The VA Scandal and Obamacare

[The Rabbi]

Another masterpiece from the wizards of the editorial page. The VA scandal shows us the future of Obamacare: when you remove price incentives from care you get rationing, which is what the VA was doing. When you ration, people die needlessly.
The Government Health-Care Model - WSJ.com

President Obama addressed the Veterans Affairs scandal on Wednesday, saying he's waiting for an Inspector General "audit" of what went wrong. And the press corps is debating whether VA Secretary Eric Shinseki should be fired. These are sideshows. The real story of the VA scandal is the failure of what liberals have long hailed as the model of government health care.

Don't take our word for it. As recently as November 2011, Paul Krugman praised the VA as a triumph of "socialized medicine," as he put it: "What's behind this success? Crucially, the V.H.A. is an integrated system, which provides health care as well as paying for it. So it's free from the perverse incentives created when doctors and hospitals profit from expensive tests and procedures, whether or not those procedures actually make medical sense."

Ah, yes, the VA lacks the evil profit motive. What the egalitarians ignore, however, is that a government system contains its own "perverse incentives," such as rationing that leads to treatment delays and preventable deaths, which the bureaucracy then tries to cover up. This isn't an accident or one-time error. It is inherent in a system that allocates resources by political force rather than individual consumer choices. The VA is ObamaCare's ultimate destination.
***

The VA operates on a "global budget" that Congress sets each year to provide veterans a guaranteed level of benefits. All veterans are entitled to free preventative screenings, immunizations, lab services and EKGs. Most are required to pay little to nothing out of pocket for medical appointments, hospital care and drugs.

All of this creates an ever-growing demand for more services, but in a world of inevitably limited resources. As in every government-run system, the only way the VA can provide universal, low-cost health care is by rationing. At the VA, this means long waiting lists to see doctors and get the "free" treatment veterans are entitled to.
Enlarge Image

So it's no surprise that allegations are spilling out that VA facilities keep secret waiting lists to hide queues that exceed the government's targets. A retired doctor at a veterans hospital in Phoenix last month charged that staff concealed months-long delays for as many as 1,600 veterans, allegedly resulting in 40 preventable deaths. Excessive wait-times have also been reported in Fort Collins, Durham, Cheyenne, Austin and Chicago, among others.

A new Inspector General report is all but certain to reaffirm the conclusions from its 2005, 2007 and 2012 reports. To wit, VA centers fudge their data. The VA has consistently boasted in its performance reviews that more than 90% of patients receive appointments within 14 days of their "desired date." Yet according to the IG's 2012 report, the measures "had no real value" because the VA "does not have a reliable and accurate method of determining whether they are providing patients timely access" to care.

VA officials claim backlogs are due to difficulty hiring and retaining staff, but that's another problem endemic to government health care. Compensation is often too low to attract doctors, particularly in high-demand specialties like physical therapy and gastroenterology. While VA medical centers can refer patients for private consultations to reduce backlogs, they rarely do.

more at the source

 

[Edgetho]

A 'waiting list' is rationing. Just that simple.

Anywhere there is goobermint run Health Care, there are waiting lists

It's Not Just the VA; Government Health System Waiting Lists Are Lethal in Canada, Too - Hit & Run : Reason.com

"Canada's growing wait times for health care may have contributed to the deaths of 44,273 Canadian women between 1993 and 2009," that country's Fraser Institute announced just yesterday.

Which is why so many Canadians flee to America to avail themselves of our inferior Health Care

The nonpartisan Fraser Institute reported that 46,159 Canadians sought medical treatment outside of Canada in 2011, as wait times increased 104 percent — more than double — compared with statistics from 1993.

Read more: Report: Thousands fled Canada for health care in 2011 | The Daily Caller

At least in the UK, the people dying are spread across the spectrum of citizenry.

Even.... Well, just look

NHS director dies after operation is cancelled four times at her own hospital | Mail Online

A former NHS director died after waiting for nine months for an operation - at her own hospital.

I'd laugh if it weren't so sad.

You dimocrap scum? You have no idea what you've done. You're just too stupid to know.

 

[WelfareQueen]

A 'waiting list' is rationing. Just that simple.

Anywhere there is goobermint run Health Care, there are waiting lists

It's Not Just the VA; Government Health System Waiting Lists Are Lethal in Canada, Too - Hit & Run : Reason.com

"Canada's growing wait times for health care may have contributed to the deaths of 44,273 Canadian women between 1993 and 2009," that country's Fraser Institute announced just yesterday.

