The best healthcare in America is government run

[Chris]

Chris- do you know any vets? I do, and they sure aren't telling me that, it's just the opposite.

I believe that answer would be a big NO.

Hence, his entire OP premise has been ripped to shreds.

Are you EVER right about ANYTHING?

For the sixth year in a row, VA hospitals last year scored higher than private facilities on the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index, based on patient surveys on the quality of care received. The VA scored 83 out of 100; private institutions, 71. Males 65 years and older receiving VA care had about a 40% lower risk of death than those enrolled in Medicare Advantage, whose care is provided through private health plans or HMOs, according to a study published in the April edition of Medical Care. Harvard University just gave the VA its Innovations in American Government Award for the agency's work in computerizing patient records.

 

[Jon]

Chris- do you know any vets? I do, and they sure aren't telling me that, it's just the opposite.

I believe that answer would be a big NO.

Hence, his entire OP premise has been ripped to shreds.

Are you EVER right about ANYTHING?

For the sixth year in a row, VA hospitals last year scored higher than private facilities on the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index, based on patient surveys on the quality of care received. The VA scored 83 out of 100; private institutions, 71. Males 65 years and older receiving VA care had about a 40% lower risk of death than those enrolled in Medicare Advantage, whose care is provided through private health plans or HMOs, according to a study published in the April edition of Medical Care. Harvard University just gave the VA its Innovations in American Government Award for the agency's work in computerizing patient records.

You're comparing the VA to Medicare Advantage. Not the VA to all private health care, shit-for-brains.

 

[DiveCon]

I believe that answer would be a big NO.

Hence, his entire OP premise has been ripped to shreds.

Are you EVER right about ANYTHING?

For the sixth year in a row, VA hospitals last year scored higher than private facilities on the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index, based on patient surveys on the quality of care received. The VA scored 83 out of 100; private institutions, 71. Males 65 years and older receiving VA care had about a 40% lower risk of death than those enrolled in Medicare Advantage, whose care is provided through private health plans or HMOs, according to a study published in the April edition of Medical Care. Harvard University just gave the VA its Innovations in American Government Award for the agency's work in computerizing patient records.

You're comparing the VA to Medicare Advantage. Not the VA to all private health care, shit-for-brains.

in other words, hes comparing 2 government funded health care options

 

[johnrocks]

I noticed the date on that Time article was Sunday, Aug. 27, 2006 so it took almost 80 years to get to that level of care? What about this article that is dated , May 9, 2007?

Doctor says VA hospital has 18-month backlog on some surgeries

In some cases, those patients must wait as long as a year and a half for their surgeries, orthopedic surgeon Mark Murphy said, in response to questions from the North County Times. He added that 227 of the patients are waiting for joint-replacement surgery.

"We are at the point where we really need the help," Murphy said. "It's like the Alamo, waiting for Santa Anna to come over the hill and holding him off as long as you can."

The backlog problem at the VA hospital in La Jolla came to light Saturday during a meeting U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa held by phone from Baghdad with about 3,000 constituents from his 49th Congressional District.

Murphy participated in that meeting and registered his complaint about the backlog, asking Issa for his help in securing more funding for the hospital.

A hospital official acknowledged the backlog for orthopedic surgeries Tuesday, but said hospital officials are taking a number of steps to address the problem, including increasing the hours of operation for operating rooms and transferring some elective surgeries to the San Diego Naval Medical Center, the official said. He said the backlog of people needing joint-replacement surgery stands at 165 patients not the 227 patients claimed by Murphy.

Murphy stressed that the patients on the waiting list are those in need of elective, nonemergency surgeries. But that doesn't necessarily mean the wait is not difficult, he added.

When a person needs joint-replacement surgery, "it means you have a chronic painful condition," Murphy said.

The hospital's chief of surgical service, Erik Owens, said he could not immediately confirm the number of patients who are in line for orthopedic surgery, but he acknowledged that some patients were waiting as long as 18 months for elective surgeries.

"By the end of the calendar year, we hope to have things down to ... under six months," Owens said. "That's our goal and we hope to see it even better than that."


