be created to help train and graduate more doctors. The ACA addresses some of that I believe. Maybe the VA could use some better incentives in that regard.
W. sure didnât have a problem giving all those private contractors the business and finding enough tax-payer money to push their way. That was a costly add-on that couldâve been better spent using our own military. He had Congress appropriate tons of money for those Blackwater, Halliburton, Xe typesâŚwhile he shouldâve been thinking about those soldiers when (and if) they were able to come homeâŚ
War has become just another way to expand a politicianâs love of cronyism towards their favored private military contractor. It fills the campaign coffers.
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Congress â âWe break shit so we can complain itâs broken.â
There will be a lot of steppinâ in it, now.
.[quote=âsylhines, post:2, topic:4308â]
Your prize, a lap dance from Kristol and Krauthammer.
[/quote]
Eww. Stinky.
If we canât get Single Payer right for 9 million Veterans â we canât even hope to get it right for 300 million Americans.
Because private health care is perfect without problems? [eye roll]. So we should throw the baby out with the bath water when there are snafus. We need to fix it.