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Should us Veterans have any faith in the VA anymore?

Should vets trust the VA?

  • I'm a Vet-yes we should trust them

    Votes: 3 12.0%

  • I'm a Vet- No never trust them

    Votes: 8 32.0%

  • I'm not a vet-Yes vets should trust them

    Votes: 2 8.0%

  • i'm not a vet- No they shouldn't the country has failed them

    Votes: 5 20.0%

  • Other-Explain

    Votes: 7 28.0%
  • Total voters
    25
UtahBill said:
Correct, Base Commanders have a lot of say....I live in AZ half the year, Utah half the year. Before reaching 65, I could use Luke AFB, as could my wife.
But Hill AFB in Utah was not available to us. So we tried to be sick only while in AZ....
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:lol: How'd that work out for you?
 
Superfly said:
:lol: How'd that work out for you?
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actually well, since I am very healthy most of the time....I get my annual physical, eye exam, and dental taken care of every January. Last time, some blood showed up in my urine, and they set me up for ultrasound and based on those results, a CT scan. LSS, nothing to worry about, just some small cysts on one kidney. Not unusual for us old guys.
As for the VA being good or bad for me, they do it all very well for everything but the Parkinson's needs....I have a civilian doctor for that. I have seen 3 different VA neurologists, but that was for their own reasons, that of determining compensation for the agent orange exposure.
 
apdst said:
So, that makes this ok?
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Makes "what" okay?

This thread was about whether you should trust the VA. In general, they can be just as trusted as any other hospital, doctor, and/or insurance provider that you have the relatively same amount of experience with. Just as I would not base my judgement of a training hospital or certain "brand" of hospital here in NC on what happened at another hospital in another state, without some solid evidence that it was likely to carry over, not just rumors, I will not do the same for the VA. I know people who go to the VA hospital in Durham often. No real issues.
 
roguenuke said:
Makes "what" okay?

This thread was about whether you should trust the VA. In general, they can be just as trusted as any other hospital, doctor, and/or insurance provider that you have the relatively same amount of experience with. Just as I would not base my judgement of a training hospital or certain "brand" of hospital here in NC on what happened at another hospital in another state, without some solid evidence that it was likely to carry over, not just rumors, I will not do the same for the VA. I know people who go to the VA hospital in Durham often. No real issues.
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So, since you believe that private hospitals screw people over, you think it's ok for the VA to do it. Got it!
 
apdst said:
So, since you believe that private hospitals screw people over, you think it's ok for the VA to do it. Got it!
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Good grief, that's not what he said at all. He said that... never mind. I've already told you the same thing and you didn't listen to me, either.
 
Superfly said:
I don't see anyone doing this for political reasons. :shrug: I see incompetence in the Phoenix VA Medical Center. How is that political, actually? Honestly, unless Shinseki had actual working knowledge of what was going on, and participated in the cover up, I don't see how he should be held accountable, either.
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That's been my question as well. Shinseki is at the top of a very large pyramid. Beneath him are thousands of people reviewing tens of thousands of quarterly reports, statistics, budgets, patient logs/info, etc. If some VA hospitals are fraudulently lying on their quarterly reports, how in hell's half acre is the guy at the top supposed to know that? It's criminal fraud, which by its very nature is hidden and secretive.

Sure, there are audits that might uncover that stuff, but what with the VA having their budget cut just about every year for the past decade, there's hardly enough money for pop audits on every VA facility in the country. The guy at the top relies on information being brought forward from below, so he knows where the problems are and where to focus investigation an audit. No information? Hey, he can't inhale it out of the ether. Like most criminal activities, somebody has to blow the whistle or criminals will continue to do what they've been getting away with doing all along.
 
apdst said:
So, since you believe that private hospitals screw people over, you think it's ok for the VA to do it. Got it!
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Not what I said. In fact, I've said that there are problems that need to be fixed in the VA hospitals and with the VA in general.

The thing I have a problem with is those problems being blown up out of proportion because the VA is run by the government. They are used for nothing but a political purpose. You can compare VA problems, especially when it comes to their hospitals and/or way of paying (insurance), to the private sector and find many of the same problems there. There are going to be some differences, but they come close to evening themselves out. But then the VA problems are held up as some sort of "see, this is what happens when government does stuff like this", when in fact it is just what happens when people run things, period. The private hospitals have less scrutiny. They can simply pay off people who they injure and take care of the problems with little to no scrutiny, "it happens" and then is ignored. While the VA, being a government run entity, gets much more scrutiny, so their problems end up blown out of proportion, particularly by those just looking for something to use as a political point for their side.

The same exact thing happens with the military and sexual harassment/assault, a topic I have debated on here many times and expressed my feelings on.
 
While there has been some bad press recently, I think overall, they can be trusted. The current wave of bad press is due mostly to a minority of cases gone wrong. I am willing to bet that if you were to scrutinize any large hospital giving such trama care, you will find stories of malpractice and poor care. This is why so many hospitals and doctors have to spend so much money insuring themselves against lawsuits.
 