Doctor says VA hospital has 18-month backlog on some surgeries : North County Times - Californian 05-09-2007

 

[Navy1960]

We visited the facilities which had been the subject of considerable media attention: the Bruce W. Carter VAMC (Miami) in Miami, FL; the Tennessee Valley Healthcare System-Murfreesboro campus (Murfreesboro); and the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center (Augusta) in Augusta, GA. We reviewed applicable regulations, policies, procedures, and guidelines. Furthermore, 26 inspectors conducted unannounced onsite visits for the total of 42 probability-based randomly selected VHA facilities to examine pertinent endoscope reprocessing documentation.
Because of the unannounced nature of the inspections and for cost-efficiency, a stratified clustering sample design was employed to maximize the number of facilities that could be inspected in a single day. Two probability-based random samples of VHA endoscope reprocessing facilities were selected from the study populations for the unannounced onsite inspection: one for colonoscope reprocessing and another for ENT endoscope reprocessing. With probability sampling, each unit in the study population has a known positive probability of selection. This property of probability sampling avoids selection bias and allows use of statistical theory to make valid inferences from the sample to the study population.
Conclusions and Recommendations
Facilities have not complied with management directives to ensure compliance with reprocessing of endoscopes, resulting in a risk of infectious disease to veterans. Reprocessing of endoscopes requires a standardized, monitored approach to ensure that these instruments are safe for use in patient care.
The failure of medical facilities to comply on such a large scale with repeated alerts and directives suggests fundamental defects in organizational structure.
http://www.va.gov/oig/54/reports/VAOIG-09-01784-146.pdf

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — An attorney is preparing to ask the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to pay disability benefits and damages for hospital mistakes that may have exposed veterans to infectious body fluids — a complaint that he said could ultimately multiply into many more such demands.

The attorney, Mike Sheppard of Nashville, said he is preparing to file claims with the VA for about 60 veterans, including three women.

Among them are veterans who have tested positive for HIV and hepatitis and others who suffered emotional distress after the VA provided them with initial positive blood tests for infections that turned out to be wrong.

Sheppard also said other veterans among the roughly 10,000 affected former patients at VA hospitals in Murfreesboro, Tenn., Miami and Augusta, Ga., are likely to seek compensation beyond the VA's offer of free medical care.

"I've gotten calls from all over the country," he said
The Associated Press: Vets affected by VA hospital errors to file claims

Today’s New York Times reports: “A unit in Philadelphia operating with virtually no outside scrutiny botched 92 of 116 prostate cancer treatments over a span of more than six years.” Dr. Gary D. Kao, according to the report, ran a “rogue” cancer unit which covered up botched procedures in which radioactive “seeds” intended for the cancerous prostate landed in the bladder or near the rectum. Dr. Kao’s team rewrote treatment plans, according to the Times, to cover up his bad aim.

“For patients with prostate cancer, it is a common surgical procedure: a doctor implants dozens of radioactive seeds to attack the disease. But when Dr. Gary D. Kao treated one patient at the veterans’ hospital in Philadelphia, his aim was more than a little off.”
VA Hospital Botches Prostate Treatments, Report | PSA Rising Prostate Cancer Blog

I'm going to say this, if you compare the VA to the way it was 25 years ago it looks great, and has come a long way to improve itself from the shamless way it treated our nations warriors. However, if you wish to use the VA as some kind of model to hold up as a model for Govt. run healthcare I would suggest you may want to look somewhere else.

 

[Chris]

I believe that answer would be a big NO.

Hence, his entire OP premise has been ripped to shreds.

Are you EVER right about ANYTHING?

For the sixth year in a row, VA hospitals last year scored higher than private facilities on the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index, based on patient surveys on the quality of care received. The VA scored 83 out of 100; private institutions, 71. Males 65 years and older receiving VA care had about a 40% lower risk of death than those enrolled in Medicare Advantage, whose care is provided through private health plans or HMOs, according to a study published in the April edition of Medical Care. Harvard University just gave the VA its Innovations in American Government Award for the agency's work in computerizing patient records.

