VA Health Care should be disbanded and shut down completely

I adore my VA hospital...quick and good service and better than TRICARE when I was in

TRICARE worried about spending the least and did nothing but throw pills at me

VA is great and I hope it is always around

before closing the VA system lets see how obamacare works for a few more years.

My belief is medical care under obamacare will be a lot worst the the VA.

i was a EMT for many years and have seen the working of many hospitals. i was working for a transport ambulance company

many US hospitals are worse then the VA and a lot of people die because of it.

i will not go to my local hospital.
i have seen to many problems like out of control MRSA
hospitals overloaded with illegals using the ER but with no emergency problems.
people who do not vaccinate there kids then pass the disorders through the ERs.

At the VA ERs we do not have those problems.

there is also what i hear from veterans in other countries that have shut down there veterans health care systems like Australia, UK , Canada and France.
www.sunnewsnetwork.ca...

It's interesting to hear a socialized medicine program (TRICARE) pushed on ATS. I think the VA system may need some reforms, but scrapping it would likely create more problems in the short term (and if you have a medical condition the short term may be very important).

Give up my VA clinic and doctor for Tricare?

Absolutely NOT.

My father was retired Navy. He had Tricare, and it was nothing but a HUGE headache for him.

I go to the VA clinic here where I live, and it's easy peasy. The staff is kind, respectful and care quite a bit about each person they see.

My doctor is a great guy and is always up front with me.

I can even email him with questions.....how many people out there with private health care get to email their doctors?

I don't have to pay for my visits, based on my income, but I do have to pay for my meds, but the cost for me is cheap, and even if I can't pay for some reason, I still receive my meds.

If I fail to show up for one of my semi-annual appointments to get my blood checked, my doctor comes looking for me.

About the only gripe I have is eye appointments. Those take months to get scheduled for some reason.

My father? Nothing but headaches. Endless paperwork. And only a few doctors to choose from. And then the one he had was not giving him a PSA check with his blood (idiot). My father ended up with advanced prostrate cancer, which could have been caught early and treated much more easily.
Instead, he ended up having to have his prostrate removed, and the cancer had spread, so he had to undergo treatment for that. It aged him like you wouldn't believe.
Then 5 years later, he died of stomach cancer.

Switch over to Tricare? I don't think so.

originally posted by: KyoZero
I adore my VA hospital...quick and good service and better than TRICARE when I was in

TRICARE worried about spending the least and did nothing but throw pills at me

VA is great and I hope it is always around

I think your talking about getting health care from the military. That's not how Tricare standard works. I pick and choose what ever civilian Doc I want.

originally posted by: Elton
It's interesting to hear a socialized medicine program (TRICARE) pushed on ATS. I think the VA system may need some reforms, but scrapping it would likely create more problems in the short term (and if you have a medical condition the short term may be very important).

When I am sick I pick up the yellow pages I dial and make appointment with what ever doctor I choose. I pay about 20 bucks per visit. If I want a cat scan I just go down to any civilian facility where they do it tell them I got a stomach pain and I get the scan. Never paid a dime for that yet.

I am not talking about going to military hospitals. I am talking about Tricare standard where you see civilians of your choosing like an insurance. Maximum I can pay out in a year for any all surgery, visits, drugs scans is 3k. I had a major surgery with a surgeon of my choosing and Sacred heart a few years ago. Tricare paid 30k+ I paid $300. Pretty good system if you ask me. Most of my meds are free if I get them on base at base Pharmacy written by my 100% civilian doctor of my choice.

Roll them into Tricare. It's pretty good care, relatively speaking. Been a part of it since before it was Tricare (1971). Everyone used to wince and smirk at us when we told them we were on Tricare as they flashed their Blue Cross Blue Shield card at us. Look who's cryin' now.

originally posted by: Xeven

I think your talking about getting health care from the military. That's not how Tricare standard works. I pick and choose what ever civilian Doc I want.

I will cede that point. Regardless I still love my VA and want to keep it

Just my experience. When there is no monetary incentive to have a patient return why would the V.A. staff
care if one returned or not ? In ten years of visiting the V.A. in Denver this is the first time I have been assigned an M.D. The balance were interns, nurses, Med students. The entire staff seems to be walking through jello ( slow motion )
lots of chit chat, long lines to get Meds ( at times I just leave 45> 60 min wait ) Now they are building a New Super Duper V.A. Hospital in Aurora. But they will still hire the same ole lazy slacker staff. The one in N.J. Was G_d awful. The Chicago VA was even worse. Thirty guys sitting in the waiting room. 12noon staff disappears FOR LUNCH !! I'm not joking. The waiting area looks like a wino detox facility.

Here ! Here is your disabled VA card. Go anywhere present said card and they bill the Gov. It must cost and enormous amount of money to maintain and staff 151 VA hospitals. Said money could be utilized to pay the private sector for a Vets health care needs. Compared to other private hospital settings I've visited the VA is
at the bottom of my list. I mean the Gov can't have it both ways. Cannon fodder > returning Hero's and Warriors LOL . They give Bronze and Silver Stars ( Pot Metal ) to the real guys. I'm obviously not real fond of these folks. But your mileage may differ.

a reply to: Xeven First, let me say I'm retired 20+ year Air Force vet with a relatively minor disability. l use my local Omaha, NE VA hospital even though I'm on TriCare for Life, or as I call it, Try-To-Get-Care.

In general I agree with you. However, considering that the current fascist/socialistic government bureaucracy is bent on taking over one-sixth of our economy by controlling the healthcare system, I have to wonder if it'd wind up any better than the currently government run healthcare systems.

Lest I be misunderstood, let me offer a definition of fascism I found on the Internet. Fascism is an economic model in which the state dictates the utilization of privately held assets to achieve public policy goals. I'm specifically not inferring the sound of jack boots in the streets as in 1930-40s Germany.

Sadly, my local military hospital is merely an acute care facility for dependents and retirees despite being at Strategic Command, Offutt AFB, a major command base. My base primary doctor recommended I switch to the VA as it was better staffed and equipped.

The main problem with TriCare is that many civilian doctors won't accept patients because of the lower reimbursements and the absolutely abysmal bureaucratic delay, intentional, to delay payment or even incorrectly or illegally deny them. It's similar to the problems with Medicaid and Medicare.

It's even worse for TriCare Prime beneficiaries at military hospitals. My ex-wife, still my better half, was told at an emergency room she wasn't qualified to be on TriCare despite 20+ years of marriage spanning beyond my Air Force career. My daughter was turned away for a heart problem and they tried to steal her military dependent ID card. My younger son was turned away from a base emergency room after he was mugged and suffered a non life threatening stab wound.

Despite all of the above, I fortunately find my local VA to be good, although I don't see my primary doc as much as I'd like. But I do go to a civilian cardiologist due to a heart attack. However, I'd warn civilians, if you think the goal of the progressives of a single payer government healthcare system is a good idea, look at the TriCare and the VA troubled systems. They're good examples of government inefficiencies and bureaucracies. Then pray you're in good health.

Recce1