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| The Few, the Proud, the Marooned |
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Unable to manage veteran health benefits, how does the government plan to handle an entire country? I know what you’re thinking: “Oh lord, another right-wing Republican against Obama and Universal Healthcare.” You’re 100% right. Congratulations…Here’s a cookie. But you may not know the reason why. Instead of going to great lengths to explain the system’s moral and ethical issues, I’ll break it down shotgun style, using my own experiences – a “from a veteran” approach, rather than the super conservative perspective that you expect. Let’s start with how the government has done with their version of healthcare so far. At the V.A., you start by proving that you were a service member, or are properly connected to one (family, spouse, etc.). You have to arrive early so that there’s time to turn the paperwork in, allowing 15 minutes to fill said paperwork out, and the wait for your name to be called. Don’t be surprised if it takes three or four hours before your paperwork actually makes it to the person who can enter it into the system. If you’re really sick, let them know; you’ll be placed on a list to see a doctor if one becomes available…but you’ll have to stay in the lobby. If your name is called and you don’t hear it, you lose your chance. Ah, you finally got the call a few weeks later for your appointment. It’ll be at least ten days before the actual visit. At your visit, it’s uncommon to be seen within 3 hours of your scheduled appointment. Instead, you’ll find that the doctor has patients booked so close together that when your appointment time rolls around, they’re still dealing with a patient four or five people ahead of you. So now you’re face-to-face with your doctor, who may or may not be your “actual” doctor. They may just be someone that randomly got stuck with your doctor’s rounds while he was eating lunch or on the phone. They go over a VERY basic checklist and usually order blood work. Most normal doctors order blood work too, but it’s to add to your medical records; doctors at the V.A. do it because they don’t have any of your records to begin with. It can take up to a month for your records to be transferred from previously visited V.A. facilities, if they are found at all. On the off chance that your records are found and your blood work comes back okay, you can call for an appointment to address your specific medical problem. That’s right, the first visit will usually not address your issue. You’ll have to come back for each separate issue, especially if it requires a doctor’s signature or a specialist. From this limited perspective, it’s clear that the V.A. is rife with issues even at the most basic of level. Having dealt with the system for a few years now, I can’t see large-scale government control of healthcare as a good thing. A few million veterans already tax the government’s limited ability. If the government tried to provide insurance for 250 million plus people, and tried to make sure that everyone was treated “equally” and promptly, can you imagine the resulting clusterfuck? Another problem with Universal Healthcare, which has already been seen in the V.A. system, is funding. The system was ripe with funds for doctors and huge facilities for years, until the public forgot about it and the government turned its focus to other matters. Budget cuts and reduced federal funding have stripped services to a hollow shell of what they could be. How many years or administrations will it take for Universal Healthcare to rot away due to funding issues and lack of attention? I for one don’t care to find out.  |
Comments
I'm for abolishing the VA system in it's entirety and giving our vets a gold pass. this past should get them whatever they need from the gen-pop system. Making them drive or travel hundreds of miles (in some cases) to go to a brick-and-morta r VA building when they could just go to the local hospital and be trated just as well as the rest of us is silly. this current sytem is just another government/military product of percieved superiority. They thought they could do it better themselves, that they know the soldier's needs better than private doctors? What other reason could there be for the VA system in the first place?
I say let the soldiers come back into the private society they fought to protect.
While the CURRENT plan isn't for government ran medical centers, its a logical progression from where the trend is already heading. The "easiest" way for the government to control the cost of medical care is to force hospitals to be managed by government oversight which in turn will result in the eventually take over of the industry. It'll start with the insurance...telling doctors that they can only charge X amount for procedures for anyone under the government plan or telling patients that things XYZ aren't covered by the plan because doctors charge too much for them...which leads to the people calling out for the government to step in an reduce the cost of procedures...by taking over the doctors/hospitals themselves.
On the issue of veteran health care, the reason for the VA health system was to supposedly give veterans a lower-cost health benefit that didn't restrict the freedom of pricing for private medical entities. The only way to control that cost was to control the system (see, like I mentioned above), so they created their own medical bureaucracy. Tri-Care, one of the Active Duty healthcare plans used by the military already places demands on doctors. For my knee surgery while I was in the Corps, the hospital did the surgery and Tri-Care billed the government for X amount of dollars...of which the government paid about half of. This is the agreement that hospitals are forced into if they want to help veterans...do what they need, and we'll pay you what we think is right. Often times, as it was with my case, the hospital then came after ME for the remainder but was forced to write off the amount because by law I cannot by held liable for medical fees associated with the Tri-Care approved plan.