You're comparing the VA to Medicare Advantage. Not the VA to all private health care, shit-for-brains.

You are the one with shit for brains.

"Medicare Advantage, whose care is provided through private health plans or HMOs"

Nice try, though.

Are you ever right about anything?

 

[MadDog]

Collective bargaining! Why are drugs cheaper in Canada? Because the government negotiates for everyone with the drug companies. In America the drug companies have the patients by the balls.

Chris, I worked in the pharmaceutical industry for 34 years and I have a simple question for you. Are you ignorant or are you lying.

The Canadian government does not negotiate with drug companies. They set a formulary of which drugs will be available and which drugs won't. They also fix the prices on pharmaceuticals, as do other countries such as France.

The net effect is that in order to fund more R&D, pharma companies charge higher prices in the U.S. to sustain profits. And let's face it, there are only two ways a pharma company can use its profits. One is to pay dividends and the other is to re-invest in the company. So the net result is that in order to fund pharma R&D, American's are subsidizing the rest of the world through higher prices.

Chris, I've only been here for one day and I've already caught you in two lies. I'm already sensing a pattern here.

 

[MadDog]

Are you EVER right about ANYTHING?

For the sixth year in a row, VA hospitals last year scored higher than private facilities on the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index, based on patient surveys on the quality of care received. The VA scored 83 out of 100; private institutions, 71. Males 65 years and older receiving VA care had about a 40% lower risk of death than those enrolled in Medicare Advantage, whose care is provided through private health plans or HMOs, according to a study published in the April edition of Medical Care. Harvard University just gave the VA its Innovations in American Government Award for the agency's work in computerizing patient records.

You're comparing the VA to Medicare Advantage. Not the VA to all private health care, shit-for-brains.

in other words, hes comparing 2 government funded health care options

Very funny, DiveCon. Very, very funny.

 

[Chris]

We visited the facilities which had been the subject of considerable media attention: the Bruce W. Carter VAMC (Miami) in Miami, FL; the Tennessee Valley Healthcare System-Murfreesboro campus (Murfreesboro); and the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center (Augusta) in Augusta, GA. We reviewed applicable regulations, policies, procedures, and guidelines. Furthermore, 26 inspectors conducted unannounced onsite visits for the total of 42 probability-based randomly selected VHA facilities to examine pertinent endoscope reprocessing documentation.
Because of the unannounced nature of the inspections and for cost-efficiency, a stratified clustering sample design was employed to maximize the number of facilities that could be inspected in a single day. Two probability-based random samples of VHA endoscope reprocessing facilities were selected from the study populations for the unannounced onsite inspection: one for colonoscope reprocessing and another for ENT endoscope reprocessing. With probability sampling, each unit in the study population has a known positive probability of selection. This property of probability sampling avoids selection bias and allows use of statistical theory to make valid inferences from the sample to the study population.
Conclusions and Recommendations
Facilities have not complied with management directives to ensure compliance with reprocessing of endoscopes, resulting in a risk of infectious disease to veterans. Reprocessing of endoscopes requires a standardized, monitored approach to ensure that these instruments are safe for use in patient care.
The failure of medical facilities to comply on such a large scale with repeated alerts and directives suggests fundamental defects in organizational structure.
http://www.va.gov/oig/54/reports/VAOIG-09-01784-146.pdf

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — An attorney is preparing to ask the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to pay disability benefits and damages for hospital mistakes that may have exposed veterans to infectious body fluids — a complaint that he said could ultimately multiply into many more such demands.

The attorney, Mike Sheppard of Nashville, said he is preparing to file claims with the VA for about 60 veterans, including three women.

Among them are veterans who have tested positive for HIV and hepatitis and others who suffered emotional distress after the VA provided them with initial positive blood tests for infections that turned out to be wrong.

Sheppard also said other veterans among the roughly 10,000 affected former patients at VA hospitals in Murfreesboro, Tenn., Miami and Augusta, Ga., are likely to seek compensation beyond the VA's offer of free medical care.

