Do we need to privatize the VA?

[uscitizen]

Tricare going up would seem to indicate that privatization is needed to keep the costs down.

 

[Peach]

Tricare going up would seem to indicate that privatization is needed to keep the costs down.

NO. It has NOT worked elsewhere. EXAMPLE: I better not post it, but Florida has PRIVATIZED some state agencies. No decrease in costs due to more delay in services, which add to the cost.

 

[Sunshine]

No, the government can do the job cheaper. And in reality, the veterans don't want privatized care. They see the rest of us getting treated like sheep and any time someone gets serious about changing the VA, the veteran groups swing into action and nip it in the bud.

I have worked for contract companies in the past and was working for one when Obama's recession hit. They lost government contracts left and right because states no longer were collecting enough taxes to afford them.

 

[Prevail]

Privatizing the VA turns the interest of caring for Veterans into an economic one. Companies like Lockheed and Northrop Grunman, as much as they love to play the patriotic card, still do everything they can to make money off of the government. If we turn the VA over to a private company, then you will see this replicated there. Instead of being focused on providing the most effective care, you will see a focus on being profitable. I am a very strong proponent of privatization in most other areas, but the care of our Veterans is much to important for it to be left in the hands of a privately owned corporation.
That being said, the VA does, and should continue too, make use of the private sector in order to provide the best possible care to Veterans. This can come in the form of partnerships with various organizations, or working hand in hand with private medical facilities, as long as the overall control stays with the government.

 

[old navy]

Tricare is a DOD program.

DOD and VA are two different agencies.

 

[Warrior102]

Tricare going up would seem to indicate that privatization is needed to keep the costs down.

This doesn't even make any fucking sense

 

[The Gadfly]

Tricare going up would seem to indicate that privatization is needed to keep the costs down.

I can't see where that would help.The VA is simply overloaded and under staffed; add in the necessary accountability, and you get what we have-a bureaucratic system that is often maddeningly slow and unresponsive, but is doing the best it can with the resources it has. Privatizing it isn't going to change that aspect of it (which is the biggest complaint I hear), and might well drive up costs in the short run. As it is, the VA works better than a lot of things government tries to do.

 

[usmcstinger]

I spent 15 1/2 years as a County Director and a Deputy State Director of Veterans' Affairs.

The best VA Hospitals have affiliations with outstanding Private Teaching Hospitals.
NYU Medical Center( NYUMC) is among the 5 best hospitals in the USA. They are affiliated with the Manhattan and Brooklyn VA Hospitals. The NYU Medical Doctors that teach are at the top of their fields.

NYUMC has advanced Medical Technology and will treat Veterans there when the need arises.

Tampa VA Hospital is affiliated with the University of South Florida which is also a Teaching Hospital with advanced Medical Technology.

The one thing that would help all VA hospitals would be to allow them to bill Medicare and keep the money.

I helped in the writing of the original legislation. Thank God the chairs of the Veterans Committees in the House and Senate keep bringing it up, regardless of their political affiliation.

 

[Sunshine]

Privatizing the VA turns the interest of caring for Veterans into an economic one. Companies like Lockheed and Northrop Grunman, as much as they love to play the patriotic card, still do everything they can to make money off of the government. If we turn the VA over to a private company, then you will see this replicated there. Instead of being focused on providing the most effective care, you will see a focus on being profitable. I am a very strong proponent of privatization in most other areas, but the care of our Veterans is much to important for it to be left in the hands of a privately owned corporation.
That being said, the VA does, and should continue too, make use of the private sector in order to provide the best possible care to Veterans. This can come in the form of partnerships with various organizations, or working hand in hand with private medical facilities, as long as the overall control stays with the government.

Your post is stupid. Outsourcing has not worked. You are about 20 years behind. Veterans don't WANT their care to be someone's 'economic' interest. A system that does not have to make a profit can provide services more easily than one that has to turn a profit at the end of the day.

 

[Sunshine]

I spent 15 1/2 years as a County Director and a Deputy State Director of Veterans' Affairs.

The best VA Hospitals have affiliations with outstanding Private Teaching Hospitals.
NYU Medical Center( NYUMC) is among the 5 best hospitals in the USA. They are affiliated with the Manhattan and Brooklyn VA Hospitals. The NYU Medical Doctors that teach are at the top of their fields.

NYUMC has advanced Medical Technology and will treat Veterans there when the need arises.

Tampa VA Hospital is affiliated with the University of South Florida which is also a Teaching Hospital with advanced Medical Technology.

The one thing that would help all VA hospitals would be to allow them to bill Medicare and keep the money.

I helped in the writing of the original legislation. Thank God the chairs of the Veterans Committees in the House and Senate keep bringing it up, regardless of their political affiliation.

They bill private insurance. I'm not sure if they bill Medicare. Likely no.

The VA in Nashville is affiliated with Vanderbilt.

 

[whitehall]

When you take into consideration that politicians couldn't even run a post office without stealing stamps or supervise Fannie Mae without using it for a payoff for no show jobs you get an inkling about the federal government's concept of job security. The VA works but when you consider that government employees are guaranteed a salary no matter what they do and overhead and useless programs are funded without scrutiny you get a feeling that maybe the private sector could do it better and cheaper.

