SwiftVets.com

[Fort Campbell]

I found this on Fox. I want to know if this is true or more spin by the Kerry camp. If it is true I would like to know why.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,135910,00.html

Thanks

[FF1047]

It is alittle misleading though when they say "no access to healthcare" which implies none, when actually what they mean is that some veterans can't get to a VA facility for healthcare. Bush has opened 190+ community centers which has dramatically increased the number of vets who can get help locally. I would love to have seen the same study in the last year of Clinton.
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JJC
USNA class of 1980

[Jim Peterson]

No access is not the same as Not handy.

My dad retired 90 miles from the nearest VA center. His choice. He drives to it when he has to. Other than that he uses the local medical facitities under Old Champus/Tri Care Medicare ect.

Me, I retired in a town with a major military hospital and VA center. Both within 5 miles of my house. My choice. Since I retired I've only used the Tri Care providers off post.

Service connected injuries, disability and early retirement are similar. If you are forced out because of health issues you need to look at your situation. If you will require VA care then locate near a VA provider, if not, then live where you want.

The MSM can always dig up an old vet with no car about 100 miles from the nearest clinic. Medical care should be a right for Vets, Not Medical care, anywhere/anytime for Vets.

This is of course just my opinion and we all know what opinions are like.
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Pete

Training Aid for the staff Mar 74-Apr 95

[rb325th]

Kerry Spin!
The VA Budget has grown by leaps and bounds under the current Administration. new Facilities have opened, older ones refurbished, waiting times for appointments have decreased (both for Medical and Claims).
I am 70% Disabled, have used the VA since 1995 and have seen vast improvments in the past couple of years.
This claim of lack of care, cuts etc.. have been out there since before the Iraq War began. It is more of Moveon "Propaganda". To the general public who never gave the VA a thought, it may appear to be true, but to those of us who have to, or do use the VAMCs we know it is not.
Things could always be better, but they have improved, not gotten worse under President Bush.
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U.S. Army 1983-1995, 11C1P/11H2P NBTDT

[Fort Campbell]

Thanks to all three of you who clairified this for me. I wondered at the wording myself.

[Spiess]

No access= where do you live? How is No access Defined? VA is 20 miles away, 50 miles away 100 miles away? sounds like its where they choose to live, also did they register, when I got out I went to the VA to register at the Hospital and opted out becouse of the lines.... that was in 1994...... Clinton Years

[JK]

I had seen a Cspan program featuring Edward's wife who mentioned that veterans in the lower priority rating have NO access to VA care. She seemed very knowledgable on the subject and many veterans in the audience seemed to agree with her points.

Yes the VA has made improvements especially since President Bush took office.

However veterans should continue to have concerns. Should ALL veterans have a right to access the VA for medical care even when they have a LOWER priority or should the VA be allowed to ration care???

Another issue is whether veterans should have the the SAME right as anyone on Medicare to choose whether they want VA or private care - if the voucher system works in the education field the same right should be given veterans.

JK

[JK]

I had seen a Cspan program featuring Edward's wife who mentioned that veterans in the lower priority rating have NO access to VA care. She seemed very knowledgable on the subject and many veterans in the audience seemed to agree with her points.

Yes the VA has made improvements especially since President Bush took office.

However veterans should continue to have concerns. Should ALL veterans have a right to access the VA for medical care even when they have a LOWER priority or should the VA be allowed to ration care???

Another issue is whether veterans should have the the SAME right as anyone on Medicare to choose whether they want VA or private care - if the voucher system works in the education field the same right should be given veterans.

JK

[Bystander]

>>"We're sending men and women off to war and yet the people who fought previous wars can't get the basic things they need to go on with their lives afterward," said Dr. David Himmelstein, a Harvard Medical School (search) professor and an author of the study.<<

I'd be interested in knowing what Dr. Himmelstein 'studied', and who paid for it? My sis once worked for Sanford Garfunkel, Director of DC VA Med. Ctr. She took me up to see her office after we finished lunch. There in the lobby stood all the 'wheels', waiting to greet a Korean delegation who came in to observe/learn a new pathology procedure. Who paid for airfare, hotels, meals, etc., for the Koreans? The US government! Just the week previous, an Irish delegation was in DC for the same reason. Again, the taxpayers sucked up this expense.

The biggest problem with VA appropriations? WASTE, WASTE, WASTE!! Until this is brought under control, not only in the VA but all of government, these problems will persist. The libs have one way of solving it--more taxes!
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No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
..................................Eleanor Roosevelt