"I've gotten calls from all over the country," he said
The Associated Press: Vets affected by VA hospital errors to file claims

Today’s New York Times reports: “A unit in Philadelphia operating with virtually no outside scrutiny botched 92 of 116 prostate cancer treatments over a span of more than six years.” Dr. Gary D. Kao, according to the report, ran a “rogue” cancer unit which covered up botched procedures in which radioactive “seeds” intended for the cancerous prostate landed in the bladder or near the rectum. Dr. Kao’s team rewrote treatment plans, according to the Times, to cover up his bad aim.

“For patients with prostate cancer, it is a common surgical procedure: a doctor implants dozens of radioactive seeds to attack the disease. But when Dr. Gary D. Kao treated one patient at the veterans’ hospital in Philadelphia, his aim was more than a little off.”
VA Hospital Botches Prostate Treatments, Report | PSA Rising Prostate Cancer Blog

I'm going to say this, if you compare the VA to the way it was 25 years ago it looks great, and has come a long way to improve itself from the shamless way it treated our nations warriors. However, if you wish to use the VA as some kind of model to hold up as a model for Govt. run healthcare I would suggest you may want to look somewhere else.

You want me to post a list of private hospital horror stories.

100,000 people a year die of medical mistakes, so your argument doesn't hold water.

 

[johnrocks]

Are you EVER right about ANYTHING?

For the sixth year in a row, VA hospitals last year scored higher than private facilities on the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index, based on patient surveys on the quality of care received. The VA scored 83 out of 100; private institutions, 71. Males 65 years and older receiving VA care had about a 40% lower risk of death than those enrolled in Medicare Advantage, whose care is provided through private health plans or HMOs, according to a study published in the April edition of Medical Care. Harvard University just gave the VA its Innovations in American Government Award for the agency's work in computerizing patient records.

You're comparing the VA to Medicare Advantage. Not the VA to all private health care, shit-for-brains.

You are the one with shit for brains.

"Medicare Advantage, whose care is provided through private health plans or HMOs"

Nice try, though.

Are you ever right about anything?

Of which both Medicare Advantage and HMO's(the vast expansion of HNO's anyway) were made possible by an act of Congress.

 

[Chris]

Collective bargaining! Why are drugs cheaper in Canada? Because the government negotiates for everyone with the drug companies. In America the drug companies have the patients by the balls.

Chris, I worked in the pharmaceutical industry for 34 years and I have a simple question for you. Are you ignorant or are you lying.

The Canadian government does not negotiate with drug companies. They set a formulary of which drugs will be available and which drugs won't. They also fix the prices on pharmaceuticals, as do other countries such as France.

The net effect is that in order to fund more R&D, pharma companies charge higher prices in the U.S. to sustain profits. And let's face it, there are only two ways a pharma company can use its profits. One is to pay dividends and the other is to re-invest in the company. So the net result is that in order to fund pharma R&D, American's are subsidizing the rest of the world through higher prices.

Chris, I've only been here for one day and I've already caught you in two lies. I'm already sensing a pattern here.

Your own post says the Canadian government "fix the price on pharmaceuticals, as do other countries such as France." That's the negotiation. Big Pharma can either sell the drugs at that price or not sell them at all.

Thanks for proving my point. You are the best!

 

[Chris]

You're comparing the VA to Medicare Advantage. Not the VA to all private health care, shit-for-brains.

in other words, hes comparing 2 government funded health care options

Very funny, DiveCon. Very, very funny.

Except that he is wrong.

VA is government run.

Medicare Advantage is government funded, but privately run.

Big difference.

 

[elvis]

in other words, hes comparing 2 government funded health care options

Very funny, DiveCon. Very, very funny.

Except that he is wrong.

VA is government run.

Medicare Advantage is government funded, but privately run.

Big difference.

you tell em, monica.

 

[Chris]

Very funny, DiveCon. Very, very funny.

Except that he is wrong.

VA is government run.

Medicare Advantage is government funded, but privately run.

Big difference.

you tell em, monica.

