"The news about VA's delays in care crisis just keeps getting worse," "It's unfortunate I have to introduce legislation to address this problem, because the department has had the authority to offer veterans health care services outside of the VA system for years."Said Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., who introduced the bill.
Apparently the bill passed unanimously. The question now is how will the Senate pack it up with unrelated baggage.
This is all very odd. The VA always did have authority to do this. I don't know what to make of it. Were they holding back? Not informing their clients? Is this all a political move, or what?
I do know my father was switched to civilian insurance, Tricor, IIRC, and he was so angry about being shifted off the VA when Fitzsimmons was closed and turned over to civilian use. He regarded it a betrayal of a promise that he based his life choices. It took some convincing to assure him his coverage was actually better than most, that his coverage was excellent in fact, more modern and more convenient. He wasn't having it. He preferred staying angry. He wanted Fitzsimmons and that was that. Fitzsimmons was outdated. I went there many times. It looked like something straight out of WWII movie, but that was the system my parents were used to. They walked in and got health service. That is what they wanted to keep. (I suddenly recalled the acres of files one sees upon checking in, and long rows of hospital beds separated by 3/r curtains) Even though the facility was on the far opposite side of town, a real actual trek to get out there, and once there you stepped back in time and were subjected to their ancient ways. I hated it. They loved it. It was a sore point with both parents but especially my dad right up to their final days.
USA Today http://tinyurl.com/nu36qh9
If you care to have your lack of faith in the portion of humanity that comments through Facebook, I dare you, double-dog dare you, to turn off your tracking and read comments to USA Today article. Dumb, dumb, dumb, mean and dumb. Proving once again, where proof is not needed, that misplaced loyalty to Party makes you both mean and stupid (if you aren't already so).
It is a common knowledge that recent wars are overburdening the VA system, another political bone to gnaw, and that does make sense intuitively, but it is not so. Most VA clients are aging vets, the same bulge in demand for medical services as civilian medical care, not young vets returning from recent wars, although there is that too. That is not where the bulge in services is.
Speaking of aging vets. That would be these people. Have a look at these stunning 110 photos of the Pacific and adjacent theaters in WWII that you might not have seen before. They will curl your hair. I am struck by how thin everybody is. And struck too how young everybody appears to be.
Denver Post PLog. http://tinyurl.com/yfl9syg
28 comments:
Wow. I have both goosebumps and a lump in my throat.
My dad served in WWII as a Marine on the USS Idaho. I haven't gotten through all of these yet, but thank you, Chip.
I think what is overburdening the VA system, is the fact that Obama promised to make it easier to be awarded a disability of PTSD and Agent Orange. About 400,000 more veterans flooded the system who previously hadn't made a claim.
AllenS, What do you think about that loosening? And, I am also surprised veterans could allegedly always use private docs.
It used to be that warriors got to keep most of what they could take.
Left-turning ratchets were the most prized spoils of war, after women, livestock and gold, not necessarily in that order.
Some things never change.
I don't understand "loosening", Nick.
I, as a veteran, when I worked in the private sector, I had insurance through my employer. I never used the VA for non-combat medical issues.
Part of the problem (after listening to veterans), is the simple fact that they use the VA if they have the flu, cold, or any other medical problem that doesn't have any bearing on their time in the service. Even though they have employer provided insurance.
I worked with people in the private sector (veterans) who did this. Their reasoning was to get as big of a file as they could get to try and be awarded more disability money.
People pick low hanging fruit. It's human nature.
@ ndspinelli
I think the VA reviews the bills they get for veterans using non VA hospitals/doctors, and decide which ones they'll pay. I went to my local hospital for an infected cat bite because I was too lazy to make the hundred mile trip to the VA hospital and they turned that one down. They said it was a non emergency and could have been treated at the VA hospital, which seems reasonable to me.
I didn't know they would automatically submit it to the VA. I just assumed I'd be paying for it and I did.
I think Allen covered most of the question, Nick, but I do recall being directed by the VA folks during separation out-processing at Fort Lewis to go to our local VA Hospital within 30 days to have our records moved there from St Louis. Did that and never went back.
I never needed the VA, but among those I know who do, there used to be much more contracted outpatient services available than there is now. From about 2009 it appears to be have been a "cost reduction" drill, in spite of ever increasing appropriations. Bureaucracy at it finest. YMMV.
My father was a veteran of WWII. In my memory, he never went to a VA hospital. Did he not qualify? He had no injuries from the war; but he was a Veteran. I honestly don't know how it works.
But I think it makes no sense to insist on a parallel system. Do you want to be sure you have people who can care for war-related issues? Absolutely. Do you need stand-alone hospitals for that? I don't know.
A lot of folks who go to the Veterans hospitals don't go for specialized issues; in fact, I'd be interested to know just what the percentage is. So why do they go to the VA? Is it because it's familiar? Or do they get some sort of break?
Common sense tells us that if you create a special system, a special bureaucracy or organization, it's going to fight to grim death to maintain itself, all other considerations be d***ed. No one --no one -- with any sense denies this.
And yet we have folks who insist the VA system is "sacred." Gah!
By the way, I notice my friendly suggestion of threads focused on classic cocktails -- as a regular feature! -- has not yet caught fire.
I offer this gentle nudge as I savor a Gimlet; I'm getting better at this.
