Donald Trump Considers Moving VA Toward Privatization

[ThoughtEx.]

"President-elect Donald Trump is considering moving the Department of Veterans Affairs toward privatization, a transition team official said Wednesday, a policy decision major veterans’ groups have said they would oppose.

Mr. Trump is considering changing the department to allow some veterans to bypass the VA heath-care system completely and get care exclusively from private-sector hospitals and clinics, the official said. It is an option that could give veterans full choice over their health care, but which many veterans groups argue is the first step toward privatization and one that will reduce the quality of health care over the long term."

Donald Trump Considers Moving VA Toward Privatization - WSJ

The VA definitely needs attention, but I don't think writing vouchers to bypass the problems is the right way to go. I don't have the answer on how to fix the VA, but I know ignoring it and writing a check isn't a fix.

 

[rabbitcaebannog]

"President-elect Donald Trump is considering moving the Department of Veterans Affairs toward privatization, a transition team official said Wednesday, a policy decision major veterans’ groups have said they would oppose.

Mr. Trump is considering changing the department to allow some veterans to bypass the VA heath-care system completely and get care exclusively from private-sector hospitals and clinics, the official said. It is an option that could give veterans full choice over their health care, but which many veterans groups argue is the first step toward privatization and one that will reduce the quality of health care over the long term."

Donald Trump Considers Moving VA Toward Privatization - WSJ

The VA definitely needs attention, but I don't think writing vouchers to bypass the problems is the right way to go. I don't have the answer on how to fix the VA, but I know ignoring it and writing a check isn't a fix.

My prediction is he will turn many public services into private.

 

[Gonzo Rodeo]

So, paying for Veterans' healthcare will bypass the problem? Good! The problem is that we aren't getting healthcare!

 

[Renae]

"President-elect Donald Trump is considering moving the Department of Veterans Affairs toward privatization, a transition team official said Wednesday, a policy decision major veterans’ groups have said they would oppose.

Mr. Trump is considering changing the department to allow some veterans to bypass the VA heath-care system completely and get care exclusively from private-sector hospitals and clinics, the official said. It is an option that could give veterans full choice over their health care, but which many veterans groups argue is the first step toward privatization and one that will reduce the quality of health care over the long term."

Donald Trump Considers Moving VA Toward Privatization - WSJ

The VA definitely needs attention, but I don't think writing vouchers to bypass the problems is the right way to go. I don't have the answer on how to fix the VA, but I know ignoring it and writing a check isn't a fix.

If you can alleviate the load on the VA system proper, it can help fix some of the problems.

 

[Chomsky]

"President-elect Donald Trump is considering moving the Department of Veterans Affairs toward privatization, a transition team official said Wednesday, a policy decision major veterans’ groups have said they would oppose.

Mr. Trump is considering changing the department to allow some veterans to bypass the VA heath-care system completely and get care exclusively from private-sector hospitals and clinics, the official said. It is an option that could give veterans full choice over their health care, but which many veterans groups argue is the first step toward privatization and one that will reduce the quality of health care over the long term."

Donald Trump Considers Moving VA Toward Privatization - WSJ

The VA definitely needs attention, but I don't think writing vouchers to bypass the problems is the right way to go. I don't have the answer on how to fix the VA, but I know ignoring it and writing a check isn't a fix.

I suspect the VA and Medicare are on the chopping block, along with Social Security if they can get away with. This is the GOP dream.

Also, the EPA Consumer Protection Bureau and financial regulation entities will be gutted, along with gutting anything that protects the people or impedes the monied and their corporations. Ditto for employment protections like minimum wages, overtime, OSHA, or unions.

Oh, let's not forget the expansive tax cuts for the monied and their corporations that will be paid by the working men & women of this country.

Essentially, it will a long step towards the completion of the third-worlding of America for workers and employees, and an unbelievable financial and regulatory utopia for the very monied and their corporate and other legally structured entities.

I've been calling-out this GOP dream for decades, with many dismissing me. Now, I'd bet my bottom dollar we are going to head significantly down the path I warned of. Think, "Kansas".

 

[j-mac]

I suspect the VA and Medicare are on the chopping block, along with Social Security if they can get away with. This is the GOP dream.

Also, the EPA Consumer Protection Bureau and financial regulation entities will be gutted, along with gutting anything that protects the people or impedes the monied and their corporations. Ditto for employment protections like minimum wages, overtime, OSHA, or unions.

Oh, let's not forget the expansive tax cuts for the monied and their corporations that will be paid by the working men & women of this country.

Essentially, it will a long step towards the completion of the third-worlding of America for workers and employees, and an unbelievable financial and regulatory utopia for the very monied and their corporate and other legally structured entities.

