Let’s just close the VA hospitals.
There has been a lot of news and hearings about the waiting times, preferred lists, even deaths from the issues with the VA hospital system.
Which brings up the question, Why don’t we just close the VA hospital system completely?
Many of the wait times discussions are based on a comparison to regular hospitals that the average American uses. If private sector hospitals are providing better care and shorter wait times then the system set up to provide care to the men and women that served the US would it not serve them better to just go to the privately run hospitals?
“The VA requires its hospitals to provide care to patients in a timely manner, typically within 14 to 30 days.” From CNN “The secret waiting list in Phoenix was part of an elaborate scheme designed by Veterans Affairs managers there who were trying to hide that 1,400 to 1,600 sick veterans were forced to wait months to see a doctor, according to a recently retired top VA doctor and several high-level sources who spoke exclusively to CNN.”
The VA hospital system is a government run system which seems to be the way that the entire health care system is going but that is another topic for later. The experience the general public has with government-run systems, at any level of government, usually involves lots of paperwork, long wait times and confusion.
The US government requires all Americans to have health insurance and some are provided subsidies based on many factors. It would only seem like the most logical plan would be to provide a subsidy to the veterans so they would be able to receive the care and attention they need through the regular system. You could even allow them a ” fast lane” as a thank you for their service but I would be willing to bet that most would not use it. The fact that they were receiving excellent medical care in a timely manner is what they are looking for and ” bumping” someone from the line is not their nature.
The money saved by closing all of the hospital facilities and eliminating that section of government should be sufficient to cover the costs of private sector health care services. The current, qualified employees would find work in the expanded private sector businesses and many of the current facilities would be sold to the private sector.
The facts, as they continue to emerge, show that the private sector medical system is run more efficiently and if the same allegations were found in business investigations would be made quickly, people would be held accountable and systems would be put in place to prevent it from happening again.
Or we can continue to move towards a government run healthcare system.
UPDATE:
It would seem that others agree,
‘Lone Survivor’ Marcus Luttrell Has a Great Idea to Immediately Fix the VA
May. 21, 2014 4:00pm
Marcus Luttrell, the former Navy SEAL behind the book “Lone Survivor,” has a great idea to quickly fix the issues currently facing the Department of Veterans Affairs: Make U.S. senators go through the VA to get their medical care.
“If you had to put people, Senators — if they had to go for their V.A. to get care, it would probably get fixed,” Luttrell said on “Fox and Friends” Wednesday morning.
He also suggested a more realistic solution to address the inadequate care some of the nation’s veterans are currently receiving.
Rather than being thrown into the VA system, he said every combat veteran who is in need of medical care should be given a government-issued card that provides coverage in the private health care system — “no questions asked.”
Watch the segment via “Fox & Friends” below:
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/05/21/lone-survivor-marcus-luttrell-has-a-great-idea-to-immediately-fix-the-va/
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Ken Barrett
My Cell Number (256) 405-9301
