Ron Paul Fears The VA Scandal Is Just The Tip Of The Military Abuse Iceberg

[donnay]

Ron Paul Fears The VA Scandal Is Just The Tip Of The Military Abuse Iceberg
26 May 2014, by Tyler Durden

President Obama held a press conference last week to express his outrage over reports that the Veterans Administration was routinely delaying treatment to veterans, with some veterans even dying while on alleged secret waiting lists. The president said that, “if these allegations prove to be true, it is dishonorable, it is disgraceful, and I will not tolerate it, period.” He vowed that, together with Congress, he would “make sure we're doing right by our veterans across the board.”

The president is right to be upset over the mistreatment of US military veterans, especially those who return home with so many physical and mental injuries. Veterans should not be abused when they seek the treatment promised them when they enlisted. But his outrage over military abuse is selective. He ignores the most egregious abuse of the US armed forces: sending them off to fight, become maimed, and die in endless conflicts overseas that have no connection to US national security.

It is ironic that the same week the president condemned the alleged mistreatment of veterans by the VA, he announced that he was sending 80 armed troops to Chad to help look for a group of girls kidnapped by the Nigerian Islamist organization Boko Haram. Is there any mistreatment worse than sending the US military into a violent and unstable part of the world to conduct a search operation that is in no way connected to the defense of the United States?

Continued...

H/T: Letsbereal

 

[ILUVRP]

if obama had any brains he would tell congress america wants 200-300 new VA hospitals , then the monkey would be on the neo's backs, if we can send 100's of thousands off to fight worthless wars the least we can do is treat their wounds .

the fact is the repub's in the senate blocked VA funding .

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...grby-HyxE2Q66_Huw&sig2=tjlgjTekgMlvKQI3dxjr9g

 

[donnay]

if obama had any brains he would tell congress america wants 200-300 new VA hospitals , then the monkey would be on the neo's backs, if we can send 100's of thousands off to fight worthless wars the least we can do is treat their wounds .

the fact is the repub's in the senate blocked VA funding .

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...grby-HyxE2Q66_Huw&sig2=tjlgjTekgMlvKQI3dxjr9g

The problem is neither party cares. It's a shame what they are doing to the veterans. Yet these lovely politicians constantly tell the public that the veterans are fighting for our freedom and to keep us safe from terrorist.

 

[ILUVRP]

in this country now everything is about the money , who will keep us safe from the politicians , ron paul could have been our last hope .

i had 13 yrs in the military but i have never used the VA hospital , my cousin did and they treated him great .

 

[outspoken]

There are many intended providers within the VA but he system is illogical, inefficient at best and outright corrupt and dysfunctional top to bottom. I was a doctor within and it blew my mind what I saw. It is welfare for health care providers and administrators who can't make it in the private sector. The productivity is rediculous lay low compared to what providers do in the real world. My clinic was staffed with 4 docs and now that I am in private practice I can honestly say I do the same volume as all 4 docs by myself. They incentivize staff to follow arcane rules rather than achieve efficiency or productivity. The scheduling system is written in DOS and is horrendous which accounts for why docs can't be efficient even if they wanted to be. I promise these recent revelations are just the tip of the iceberg... Most within the system don't want to bite the hand that feeds them and so just are biding there time til they can collect their pension so the public will never know the depths of the issues within the system.

 

[MelissaWV]

There are many intended providers within the VA but he system is illogical, inefficient at best and outright corrupt and dysfunctional top to bottom. I was a doctor within and it blew my mind what I saw. It is welfare for health care providers and administrators who can't make it in the private sector. The productivity is rediculous lay low compared to what providers do in the real world. My clinic was staffed with 4 docs and now that I am in private practice I can honestly say I do the same volume as all 4 docs by myself. They incentivize staff to follow arcane rules rather than achieve efficiency or productivity. The scheduling system is written in DOS and is horrendous which accounts for why docs can't be efficient even if they wanted to be. I promise these recent revelations are just the tip of the iceberg... Most within the system don't want to bite the hand that feeds them and so just are biding there time til they can collect their pension so the public will never know the depths of the issues within the system.

I think part of it is the idea that "VA Hospital" implies some sort of standard. It doesn't. The one here is associated with a teaching hospital that does pretty well. There are fewer complaints and fewer problems, and it actually looks like a decent hospital. The referrals that we get from that VA are generally in decent shape aside from their main diagnosis, which is to say they aren't riddled with bed sores and a variety of secondary infections. That same VA hospital shares a patient system with us, and the system is modern and sleek and allows us to view notes across all the different appointments.

What is particularly ridiculous, though, is that there are benchmarks you're supposed to hit regardless of circumstance, and paperwork you have to fill out. These administrators balked at paperwork and metrics, so they avoided them.

 

[tod evans]

As far as the prez goes, I see this as just another talking point.

Nothing will change.

 

[specsaregood]

I recall that in 2009 while running for Senate, Randal proposed that instead of spending more money on a separate VA hospital system, that veterans get to choose any private doctor/hospital instead. Haven't heard much about that since; maybe its time for him to renew that proposal.

 

[outspoken]

The facilities and equipment are usually top notch. The non urban VAs are usually decent as the don't have nearly as strong unions. Which protect employees who are absolute dead weight. In Baltimore we had staff who wouldn't show up for a week without notice and you couldn't fire them. The problems is most specialty care and surgeries take place at the urban VAs which are e toughest to work through the rep tape and wait lists are the longest. In defense of the VAs, the no-show rate is rediculously high because pts pay nothing and many don't appreciate the care they do receive. Nearly 25% of appts go unfilled and providers sit around twiddling their thumbs and wait times increase sadly. It is a perfect model as to why socialized medicine fails miserably.