How the VA "Failed"

[Martin Hash]

The Veterans Administration's healthcare has been lambasted for poor service, which was blamed on “socialism” & “government.” What, do people think they are bad doctors with outdated equipment who are too lazy to do their job? And where did the impression that the VA is a boondoggle come from? Well, you need to look deeper than your sanctimony for the real reason.

Most service members are conservatives & they mostly hate Government. The ethos in the military towards the VA is to "get as much as you can get." There are underground instructions that everyone reads on what to say & how to game the system to get as much as you can from that freakin' socialized medicine, and soldiers deserve everything they can get because they're soldiers, hell ya.

This attitude is an open secret. 90 of the 100 guys out in the Waiting Room are faking it, everyone knows they're faking it, but the 10 who actually need help are usually pushed to the front of the line. The others just wait to get the free money or whatever, and are mostly patient. Unfortunately, on paper the vast majority of “patients” who were not really seen by a doctor look like poor service; really bad, awful service for healthcare but great service if you're measuring free money.

Republicans who hate socialism came along and browbeat the VA to adopt policies that would "reward" administrators who used Market techniques, so the 90 were half-assed shuffled through, given their free money quickly, and booted out the door with hardly an examination. Unfortunately, from the outside, not knowing what is really happening, this looks like shoddy healthcare, and it is, but it's GREAT free money give-away service.