DiAnna said:
That's been my question as well. Shinseki is at the top of a very large pyramid. Beneath him are thousands of people reviewing tens of thousands of quarterly reports, statistics, budgets, patient logs/info, etc. If some VA hospitals are fraudulently lying on their quarterly reports, how in hell's half acre is the guy at the top supposed to know that? It's criminal fraud, which by its very nature is hidden and secretive.

Sure, there are audits that might uncover that stuff, but what with the VA having their budget cut just about every year for the past decade, there's hardly enough money for pop audits on every VA facility in the country. The guy at the top relies on information being brought forward from below, so he knows where the problems are and where to focus investigation an audit. No information? Hey, he can't inhale it out of the ether. Like most criminal activities, somebody has to blow the whistle or criminals will continue to do what they've been getting away with doing all along.
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Can you supply a link for that bold (above) assertion?


VA Budget Skyrockets Despite Federal Spending Cuts | Military.com

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles...0001424052702303749904579580270767613840.html
 
roguenuke said:
Not what I said. In fact, I've said that there are problems that need to be fixed in the VA hospitals and with the VA in general.

The thing I have a problem with is those problems being blown up out of proportion because the VA is run by the government. They are used for nothing but a political purpose. You can compare VA problems, especially when it comes to their hospitals and/or way of paying (insurance), to the private sector and find many of the same problems there. There are going to be some differences, but they come close to evening themselves out. But then the VA problems are held up as some sort of "see, this is what happens when government does stuff like this", when in fact it is just what happens when people run things, period. The private hospitals have less scrutiny. They can simply pay off people who they injure and take care of the problems with little to no scrutiny, "it happens" and then is ignored. While the VA, being a government run entity, gets much more scrutiny, so their problems end up blown out of proportion, particularly by those just looking for something to use as a political point for their side.

The same exact thing happens with the military and sexual harassment/assault, a topic I have debated on here many times and expressed my feelings on.
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How is the systemic purging of patient rolls, so the government look good being blown out of proportion?
 
ttwtt78640 said:
Can you supply a link for that bold (above) assertion?


VA Budget Skyrockets Despite Federal Spending Cuts | Military.com

VA's Budget, and Rolls, Have Boomed - WSJ.com
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Actually, it was reported on the news (CNN) during a discussion of the VA and Shinseki. As for a link, I doubt you'll be pleased with this one, but it has the most complete information on VA Budget cuts over the past decade: Maddow slams Republicans for complaining about VA scandal after passing budget cuts

Maddow noted that in March 2003 — the same month the U.S. began its second war against Iraq — the GOP-led House of Representatives approved a budget cutting $14 billion from the VA’s budget. Two years later, Anthony Principi, who was appointed by then-President George W. Bush, released a statement saying the department did not “require additional resources” despite the escalating cost of that conflict.


Lawmakers later had to approve an emergency $1.5 billion budget influx following reports that local VA facilities were instituting hiring freezes and lacking the ability to make necessary purchases.
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apdst said:
How is the systemic purging of patient rolls, so the government look good being blown out of proportion?
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It wasn't being done for the "government" to look good. It was being done so that the hospital could "meet" (or at least appear to meet) the unrealistic expectations that have been put on them by other agencies/people within the government. It wasn't right, but it was done to save the butts of those in that hospital who wrongly felt it was better to do that than to admit that they simply could not keep up with patient demands and/or Congressional expectations, especially given the budget that they are given to work with. This was absolutely not being done to "make the government look good". It was being done to make the staff of that hospital look good.
 
Risky Thicket said:
It depends. The VA can be very good or very bad. The worst I have experienced is Phoenix. Many of us have known something was fubar at Phoenix VA for a few years now. I transferred my care to Tucson to avoid having to deal with Phoenix. I did that before the fit hit the shan.

Tucson VA has been outstanding. I cannot say enough good things about the VA in Tucson. Sure, I have to drive to Tucson, but for the quality of patient care I get I don't mind.
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I agree, it depends on the VA facility...My SIL has used the one in Muskogee, OK. and the one in Fayetteville, Ar. and has had no serious problems with either..Some are well managed, some are not..
 
A good friend died a few years ago, and he praised the VA. They had helped him through so many problems, but the last one was Pancreatic Cancer, and to his credit, and the VA probably, even that took a year to kill him. He told me that not only does the VA have restrictions on firing bad employees, but they are forced to hire some that don't want to be there. They got their college paid for via some program and in return had to "serve" by working at certain government jobs.

I am pretty sure I met one of them.....a doctor, not just admin or other kind of support staff. The VA's biggest problem is the inconsistent support from congress. There was a time when congress not only treated veterans badly, they treated actual retirees badly. My older brother had to file bankruptcy when the government refused to pay for his bypass surgery. He had over 20 years in the Air Force. Congress had to back pedal on that, but for a time, the retirees were denied the permanent healthcare promised when they were recruited for the many wars that congress gets us into.....
 
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