Which is why so many Canadians flee to America to avail themselves of our inferior Health Care

The nonpartisan Fraser Institute reported that 46,159 Canadians sought medical treatment outside of Canada in 2011, as wait times increased 104 percent — more than double — compared with statistics from 1993.

Read more: Report: Thousands fled Canada for health care in 2011 | The Daily Caller

At least in the UK, the people dying are spread across the spectrum of citizenry.

Even.... Well, just look

NHS director dies after operation is cancelled four times at her own hospital | Mail Online

A former NHS director died after waiting for nine months for an operation - at her own hospital.

I'd laugh if it weren't so sad.

You dimocrap scum? You have no idea what you've done. You're just too stupid to know.

Looks like the British system did a great job with her teeth as well.

 

[healthmyths]

The first time I saw these numbers I knew that not only was "single payer" ACA, anything the federal government had to do with health care
was suspect! I mean how can most people including Limbaugh etc. pushing the false number of 46 million uninsured that was used primarily for passage by 7 votes!
The inability to comprehend by most people including critics of Obamacare these simple facts:
1) 10 million of the 46 million supposedly uninsured ARE NOT CITIZENS... so please don't include them.
2) 14 million people who told Census they had no insurance ALSO didn't know they qualified for Medicaid! So where has Medicaid been?
These 14 million should have been enrolled and as a result... there are not 36 million but 22 million!
3) 18 million counted as uninsured.. DON"T WANT insurance! WHY are they being counted as they have no need under 34 years old.
They CAN afford their employers coverage (make over $50,000!) but pay their health services out of pocket!
Those 3 groups add up to 42 million!
Subtract that from 46 million leaves 4 million! That's it and I'm all in favor of them getting insurance through whatever!!

 

[blastoff]

A 'waiting list' is rationing. Just that simple.

Anywhere there is goobermint run Health Care, there are waiting lists

It's Not Just the VA; Government Health System Waiting Lists Are Lethal in Canada, Too - Hit & Run : Reason.com

"Canada's growing wait times for health care may have contributed to the deaths of 44,273 Canadian women between 1993 and 2009," that country's Fraser Institute announced just yesterday.

Which is why so many Canadians flee to America to avail themselves of our inferior Health Care



Read more: Report: Thousands fled Canada for health care in 2011 | The Daily Caller

At least in the UK, the people dying are spread across the spectrum of citizenry.

Even.... Well, just look

NHS director dies after operation is cancelled four times at her own hospital | Mail Online

A former NHS director died after waiting for nine months for an operation - at her own hospital.

I'd laugh if it weren't so sad.

You dimocrap scum? You have no idea what you've done. You're just too stupid to know.

Looks like the British system did a great job with her teeth as well.

When it comes to teeth and Brits it's not their medical system's fault. Brits are born with the Bad Teeth gene.

 

[boedicca]

Rabbi,

Why do you hate hard(ly) working public servant government bureaucrats who are just trying to earn their bonuses?

*quizzically*

boe

 

[LordBrownTrout]

The VA scandal brings to light the downfalls of a single payer system.

 

[boedicca]

Its a Preview of Coming ObamaCare Attractions.

 

[Iceweasel]

The highest paid guy in my department at the VA was a GS13. No one knew what all he did during the day. When he finally retired his position was never even filled. I wonder how many vets couldn't get their needs met due to costs involved?

 

[The Rabbi]

Its a Preview of Coming ObamaCare Attractions.

Exactly. This is different from the Walter Reed scandal, which was localized and solved quickly under Bush.
The very reason the VA did this is the same reason Obamacare will be doing exactly the same thing: when you offer "free" care you overload the system. Unless you add money ad infinitum you must ration care, denying some to some people or offering delays. The difference will be that under Obamacare those will be part of the system, not the aberrations from the system that the VA is.

 

[1776]

The VA is obamacare on a "small scale."

There will be longer and more wait lists aka death panels under obamacare.

 

[1776]

When the GOV is providing you healthcare, they can fuck you over and you can do nothing about it, if you don't have other healthcare options. They have a captive customer and you can't sue them, so they will give you what they want to give you when they want to give it to you.

 

[The Rabbi]

And guess what? This has been th experience with EVERY system tried in this country like Obamacare. Skyrocketing costs leading to rationing. A person would have to be an idiot to think somehow this time it's different.

 

[boedicca]

You peasants clearly do not appreciate what The Won is doing for you.