My dad was a WW2 vet. When he was diagnosed with cancer in his eighties, he had the choice of being treated at the VA or a 'regular' hospital.
He chose the regular hospital. "The VA doesn't treat ya, the put vets on a list until they die. And the nurses are all union, so they can't get rid of the bad ones."
That was 12 months ago. Before this mess was made public.
I'll have a gimlet, thanks!
Michael:
Vodka or gin?
Sweet? Or not so much?
FWIW...
There's a very good reason that many people observe the rule of discussing other topics besides politics and religion (what we seem to talk about here all the time)...
Because then people who would never find anything in common -- with politics or religion -- find common ground with food, sports, hobbies or...drinks!
Fr Martin:
Vodka kept in the freezer, sour. One ice cube, no more.
And something to munch. Almonds, maybe.
You?
Fr. Martin:
If your travels ever bring you to Milwaukee, I'd be honored to take you to my favorite bar for a cocktail.
But I can't promise you top-quality chili.
Michael:
Thanks! I'll try to remember that!
No worries, I don't expect Cincinnati chili outside Cincinnati.
Here's my recipe for a Gimlet -- it's not quite perfect, and it's not going to be very helpful!
Gin
Simple syrup
Fresh lime
Ice
A good slug of gin in the shaker, with ice. Add a about a jigger of the sugar syrup, and squeeze a fat sliver of lime into the shaker; get all the juice.
Shake the crud out of it!
Pour into a chilled martini glass. The result should be a slightly cloudy color, caused by both the lime and the ice slivers.
It should be only slightly -- very lightly -- sweet, balancing the gin.
"Not very helpful" because I don't pay attention to standard measures! Sorry.
You have to experiment.
My wife will have a gin or vodka gimlet w/ extra Roses lime juice when she has a cold. I like them, but it must be 10 years or more since I've had one. We're going to Arlington Race Track to play the ponies tomorrow. They have a great outdoor bar. I might just break that dry spell.
Padre, I was a bartender years back and your recipe was what I would do for some folks. Roses for others, particularly when I was in a hurry.
AllenS and Aridog, thanks.
Ndspinelli:
The Rose lime juice doesn't taste right in a gimlet.
I remembered later why my dad felt betrayed.
The billing system is incorporated with Medicaid. This confused my parents to no end.
The service provider is supposed to bill Medicaid first then the secondary insurance. Secondary covered everything. It was a very good coverage. Admirable, that. But my dad did not understand he was to ignore the bills, or tell them to bill Medicaid first, he saw a bill, so he paid them. He paid thousands he didn't need to. That's what made him so angry. He was quite stunned when I told him, "Don't pay anything. Stop it." They're playing you. They're just making sure they get theirs. They're not doing their job properly. You don't have to pay anything. Government really did keep its promise to you. It's much more convenient now that you don't have to go so far, and all the facilities are up to date. And there is no waiting.
Also, you don't have to save every damn little thing just because it says so on the paper. It's not a threat, it's a suggestion in case you claim any of that on your taxes which you are not doing. They have their own records if they need them. They're trying to get you to do the job for them of ferreting out abuse for them. They are enlisting your help. They want you to check for double billing and such. If anything, tell the service provider stop billing you or you'll use another provider. Tell them to stop confusing you.
I did all that for him. I went through their bills and saved a copy of everything only because Dad thought he'd needed to prove something to IRS. I told him don't worry about that when you're not claiming any of that. But he insisted every shred of paper be saved. I went through decades of papers organizing them by year/month/day provider, and made new files as you do with a new computer, just for his peace of mind.
I forgot about all that. Goodness, what a hassle that was.
FWIW my uncle, veteran of the Korean War, was recently diagnosed with lung cancer at the VA and swiftly treated.
Has the VA ever had a stellar reputation? I remember many years ago a friend did some sort of psychology study at the VA for her dissertation and was stunned at the crappy treatment the vets received. Another friend, when I would bug him about seeing my gastro doc for his complaints would laugh and say that he'd go to the VA and let them kill him. They did. For months they missed a football sized tumor in his gut.
Something that I've noticed over the years, is that doctors at the VA seem to be somewhat young and others very old.
My present doctor, the one that I see at the clinic once a year, is from India. I like her a lot. She has done minor surgery on me, and I have no complaints.
When I was hospitalized at the VA in Minneapolis in 1968 after I got out of the Army, the doctors would oftentimes show up with students from Africa. I'm not sure about now, but the VA used to do this quite often for foreign students.
AllenS: Working for the VA has the benefit of canceling part or all of the loans a person took out in order to pay for medical education.
Also, if a physician or nurse is credentialed to work in a VA facility in, say, Minnesota, he or she can move to any other VA hospital in any state without having to go through the lengthy re-credentialing process that is required in private practice.
Here's a good VA story:
I was having a lot of pain in my left leg where I was shot.
Went to the VA and they recommended an update for my disability.
The doctor who examined me for the disability claim looked at be about 90 years old.
He fooled around with my left leg which had the wound, bending my ankle, stuff like that. Eventually, he moved around to my unwounded right leg, and repeated the process. Looking absolutely stunned, he said: "I can't see anything wrong with your leg." I told him it was the other leg that he needed to be looking at, and he kinda jumped up in the air an inch maybe and went over to the left leg, and then said he would write a report.
The VA. Hey, I don't pay a thing. I'm not complaining.
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