I've been calling-out this GOP dream for decades, with many dismissing me. Now, I'd bet my bottom dollar we are going to head significantly down the path I warned of. Think, "Kansas".

Oh the horror....! Imagine, the whole government crashing down, and the world with it, due to simply granting that our veterans that we made a promise to take care of for their service, and sacrifice actually get taken care of....Man, crazy, right?

 

[Gaugingcatenate]

I suspect the VA and Medicare are on the chopping block, along with Social Security if they can get away with. This is the GOP dream.

Also, the EPA Consumer Protection Bureau and financial regulation entities will be gutted, along with gutting anything that protects the people or impedes the monied and their corporations. Ditto for employment protections like minimum wages, overtime, OSHA, or unions.

Oh, let's not forget the expansive tax cuts for the monied and their corporations that will be paid by the working men & women of this country.

Essentially, it will a long step towards the completion of the third-worlding of America for workers and employees, and an unbelievable financial and regulatory utopia for the very monied and their corporate and other legally structured entities.

I've been calling-out this GOP dream for decades, with many dismissing me. Now, I'd bet my bottom dollar we are going to head significantly down the path I warned of. Think, "Kansas".

I am not usually this short winded, but here it is:

If one wants the monied class at the top, BIG BUSINESS types, to be curtailed, you have to limit BIG GOVERNMENT's ability to hand out favors, tax cuts and subsidies. Reduce the size of government across the board, increase freedoms locally and individually. Watch it then all self reduce, the marketplace becoming smaller more competitive units.

Win win.

 

[jimbo]

I suspect the VA and Medicare are on the chopping block, along with Social Security if they can get away with. This is the GOP dream.

Also, the EPA Consumer Protection Bureau and financial regulation entities will be gutted, along with gutting anything that protects the people or impedes the monied and their corporations. Ditto for employment protections like minimum wages, overtime, OSHA, or unions.

Oh, let's not forget the expansive tax cuts for the monied and their corporations that will be paid by the working men & women of this country.

Essentially, it will a long step towards the completion of the third-worlding of America for workers and employees, and an unbelievable financial and regulatory utopia for the very monied and their corporate and other legally structured entities.

I've been calling-out this GOP dream for decades, with many dismissing me. Now, I'd bet my bottom dollar we are going to head significantly down the path I warned of. Think, "Kansas".

Straying far afield, are you not? The VA has nothing to do with the items you mentioned. The VA provides medical services for eligible veterans. EPA, tax cuts, etc, are separate issues.

Every person responsible for spending large sums of money should look at the cost/benefit ratio and examine ways to improve it. That Trump is doing so is a step in the right direction.

 

[Mycroft]

"President-elect Donald Trump is considering moving the Department of Veterans Affairs toward privatization, a transition team official said Wednesday, a policy decision major veterans’ groups have said they would oppose.

Mr. Trump is considering changing the department to allow some veterans to bypass the VA heath-care system completely and get care exclusively from private-sector hospitals and clinics, the official said. It is an option that could give veterans full choice over their health care, but which many veterans groups argue is the first step toward privatization and one that will reduce the quality of health care over the long term."

Donald Trump Considers Moving VA Toward Privatization - WSJ

The VA definitely needs attention, but I don't think writing vouchers to bypass the problems is the right way to go. I don't have the answer on how to fix the VA, but I know ignoring it and writing a check isn't a fix.

Why can't these media organizations name their sources anymore? "a transition team official"...heck, that could be the janitor.

In any case, I cannot comment more on the article because WSJ won't let me read it unless I subscribe. Too bad.

 

[Chomsky]

Oh the horror....! Imagine, the whole government crashing down, and the world with it, due to simply granting that our veterans that we made a promise to take care of for their service, and sacrifice actually get taken care of....Man, crazy, right?

The VA is but a drop in the bucket of the GOP wishlist. You're going to see massive deregulation and tax cuts here, causing a hug transfer of wealth. And that wealth ain't going in your pocket, that's for sure.

Let me ask you this:

Did you see the Trump tax cuts? Did you see how working men & women get thrown a 2% bone? While those at the top (and their legal entities) get massive cuts of 15-25%? Why do you think that is? And why would you want that?

Bonus question:

Who is going to pay for those tax cuts? The guys & their corps at the top? Or you?

 

[Mycroft]

I suspect the VA and Medicare are on the chopping block, along with Social Security if they can get away with. This is the GOP dream.

Also, the EPA Consumer Protection Bureau and financial regulation entities will be gutted, along with gutting anything that protects the people or impedes the monied and their corporations. Ditto for employment protections like minimum wages, overtime, OSHA, or unions.

Oh, let's not forget the expansive tax cuts for the monied and their corporations that will be paid by the working men & women of this country.