 

[usmcstinger]

The one thing that would help all VA hospitals would be to allow them to bill Medicare and keep the money. It would take legislation to allow the VA to bill medicare and keep the money. [/B Do you understand now?

 

[usmcstinger]

When you take into consideration that politicians couldn't even run a post office without stealing stamps or supervise Fannie Mae without using it for a payoff for no show jobs you get an inkling about the federal government's concept of job security. The VA works but when you consider that government employees are guaranteed a salary no matter what they do and overhead and useless programs are funded without scrutiny you get a feeling that maybe the private sector could do it better and cheaper.

There are certain disabilities that no other hospitals or medical centers have had to deal with. When it comes to Post Traumatic Disorder ( which is not a Psychiatric Disease like Schizophrenia )., the VA has the most experience in treating combat Veterans. I do not trust private Psychiatrists.

PTSD is a sane reaction to the horrors war.

 

[Warrior102]

When you take into consideration that politicians couldn't even run a post office without stealing stamps or supervise Fannie Mae without using it for a payoff for no show jobs you get an inkling about the federal government's concept of job security. The VA works but when you consider that government employees are guaranteed a salary no matter what they do and overhead and useless programs are funded without scrutiny you get a feeling that maybe the private sector could do it better and cheaper.

There are certain disabilities that no other hospitals or medical centers have had to deal with. When it comes to Post Traumatic Disorder ( which is not a Psychiatric Disease like Schizophrenia )., the VA has the most experience in combat Veterans. I do not trust private Psychiatrists.

PTSD is a sane reaction to the horrors war.

Then you're an idiot. I don't trust government employees - i.e. VA docs. Went through too much bullshit with them with my Dad up in Maine.
I'm retired military and I wouldn't step one foot into a dumpy VA hospital.

 

[usmcstinger]

Eligible persons can to use any doctors that accept TRICARE.

 

[Sunshine]

When you take into consideration that politicians couldn't even run a post office without stealing stamps or supervise Fannie Mae without using it for a payoff for no show jobs you get an inkling about the federal government's concept of job security. The VA works but when you consider that government employees are guaranteed a salary no matter what they do and overhead and useless programs are funded without scrutiny you get a feeling that maybe the private sector could do it better and cheaper.

There are certain disabilities that no other hospitals or medical centers have had to deal with. When it comes to Post Traumatic Disorder ( which is not a Psychiatric Disease like Schizophrenia )., the VA has the most experience in treating combat Veterans. I do not trust private Psychiatrists.

PTSD is a sane reaction to the horrors war.

That is correct, and the VA counselors have special training. Many of them are veterans themselves as well. PTSD is not a psychotic illness. It is in the DSM nomenclature as an anxiety disorder. There ARE a lot of schizophrenics in the VA system, though. They had their psychotic break while in combat. The schizophrenics are FAR better off in the VA than private care because they have more services for them like the domiciliaries and boarding homes.

As to the other person's comment about 'government employees': Licensed professionals who spent 8 years getting their education usually are several notches above your run of the mill bureaucrat. Everyone I worked with in the TN VA was 100% professional and patient care oriented.

 

[usmcstinger]

Very juvenile response. Then you would call the 8.5 million Veterans enrolled in the VA Health Care System idiots too? All you know about the VA Health Care System are problems encountered in one VA Hospital in Maine.

2/3 of those who served in Vietnam enlisted in the Armed Forces.

I enlisted in the USMC and served as an Infantry Fire Team Leader in Vietnam 67-68 with the 1st Bn 4th Marines. Northern I Corps where we fought the North Vietnamese Army.

I do not need you crap. The End!

 

[Prevail]

I am a very strong proponent of privatization in most other areas, but the care of our Veterans is much to important for it to be left in the hands of a privately owned corporation.

Your post is stupid. Outsourcing has not worked. You are about 20 years behind. Veterans don't WANT their care to be someone's 'economic' interest. A system that does not have to make a profit can provide services more easily than one that has to turn a profit at the end of the day.

Before calling my post stupid, please read it. I specifically hold the VA as an entity that should not be outsourced. I make the point about turning it into an "economic interest" in order to explain why it should not be privatized. I agree with the privatization of other areas of government, but as I said in my post, not the VA.

 

[Warrior102]

Very juvenile response. Then you would call the 8.5 million Veterans enrolled in the VA Health Care System idiots too? All you know about the VA Health Care System are problems encountered in one VA Hospital in Maine.

2/3 of those who served in Vietnam enlisted in the Armed Forces.

I enlisted in the USMC and served as an Infantry Fire Team Leader in Vietnam 67-68 with the 1st Bn 4th Marines. Northern I Corps where we fought the North Vietnamese Army.

I do not need you crap. The End!

I can only address one idiot at a time my friend. Sorry.
Thanks for your service.
I lost a cousin in 'Nam - December '65. Quang Nam province. Killed in an abmush in Operation Harvest Moon. He was with F/2/7