SwiftVets.com

[AZVet61]

This is my response to an article written by an Arizona Republic reporter who blamed Bush for the allegedly poor service given to vets by the VA in Arizona. I don't know whether every vet's experience is the same as mine, but even if it isn't I don't believe Kerry should get any votes because of it. If Kerry does get elected [God forbid!], he won't do a damn thing to help vets. If he can't bring himself to apologize for his actions, he's not going to be anything but vengeful over the attacks upon him and his record.

Dear Ms. Carroll:

John Kerry is trying to ride to the presidency on the backs of the Vietnam veterans he called "war criminals" 33 years ago. Now, with your assistance, he is trying to use the plight of those veterans who rely upon the VA healthcare system to demonstrate that the Bush Administration is letting veterans down. I tried to think of a strong enough epithet to condemn your article on VA healthcare. Most are unprintable, so I'll just call it a damnable lie, written by a know-nothing reporter from the backwater bureau of a newspaper whose readers in Southern Arizona can almost be counted by the use of one's 10 fingers. Why the Arizona Republic chose to use a reporter from its Tucson Bureau to write a story on VA care in the whole of Arizona is inexplicable. For example, the Carl Hayden VA Center in Phoenix handles ten times the number of veterans as do the VA facilities in southern Arizona.
I began using the VA for healthcare 5 years ago, when my health insurance was cancelled, and I was unable to find replacement insurance. I found I was not alone in this--that the deplorable state of HMO-managed care had driven thousands of vets into the VA system. I had apprehension about using what I perceived to be a monolithic bureaucracy. What I discovered is perhaps the best-run medical system in the world--and that includes those managed by HMO's and privately-owned and run hospitals.
In a very brief period of time, because of the virtual collapse of the civilian system, use of the VA increased over 44%--and is still increasing at a startling rate. Veterans, like myself, who do not have service-connected problems now rely upon the VA for their healthcare. Without the strong support of the Bush Administration, this would not have been possible.
Most importantly, and this is why your story is almost completely fruadulent, the quality of healthcare in the VA system is, in most cases very good, if not excellent. The computer system used by the VA is without parallel in the civilian world of healthcare. Prescriptions are refilled by the use of a punch-in telephone call and are mailed directly to you. You are then billed by mail for the co-pay, which is $7 per 30-day prescription for even the most expensive drugs. Are some drugs non-formulary because they are yet so new the VA system has not incorporated them? Of course, but this is no different than in the civilian world. Because the VA uses its purchasing power, it is able to reduce the cost of prescription drugs. Do the large civilian healthcare systems do this?--maybe, but they sure as heck don't pass the savings on to the patient. Instead, in the civilian-run systems, the patient and the insurance company pay through the nose for even the most generic of drugs.
The VA is also very sensitive to the needs and desires of its patients. Recently, I complained to VA Secretary Principi about the continued use of the Social Security number on VA ID cards. Within weeks, the VA responded and eliminated the use of the SSN on its cards. Try that with Medicare or Medicaid or Blue Cross.
If there is one constant among veterans, it is that they love to gripe about things. For example, they complain about having to drive an hour to the VA facility in Tucson. My experience with waiting times in the VA clinics at Carl Hayden is no more than one-half hour. My supposition is that is also true for Tucson. I have spent much more time than that in the waiting rooms of civilian doctors. So, the vet drives an hour to the VA in Tucson and waits a half-hour when he/she could have driven for 30 minutes to a civilian doctor or clinic and waited an hour to see the doctor. Had you been more astute--or willing--you could have figured this out. Also, at the VA, the laboratory facilities are on-site. You don't have to drive to the lab mandated by the HMO and wait forever to have the tests taken. Additionally, the wating time at the VA lab is very short--no more than 15-20 minutes, and the results are put into the computerized system as soon as they have been completed. Compare that with the civilian system. Moreover, the VA is committed to opening clinics in rural communities which will afford basic care to veterans in those areas--the same communities which, in many instances have lost doctors because they cannot afford malpractice insurance, thanks to lawyers like John Edwards.
I could go on, but suffice it to say that I think your article is shallow, poorly researched and does not accurately reflect the quality of healthcare available to qualified vets in the VA system. You have done a great disservice to the VA--and have assisted John Kerry in perpetrating his lies about veterans and veterans' benefits. But, I suppose this is par for the course for a newspaper that hasn't done any real investigative reporting since the death of its reporter, Don Bolles.
You, and The Arizona Republic should be ashamed.

[Navy_Navy_Navy]

Well done as usual, Arizona61!

Add to it the fact that funding for the VA has gone up 41% under Bush's first three years - more than twice as fast as it increased in eight years of Clinton.

And the fact that the VA has been put on notice - "Get your act together, get the wait times down, TREAT THE VETS WHO NEED TREATMENT."

Those are the President's orders.
_________________
~ Echo Juliet ~
Altering course to starboard - On Fire, Keep Clear
Navy woman, Navy wife, Navy mother

[Paul5388]

That was a very good response!

