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Friday, May 30. 2014

Ever learn?

WHEN will The People finally realize that the Veterans Administration is National Health -- what you get when the government runs a healthcare system?  Its shabby service and uninterested administration are followed every decade or so by a scandal and the resignation of an administrator or two.  Doctors in private practice must build their reputations for quality service, and then their incomes will follow. Doctors in national health are secure in their income, and indifferent to their reputations. When will we ever learn such a simple lesson?


(I am a Vietnam vet.)


 

Posted by Gwynnie in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 17:23 | Comments (12) | Trackbacks (0)

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Gwynnie.

I too am a Vietnam vet and have been dealing with the VA off and on for 40 years. Their best facilities are poor; most are snakepits.

Everything you say is true....and much more.
#1 RickinNC on 2014-05-30 19:28 (Reply)
When they have to wait 3 months to see a GP for the flu.

USMC, 85-89 and a couple go-rounds with the Reserves.
#2 William O. B'Livion on 2014-05-30 20:22 (Reply)
I disagree. My health care is through the VA and has been for the past ten years. I have not experienced any of the problems others have. As a Vietnam Vet with service related disabilities directly related to my service, I get reasonable care at no cost. On two occasions when I had blood pressure problems, I was treated quickly, efficiently and spent a week in the Dorn VA Hospital here in Columbia, SC on the last visit with every single medical test known to man until they figured out what the problem was. I was treated with respect and the doctors actually listened instead of assuming. My 'scripts are free and pretty much what I had when I was under the care of a civilian doctor - the one exception is a Ramipril substitute which is basically the same drug.

So my experience is different. Then again, I don't place demands on the system either. So maybe that is a factor.
#3 Tom Francis on 2014-05-30 20:39 (Reply)
My brother-in-law was a retired E-6 (before they had E7 and E8). He preferred the VA in Tampa and Tucson over what military retirement had to offer, even after Tri-care came in. That was several years ago; he passed four or five years ago. I live about a mile from a major VA hospital, but have never used it. I'm doing fine with Tri-care.
#3.1 BillH on 2014-05-31 10:05 (Reply)
Major Ian Hay, back in the “War to End War,” described the structure of military organizations: Regardless of T.O., all military bureaucracies consist of a Surprise Party Department, a Practical Joke Department, and a Fairy Godmother Department. The first two process most matters as the third is very small; the Fairy Godmother Department is one elderly female GS-5 clerk usually out on sick leave, per Heinlein.

So you got help from the Fairy Godmother Department.
#3.2 Fred Z on 2014-06-01 07:43 (Reply)
In a way we're looking at several different issues here. One is the bureaucratic matrix, a problem which exists across all large entities, government or private.

Second is that part of the issue here may have a geographical component, i.e., most of the problems are in states where large numbers of military have retired.

Third has been the expanded mandate given to the VA of treating anyone who is former military. Regardless of time in service, illness service related or not.

Once in and under treatment, as Tom Francis attests above, treatment is very good. The system has simply been overwhelmed.

Not to excuse the bureaucratic assholes who run the place from responsibility. If they had been honest and pressed their way up the line of BS to the top, changes may have been made. Alas, bureaucrats have never been known for having spines.

I do have a conflict of interest. My sister-in-law works for the VA as an Occupational Therapist... believe you me, there is no one better whom you would choose to have working for you. Her stories of the vets, and what she does for them astound at times.
#4 XRay on 2014-05-30 21:33 (Reply)
I should add, though this may sound self aggrandizing, and perhaps it is, though I don't mean it to be.

I'm also a Vietnam vet, also definitely exposed to agent orange, those 123's overhead weren't spraying out Gatorade after all.

My sister-in-law is always on my ass about going to the VA for the various conditions I'm running into by getting old. Hearing loss, kidney cancer, PTSD. I refuse.

I refuse, mainly, because I volunteered for all my service. Never once have I considered that this country owes me anything for doing so. I offered my life. Such little insults as ill health mean naught compared to that.

Then again, maybe I'm just crazy.
#5 XRay on 2014-05-30 21:56 (Reply)
QUOTE:
Never once have I considered that this country owes me anything for doing so.


what did you do with your pay?
#5.1 Frigate on 2014-06-01 11:32 (Reply)
Spent it on drunken whoring.

Way to miss the point, jerk. Well, you didn't miss the point I'm sure, you just felt it necessary to shit on another man's thoughts. Hyperbolic for sure on my part, but still evincing a better attitude then your smart ass crap.
#6 XRay on 2014-06-01 21:44 (Reply)
Am I supposed to play the "I'm a veteran card" now?

and, yes, you are just crazy, technically, a complete narcissist if you question whether veterans are entitled to health care at taxpayer expense as you loudly nail yourself to a cross and proclaim you're above it because you're what? suffering silently and patriotically while mere mortals see a doctor? in what alternate universe does that begin to make sense?
#6.1 Frigate on 2014-06-02 01:59 (Reply)
You can play whatever card you care to, so long as they're from the top of the deck.

I have read over my comments and am failing to see where it was that I "...question whether veterans are entitled to health care at taxpayer expense...". Nothing even remotely close.

I don't go without healthcare. I described how I handle the situation, using my judgment, morals such as they are, and my belief in taking care of 'my' issues as I see fit.

Perhaps I've just been witness to too many who look for any angle they can to abuse the system, agent orange for example. Just like the number of folks who claim to have been in combat, the number of folks claiming to have been exposed to agent orange is much greater than the number of those who actually were.
#6.1.1 XRay on 2014-06-02 20:37 (Reply)
I've no complaints about care I've received from the VA in NorCal. Outpatient Clinic in Chico takes care of most stuff, and what they can't handle they refer to Mather in Sacramento. The wait time has never been too long, and when I called and complained of some kidney pain they told me that if needed to I should go to a local (within 25 miles) ER, but when I told 'em I'd be okay overnight they saw me the next day.
Haven't had much treatment for service-connected problems but they take care of my minor medical needs. They bill the insurance that I carry through work and any meds come with a low co-pay.
Yeah, there's a pretty large contingent of vets in the area (think Beale AFB) but I doubt that affects the care here. I'll continue t use VA for whatever they can handle 'cause I've had nothing but good care and great caregivers for the last dozen or so years I've used them.
Now, if you wanna talk about SF VA Hospital 40 years ago and more, that's another discussion.
#7 inbredredneck on 2014-06-03 19:57 (Reply)

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