Essentially, it will a long step towards the completion of the third-worlding of America for workers and employees, and an unbelievable financial and regulatory utopia for the very monied and their corporate and other legally structured entities.

I've been calling-out this GOP dream for decades, with many dismissing me. Now, I'd bet my bottom dollar we are going to head significantly down the path I warned of. Think, "Kansas".

So...bitching about this supposed VA action by Trump isn't enough for you, eh? You have to toss everything else...including the sink...into the pot.

The hyperbole is strong in you.

 

[j-mac]

The VA is but a drop in the bucket of the GOP wishlist. You're going to see massive deregulation and tax cuts here, causing a hug transfer of wealth. And that wealth ain't going in your pocket, that's for sure.

Let me ask you this:

Did you see the Trump tax cuts? Did you see how working men & women get thrown a 2% bone? While those at the top (and their legal entities) get massive cuts of 15-25%? Why do you think that is? And why would you want that?

Bonus question:

Who is going to pay for those tax cuts? The guys & their corps at the top? Or you?

I'd have to wait to answer that question til sometime after Jan 20th I suspect....

 

[Chomsky]

I am not usually this short winded, but here it is:

If one wants the monied class at the top, BIG BUSINESS types, to be curtailed, you have to limit BIG GOVERNMENT's ability to hand out favors, tax cuts and subsidies. Reduce the size of government across the board, increase freedoms locally and individually. Watch it then all self reduce, the marketplace becoming smaller more competitive units.

Win win.

That actually doesn't sound too bad. I only call for government and regulation enough to allow secure transparent markets, and to provide brakes on capitalist excessive power. The government that governs least, governs best, right?

But I'm not against big business at all. Business is good for America, and capitalism is the best system going. As long as the wealth and capital makes the rounds and lifts (most of) the entire boat, I'm good.

 

[ludin]

I suspect the VA and Medicare are on the chopping block, along with Social Security if they can get away with. This is the GOP dream.

Those systems are broken they don't function correctly.
The first time I call any medical service for something the first question is do you have Medicaid?
Why they don't take it. After I tell them I don't they are fine.

The VA Has been one of obamas biggest failures. Why the media has said nothing about it is astounding.

Also, the EPA Consumer Protection Bureau and financial regulation entities will be gutted, along with gutting anything that protects the people or impedes the monied and their corporations. Ditto for employment protections like minimum wages, overtime, OSHA, or unions.

The EPA is a cesspool under obama worse than the doj. They have implemented policies that have tried to take people's land away.
They have had to be overruled by the SCOTUS because they over stepped their bounds. They need to be brought under control.

The others trump will have to go through congress. Same with SS he will need congress.

Oh, let's not forget the expansive tax cuts for the monied and their corporations that will be paid by the working men & women of this country.

You don't pay for letting people keep their money.

Essentially, it will a long step towards the completion of the third-worlding of America for workers and employees, and an unbelievable financial and regulatory utopia for the very monied and their corporate and other legally structured entities.

Then you can always go somewhere else.

I've been calling-out this GOP dream for decades, with many dismissing me. Now, I'd bet my bottom dollar we are going to head significantly down the path I warned of. Think, "Kansas".

There was little in Kansas to begin with.
They had little to start with. Just lowering taxes was not going to do the job.

They are not that populated and much of it is farm land. They didn't execute it very well.

 

[ludin]

The VA is but a drop in the bucket of the GOP wishlist. You're going to see massive deregulation and tax cuts here, causing a hug transfer of wealth. And that wealth ain't going in your pocket, that's for sure.

Let me ask you this:

Did you see the Trump tax cuts? Did you see how working men & women get thrown a 2% bone? While those at the top (and their legal entities) get massive cuts of 15-25%? Why do you think that is? And why would you want that?

Bonus question:

Who is going to pay for those tax cuts? The guys & their corps at the top? Or you?

You don't pay for tax cuts they don't cost the government much of anything.
Businesses with more money is a good thing.

It means more jobs and job growth.

Lower taxes on upper brackets make it easier for lower brackets to move up.

 

[Gaugingcatenate]

That actually doesn't sound too bad. I only call for government and regulation enough to allow secure transparent markets, and to provide brakes on capitalist excessive power. The government that governs least, governs best, right?

But I'm not against big business at all. Business is good for America, and capitalism is the best system going. As long as the wealth and capital makes the rounds and lifts (most of) the entire boat, I'm good.

See, here is where both sides should come together and hammer out a vision. I am not against business, I am against crony capitalism which is not, in any true sense, capitalism. And this cronyism happens at the BIG business levels from my perspective.

