Veterans Affairs looks to private hospitals for help with the backlog
With the calls for his resignation growing VA Secretary Eric Shinseki announced the agency would allow veterans to be treated in private hospitals in an effort to ease the backlog.
More veterans are being allowed to obtain health care at private hospitals and clinics in an effort to improve their treatment following allegations of falsified records and delays in treatment.
In a statement issued Saturday, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki also said VA facilities are enhancing capacity of their clinics so veterans can get care sooner. In cases where officials cannot expand capacity at VA centers, the Department of Veterans Affairs is “increasing the care we acquire in the community through non-VA care,” Shinseki said.
This is a much needed and welcome step in the right direction and I am glad some action is finally being taken to help our veterans who have done so much for us–it is the least we can do.
However, I cannot help but think this action could have been taken much sooner if the VA had admitted the problem long ago instead of trying to hide the problem. One whistleblower has claimed the VA was hiding the waiting times in order to protect their bonuses and if that is true every single person who put their bonuses ahead of the health and well-being of our veterans should be fired.
Here is a thought that crossed my mind as I began writing this post so I will throw it out there to see what everybody thinks. Granted, I am not expert on healthcare or the VA system, but would our veterans be better off if the Federal government provided them with their healthcare insurance and allowed them to use the private sector for all of their healthcare needs? Maybe the VA hospitals could be privatized over time for it is my opinion that the private sector, while imperfect, is always a better, and more efficient, option than a government run program. Under this system the government would provide veterans with insurance while the private sector would provide the services. What do you think?
America's Watchtower 
If privatization occurs, many of the physicians in the VA system are not licensed to practice medicine in the states they are located, because a doctor only needs a license from any state to be in the VA system, and quite a few, lost their license in their home state due to malpractice, and would require state licensing to practice medicine if the VA system hospitals are to in fact become privatized. Better for the patients, but you know, some kind of scheming will take place to keep quacks practicing.
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Very interesting, I did not know that. Thanks for informing me.
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You’re welcome.
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My sentiments exactly Brittius. Gov’t union employees used to answering to no one will not take this conversion sitting down. Well that’s a contridiction of fact, a gov’t employee not sitting down.
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No, government employees will not like this at all but in my opinion it doesn’t matter what they think because doing what is best for our veterans is what is most important.
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The concern is what would the reimbursement rate would be. Mandatory treatment at private hospitals that would bankrupt hospitals? Limited access to Doctors as we say in the biz, “English as a second language”? Limited access to certain drugs? Beware of the sheep in wolf clothes. The devil is in the details, and we know the regime is short on details. If they are given adequate insurance reimbursement I am fine, if another Obamacare, forget it,
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Yeah, be careful what you wish for because you just might get it!
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