I have been on VA health care since 1998 and I highly recommend them. The really amazing thing is, I didn't go looking for them, they found me through a screening at the VFW! The outpatient clinics, that seem to have appeared during President Bush's watch, have really helped a lot of veterans.

The really deplorable part of the VA is the regional offices. They should have access to the computers in the VAMC system, but evidently they refuse to use them. Even after being contacted by my three congress people, they still drag their feet.

I suppose incompetent is a nice word to describe them. It only took them 15 years to be able to read two DD 214's and figure out I had two separate periods of active duty!
_________________
"FLUSH THE JOHNS"
Bumper sticker seen at Shreveport VAMC

www.usslittlerock.com

[lthrneck]

I've had nothing but sheet from the VA. However I wouldnt select a President on my personal problems with this totally f'd up goverment organization.
_________________
"Old Breed, New Breed, There's not a DAMM bit of
difference so long as it's the MARINE Breed"
- Lt. Gen Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller

Semper fi
uuurah
Carry On!!

[monster]

I'm a disabled vet. Both arms & both legs, and my wife is a Nursing Supervisor at a VA Hospital so I see what is going on there from both sides. The Clinton administration cut VA spending on the care system by over 50% while he was in office. And the Democrats in both houses fight any attempt by the Republicans to restore funding to the levels needed to support the system. If the VA where a private hospital, they'd be shut down for their lack of nursing staff.

The VA is still feeling the effects of the Clinton years as the budget reforms he legislated in, during his tenure, continue to kick in. The VA Hospital system is one of the finest in the US; however, many of their facilities are under utilized or have been abandoned because the money isn't there to support them.

Remember, the Clintons and their Democrat allies have nothing but contempt for the Armed Forces. They did everything in thier power to destroy the VA. It's time those of you veterans out there that still give a damn about your comrads in arms, place the blame where blame is due, VOTE any Democrat politician out of office. This is the only way we can get the system back on line, back to where it should be.

As an aside, are you aware that many VA facilities are forced to transfer their long term patients to local, inferior, State run facilities. Thus adding to the burdon on State & Local tax payers!
_________________
STOP Communism

[Hondo]

My experiences with the VA have been that they were generally fair to good in providing care, but tough in establishing eligibility and/or service connection. You needed to have documentation for the latter, and it took a while.

That said, a load of the VA's problems may be due to waste/fraud/abuse perpetrated by those not deserving or gaming the system. BJ Burkett, author of Stolen Valor, had very little good to say about the VA's process for screening out ineligible and malingering folks. If I remember correctly the rather lengthy chapter he devoted to the VA, it was his thesis that the VA was so poor at screening eligibility and checking for malingering that it was laughable - if not criminal. He makes a pretty compelling case that the VA is an organization more interested in protecting it's "turf" and building it's "empire" than in either serving veterans or properly safeguarding government resources.

I'm definitely NOT against deserving vets getting needed care from the VA. However, every dollar spent on those not deserving (e.g., who never served or who have gamed the system and are riding the VA disability and medical care system as a "gravy train" when capable of working) is a dollar that is NOT available to care for deserving vets. I have a BIG problem with the latter.
_________________
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse."
-- John Stuart Mill

[rb325th]

Kerry in my opinion will not "fix" the VA. His characterisations that President Bush "slashed" the VA Budget is rediculous. The VA Budget has increased dramatically in the past few years. A more permanent Budget would be better, but that is something NO Political Party has approached.
The only basis for the Kerry Claim is that certain Veterans are not able to enroll now. Those who have no Service Connected Disability, have their own Health Insurance and make enough money that VA Care should not be required.
When Clinton opened the door to VAMCs for all Veterans it killed the System. There was no increase in funding to take care of the huge increase in the number of Veterans he opened the door to. It crippled the System to the point we had to wait for months on end to get in for S.C, Disability appointments. (By the way I am 70% Disabled and know this from personnal experience)
_________________
U.S. Army 1983-1995, 11C1P/11H2P NBTDT

[Paul5388]

Seems there is some misinformation about the VAMC.

Veterans who have insurance, can elect to have the VAMC as their primary health care provider. However, their insurance is charged, just like in a civilian facility.

Co-pay is charged for those with less than 50% disability for services/prescriptions that aren't service connected even though they may be used as part of a preventative program.

The only part the VAMC has in C&P is providing the exams. The VA regional offices or Washington D.C. make the determinations.

The contract we all had with the government was for them to return us to civilian life in the same condition we entered the contract or be compensated for what couldn't be restored. That means, if you went in with 32 teeth, you come out with 32 teeth, even if some of them are plastic. We did not contract to be used and to be discarded when we no longer had enough usable parts for their purpose.

Service connected includes NG/Reserves while on active duty status, even drill weekends.

Disability has almost nothing to do with ability to work. Disability is the inability to function as good as what was possible when entering the contract. Determining the physical condition of the volunteer/inductee is part of the reason for the entrance physical. When they sign off on you as 100% at entrance, they are obligated to return you from service at 100%.

Sorry for the rant.
_________________
"FLUSH THE JOHNS"
Bumper sticker seen at Shreveport VAMC

www.usslittlerock.com