Is it fair to say that the VA is a good indicator (for better or worse) of how state run single payer healthcare would operate?
That's a fair question since Obamacare is headed that direction. I have used both private and VA medical care so I have some insight to this. There are pluses and minuses for both. Private doctors tend to try and maximize their profits which can lead to mistakes. Bureaucratic healthcare is often overwhelmed by patients which can also lead to mistakes. However, the VA system doesn't make their employees accountable in most cases as evidenced in recent history. You are at the mercy of the VA when it comes to doctor choice. Good private doctors tend to be very busy and it is very difficult to become a regular patient. The VA I used has NOT been one of the ones in the news, so it is as good as it gets. Casual appointments take 3 or 4 weeks, similar to the private sector. If you have an emergency then you can simply go to the emergency room. There really shouldn't be any reason for the VA deaths whatsoever. At worst, anyone can go to any emergency room anywhere and get treated. It has ALWAYS been that way, but Obama pushed Obamacare on the basis that people weren't able to get treatment, which is a baldfaced lie. Since the VA has experience in the bureaucratic form, then I would say they are probably better than what may come in the future. Steve
Yes. Forget ObamaCare... all the people who didn't have insurance should have been given the same (*)(*)(*)(*)ty healthcare our veterans get. But if that happened, they'd complain it sacked and would riot.
It's best to try and understand the differences in private and federal economics, that is our government has really never managed anything efficiently. First they don't need to, the money will always be there and second, it's almost impossible to get rid of bad employees. Yes, IMO the VA system today and in its history, is what any "Single Payer", Federally operated system would be, but there is no "better" that exist.
ask bernie he was the chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and at the helm when it went straight down the toilet
I found your post to be very interesting about the VA. I'd like to ask if you think the influx of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, many with significant injuries and long rehabilitation, has impacted the services provided to the older vets because the system became overwhelmed by sheer numbers? Some states seem to have been less responsive to the VA problem than others. To what do you attribute that? Just as a citizen, I am outraged that vets have died waiting on treatment and am glad the problem is being addressed.
Thanks for saying. It's true that I have seen more traffic at the local VA where I am. I have even seen many women using it now so there are some middle-eastern war vets coming in now. But I think the big problems that have been occurring are in places where people tend to retire, is my guess. Phoenix AZ, is retirement heaven for many. The population movements across the country has probably been the biggest factor, while the bureaucrats are playing catch up. They may not even realize it yet, who knows. Steve
Doubtful. The vets don't get a lot of say in how the VA is run. Voters get to choose who they elect based on how they want healthcare run. If it were to be the case.
The answer is NO! A loud resounding NO!! Why ?? The VA is not an example of a single payor system. The VA is an example of government provided ( or at least 80 % 0f VA healthcare is government provided). Single payor means just what it say = one payor for healthcare services regardless of who provides the service. Medicare is the closest thing that we have to single payor. Private doc and facilities provides the service and the government pays. Well it pays very little but still the government is the single payor. The VA system actually provides the service directly. I estimate that 80 % of the services that the VA "provides" is direct VA hospitals, facilities, doc, labs , pharmacies, etc etc. We will employ out of VA service where the VA does not have that service available or when the VETERANS CHOICE threshold is breached. Under certain conditions where we cannot provide a Veteran a service or we cannot get them that service in a timely manner we can imply the VETERANS CHOICE option. What Veterans Choice mean sis a Veterans under certain conditions can go to a non VA medical provider for medical service. The Veterans Choice program is just about 2 years old so I do not know how effective it is yet. PS Since I retired from the Insurance industry a few years ago I have been volunteering at a VA facility doing various things. I have done and do things that paid employees can and do do at the VA. I do through the same background checks such as FBI checks and fingerprinting etc as they do.
I would agree with you if single payer is in fact similar to medicare, but unfortunately, it hasn't been determined what form of "single payer" the medical system will eventually take. If dems win big in November, then we will likely see a VA style medical system. Steve
The facility that I volunteer at we have a good number of female Vets. Some bring their kids with them so we have little puzzles and someone donated a couple Lego sets I get a kick getting stuff for them to play with. It's like dealing with my Grand kids. The Vets from the three ME wars have indeed hit the system. The old guys are now us Vietnam Vets and Vietnam / Cold war Vets. We still get an occasional WW II Vet but the basic real old guys are the Korean War Vets. We are an outpatient facility now days and they added a new building getting ready to pen so we will become a diagnostic center with MRI, CT Scan machines and other testing facilities. I will post more updates from my perspective as a patient and as someone who "works" at the VA. I first was here as a patient after Vietnam and I swore that I would never ever set foot in a VA hospital ever ever again. I have change my opinion of "our" VA hospital and our sister in patent facility about 20 miles or so South of us.
They get to vote. But how often is the VA even a ticket issue. Sure they can choose one beneficial to the VA improvement. But the other 95% or so of the population has no real concern with it. There seems to be many more pressing issues that bury VA concerns.
This question is for you and [MENTION=70081]PARTIZAN1[/MENTION], and any other poster familiar with the VA... Which, in your opinion would provide the better service for the American people, single payer like Medicare or single payer like the VA, and which would method would be the higher cost?
For the American tax payer, neither is good. Whenever government is the buyer of goods and services, as in the VA, then there is no competition and therefore no cost reductions or efficiency. If the government pays out like Medicare, they tend to tell the supplier what they are willing to pay and therefore doctors voluntarily drop out of the system resulting in a shortage. The one thing that has NEVER been addressed at all is the continued rising costs of healthcare. I'm not sure what is going to change that, some politicians think they know how to change it. It's worth a try. Everything done to this point hasn't worked. As far as medical services, I've had better and I've had worse. I'm lucky that I haven't had any serious problems. Steve