Thanks, Jeff Gannon!

And by a number of measures, this government-managed health-care program--socialized medicine on a small scale--is beating the marketplace. For the sixth year in a row, VA hospitals last year scored higher than private facilities on the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index, based on patient surveys on the quality of care received. The VA scored 83 out of 100; private institutions, 71. Males 65 years and older receiving VA care had about a 40% lower risk of death than those enrolled in Medicare Advantage, whose care is provided through private health plans or HMOs, according to a study published in the April edition of Medical Care. Harvard University just gave the VA its Innovations in American Government Award for the agency's work in computerizing patient records.

 

[elvis]

Except that he is wrong.

VA is government run.

Medicare Advantage is government funded, but privately run.

Big difference.

you tell em, monica.

Thanks, Jeff Gannon!

And by a number of measures, this government-managed health-care program--socialized medicine on a small scale--is beating the marketplace. For the sixth year in a row, VA hospitals last year scored higher than private facilities on the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index, based on patient surveys on the quality of care received. The VA scored 83 out of 100; private institutions, 71. Males 65 years and older receiving VA care had about a 40% lower risk of death than those enrolled in Medicare Advantage, whose care is provided through private health plans or HMOs, according to a study published in the April edition of Medical Care. Harvard University just gave the VA its Innovations in American Government Award for the agency's work in computerizing patient records.

gonna neg-rep me now, daft ****?

 

[Chris]

THE TYPICAL hospital patient is given the wrong medication or the wrong dose at least once a day, according to the Institute of Medicine, a research organization that advises Congress. The good news is that these mistakes are less likely to happen at a hospital run by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Surprise: VA hospitals get high marks - Los Angeles Times

 

[Oddball]

Collective bargaining! Why are drugs cheaper in Canada? Because the government negotiates for everyone with the drug companies. In America the drug companies have the patients by the balls.

Chris, I worked in the pharmaceutical industry for 34 years and I have a simple question for you. Are you ignorant or are you lying.

It's a pretty strong mixture of both.

Just to forewarn you, when you finally blow his bullshit to smithereens, he'll begin endlessly asking the same question, based upon a completely flawed either-or premise, over and over and over again.

 

[elvis]

Collective bargaining! Why are drugs cheaper in Canada? Because the government negotiates for everyone with the drug companies. In America the drug companies have the patients by the balls.

Chris, I worked in the pharmaceutical industry for 34 years and I have a simple question for you. Are you ignorant or are you lying.

It's a pretty strong mixture of both.

Just to forewarn you, when you finally blow his bullshit to smithereens, he'll begin endlessly asking the same question, based upon a completely flawed either-or premise, over and over and over again.

Then he'll neg-rep him. Oh that's right. He can't do that anymore.

 

[Chris]

Collective bargaining! Why are drugs cheaper in Canada? Because the government negotiates for everyone with the drug companies. In America the drug companies have the patients by the balls.

Chris, I worked in the pharmaceutical industry for 34 years and I have a simple question for you. Are you ignorant or are you lying.

It's a pretty strong mixture of both.

Just to forewarn you, when you finally blow his bullshit to smithereens, he's begin endlessly asking the same question, based upon a completely flawed either-or premise, over and over and over again.

No premise at all.

Just a simple question.

Should the rich get the best healthcare?

When faced with a question they cannot answer, the right will do one of three things...

1. Personal insult

2. Change the subject

3. Refuse to answer

 

[elvis]

Chris, I worked in the pharmaceutical industry for 34 years and I have a simple question for you. Are you ignorant or are you lying.

It's a pretty strong mixture of both.

Just to forewarn you, when you finally blow his bullshit to smithereens, he's begin endlessly asking the same question, based upon a completely flawed either-or premise, over and over and over again.

No premise at all.

Just a simple question.

Should the rich get the best healthcare?

When faced with a question they cannot answer, the right will do one of three things...

1. Personal insult

2. Change the subject

3. Refuse to answer

I am not rich, you stupid ****. I get the best care. There's your answer, dumbass.