YES. Capitalism is not perfect, but its the closest thing, with the genius of voluntary exchange, that we have yet seen. And its brought a lot of prosperity, abundance, broad standards of living increases along with worldwide life span expansion. I would rather much more go back to local control, more individual ownership, more Americans being their own boss with pride of brand establishing itself again.

I also know we have to compete in a big competitive world out there and our government needs to favor our businesses, or at least create a space for us to be able to compete in that big world.

Understanding its not an easy thing to do, this constant threading of the needle with new constantly changing needles being added all the time.

 

[Chomsky]

I'd have to wait to answer that question til sometime after Jan 20th I suspect....

Fair enough.

It's starting to sound like ObamaCare in that regard, and I'm worried it's going to be just as bad - if not worse!

 

[Risky Thicket]

Oh hell no! Fix the damn VA. Privatizing VA health care is an idea, not a plan.

The quality of VA healthcare is good once you get it. We have no idea what privatized VA healthcare would be like and neither does the government. I have visions of VA becoming like Medicare with many physicians refusing it and government wanting to reduce services and the quality of services.

VA medical personnel work with veterans. There is a collective and systemwide intelligence that you're not likely to find with civilian healthcare. Yes, there are many common maladies that the VA covers but it is very important to understand that veterans can have unique illnesses, some that are not fully understood. How long did it take the system to identify Agent Orange as a cause of numerous conditions? How long did it take veterans to get the VA to provide services for conditions caused by Agent Orange. Much of the reason the long hard fight was won was because of data available within the VA system. It was the same with Gulf War Syndrome. It would be damn near impossible to gather the same data from private care physicians.

Fix the VA system, don't farm it out.

 

[Master PO]

Great idea

 

[iguanaman]

My prediction is he will turn many public services into private.

Just like Putin is in Russia, What a surprise. Who is going to pay for these private programs?

 

[eohrnberger]

I suspect the VA and Medicare are on the chopping block, along with Social Security if they can get away with. This is the GOP dream.

Also, the EPA Consumer Protection Bureau and financial regulation entities will be gutted, along with gutting anything that protects the people or impedes the monied and their corporations. Ditto for employment protections like minimum wages, overtime, OSHA, or unions.

Oh, let's not forget the expansive tax cuts for the monied and their corporations that will be paid by the working men & women of this country.

Essentially, it will a long step towards the completion of the third-worlding of America for workers and employees, and an unbelievable financial and regulatory utopia for the very monied and their corporate and other legally structured entities.

I've been calling-out this GOP dream for decades, with many dismissing me. Now, I'd bet my bottom dollar we are going to head significantly down the path I warned of. Think, "Kansas".

Do you really think that the GOP would commit political suicide by forcing the third rail of US politics into private?

I don't think they'll be able to do that. The last time this idea was brought up, it was dropped pretty quickly, and never mentioned again.

 

[Northern Light]

The economy is already screwed but now thanks to Trump the decay will be accelerated. Big cuts for the most wealthy and converting more public services to private will increase degeneration greatly.

When will these dinosaurs who are addicted to mass wealth accumulation die out already, or at least step aside so that some sensible economists can create policy?

We are about to go from unstable recovery right back into economic disaster due to the same top level thinking that got us into this mess in 2007/8. Give your heads a shake.

 

[chuckiechan]

"President-elect Donald Trump is considering moving the Department of Veterans Affairs toward privatization, a transition team official said Wednesday, a policy decision major veterans’ groups have said they would oppose.

Mr. Trump is considering changing the department to allow some veterans to bypass the VA heath-care system completely and get care exclusively from private-sector hospitals and clinics, the official said. It is an option that could give veterans full choice over their health care, but which many veterans groups argue is the first step toward privatization and one that will reduce the quality of health care over the long term."

Donald Trump Considers Moving VA Toward Privatization - WSJ

The VA definitely needs attention, but I don't think writing vouchers to bypass the problems is the right way to go. I don't have the answer on how to fix the VA, but I know ignoring it and writing a check isn't a fix.

They already are heading that way. If you use the VA you get a notice that if the wait is over five days (I think), you can use a private doctor. Why make version only go to VA hospitals? Who cares as long as they get care and the bill gets paid.

 

[Grand Mal]

That actually doesn't sound too bad. I only call for government and regulation enough to allow secure transparent markets, and to provide brakes on capitalist excessive power. The government that governs least, governs best, right?

But I'm not against big business at all. Business is good for America, and capitalism is the best system going. As long as the wealth and capital makes the rounds and lifts (most of) the entire boat, I'm good.

So how will a privatized VA make a profit and pay it's shareholders for their investment?

 

[rabbitcaebannog]

Just like Putin is in Russia, What a surprise. Who is going to pay for these private programs?

We will be the ones who pay fees to the ultra rich.