Time to get on board, Marty.. We forgive you because we know how much influence Legacy Media had..

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I used to agree, now I'm not so sure.  With so much over-consolidation in hospitals, and some rural areas so underserved, I feel like we need more government owned hospitals, not fewer.  Not sure.  Would have to look at the efficacy/efficiency of it.

Most of the dissatisfaction people have with the VA has to do with the process of determining if something is service related or not.  It's an extra step other health systems don't have.

I disagree. The government is the the least efficient option.  I would rather have the decision whether it is service related remain with them, but the private sector actually treat the patients. I can remember one study where they created 35k jobs. It only cost something like 78k to create them...

The added volume should allow the hospitals in rural areas to remain open and avoid the spread of under served areas.

Simply add all eligible veterans to Medicare on discharge. It's a simple inelegant solution that would actually work.

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“An empty vessel makes the loudest sound, so they that have the least wit are the greatest babblers.”. - Plato

I disagree. The government is the the least efficient option.  I would rather have the decision whether it is service related remain with them, but the private sector actually treat the patients. I can remember one study where they created 35k jobs. It only cost something like 78k to create them...

The added volume should allow the hospitals in rural areas to remain open and avoid the spread of under served areas.

Simply add all eligible veterans to Medicare on discharge. It's a simple inelegant solution that would actually work.

It would be pretty dismissive of service-specific injuries and mental illnesses to just throw them into gen pop like that.  Maybe it's fine.  The questions of efficiency and efficacy are what would persuade me.  I have heard that the VA provides more care for less money and better outcomes, even though patients are less happy. They're like the frontier airlines of care.  They got to their destination safe, but it was cramped and the nurse was mean to them.  Is that true?

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My fellow southpaw Mark Brunell will probably always be my favorite Jaguar.

Simply add all eligible veterans to Medicare on discharge. It's a simple inelegant solution that would actually work.

It would be pretty dismissive of service-specific injuries and mental illnesses to just throw them into gen pop like that.  Maybe it's fine.  The questions of efficiency and efficacy are what would persuade me.  I have heard that the VA provides more care for less money and better outcomes, even though patients are less happy. They're like the frontier airlines of care.  They got to their destination safe, but it was cramped and the nurse was mean to them.  Is that true?

The actual cost to taxpayers is more than a hospital. Also, the added volume can help the hospitals in rural areas. The actual care can stay with the government until we can train AI ...

I can see a phased approach probably 50% or more are rubber stamp approvals. The remainder should fall into groups and require human review.

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A new broom always sweeps clean.

VA care is fine and improving. A high percentage of it is sent to private care facilities already. It's just that the tried and true motto/attitude that so many of us experienced for years while serving has to be applied to the VA system.

" Hurry up and wait "

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Looking to troll? Don't bother, we supply our own.

 

 

Time to get on board, Marty.. We forgive you because we know how much influence Legacy Media had..

I have too many disagreements with both political parties to join either of them.

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Time to get on board, Marty.. We forgive you because we know how much influence Legacy Media had..

I have too many disagreements with both political parties to join either of them.

You're going to be ok, Marty.. President Trump will see to it, whether you like him or not.

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Simply add all eligible veterans to Medicare on discharge. It's a simple inelegant solution that would actually work.

It would be pretty dismissive of service-specific injuries and mental illnesses to just throw them into gen pop like that.  Maybe it's fine.  The questions of efficiency and efficacy are what would persuade me.  I have heard that the VA provides more care for less money and better outcomes, even though patients are less happy. They're like the frontier airlines of care.  They got to their destination safe, but it was cramped and the nurse was mean to them.  Is that true?

Weird, I've hired numerous doctors out of the VA system over the years and not one has ever said that he or she couldn't adequately treat veterans outside the VA network. And that's internal medicine, family practice, psych, ortho...the gamut of disciplines. The issue isn't the provision of care, it's the redundant overhead of having two (more than two actually) compartmentalized health care administrations with significant overlap yet hard lines on authorization of care. The very idea that we can treat a veteran for Condition A at UFHealth in Jacksonville but for Condition B UFHealth would be fine but he has to travel to Gainesville instead should be enough for everyone to question this structure. Never mind the inefficiency of filing claims to the VA instead of the local MAC, that's a whole nuther bushel of bureaucratic waste.

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“An empty vessel makes the loudest sound, so they that have the least wit are the greatest babblers.”. - Plato

Simply add all eligible veterans to Medicare on discharge. It's a simple inelegant solution that would actually work.

It would be pretty dismissive of service-specific injuries and mental illnesses to just throw them into gen pop like that.  Maybe it's fine.  The questions of efficiency and efficacy are what would persuade me.  I have heard that the VA provides more care for less money and better outcomes, even though patients are less happy. They're like the frontier airlines of care.  They got to their destination safe, but it was cramped and the nurse was mean to them.  Is that true?

Not really true at all in my experience.  I have been receiving care from the VA for a few years now and have never had a bad experience with them at all.  The facilities that I have visited have all been clean, efficient and the staff are professional and pleasant.

I also convinced my good friend who happens to be diabetic to sign up for care and his out-of-pocket expense for his insulin went from over $300 per month to $15 per month.  He is very much happy with the care that he receives.

VA care is fine and improving. A high percentage of it is sent to private care facilities already. It's just that the tried and true motto/attitude that so many of us experienced for years while serving has to be applied to the VA system.

" Hurry up and wait "

That is probably my only complaint with them, but the long wait times have only been when I had to go outside of the VA for a couple of things.  As far as lab work, routine visits and getting some procedures done it has always been in a timely manner.  I guess it helps that I don't live too far from Gainesville so the VA Hospital is only about a 30 minute trip or so.

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There are 10 kinds of people in this world.  Those who understand binary and those who don't.

I receive most of my care through the VA system, but I also have Blue Cross/Blue Shield Federal which is what I use for anything that I want done timely. I had a partial tear of my triceps tendon that required surgery, and it took over 6 months for the VA to finally see me only to have them send me for care in the community anyway. The wait for an MRI is months-long and a referral for care in the community will take at least a month to get too. But I have no complaints about my primary care physician who is very good. So it really comes down to the specific hospital and specialty care.

Where the VA really serves a need that is hard to duplicate is with mental health. Veterans suffer from PTSD and TBI at significantly higher rates than private sector so that's something unique to the VA. But a colonscopy, orthopedics, etc. are not really any different among the Veteran population.

VA bureaucracy is unmatched and that's where an efficiency study could really cut back on costs and size of the VA without actually impacting Veterans negatively.

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Where the VA really serves a need that is hard to duplicate is with mental health. Veterans suffer from PTSD and TBI at significantly higher rates than private sector so that's something unique to the VA. But a colonscopy, orthopedics, etc. are not really any different among the Veteran population.

VA bureaucracy is unmatched and that's where an efficiency study could really cut back on costs and size of the VA without actually impacting Veterans negatively.

They should keep the social services side to help people find care, use benefits, follow-up on high risk patients, etc. They could even sponsor treatment centers at other hospitals for the types of treatments where they are the experts. The rest, like you said, should be treated by regular doctors and they just pay like any other insurance company. No reason to have to get referrals.

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Where the VA really serves a need that is hard to duplicate is with mental health.  Veterans suffer from PTSD and TBI at significantly higher rates than private sector so that's something unique to the VA.  But a colonscopy, orthopedics, etc. are not really any different among the Veteran population. 

VA bureaucracy is unmatched and that's where an efficiency study could really cut back on costs and size of the VA without actually impacting Veterans negatively.

They should keep the social services side to help people find care, use benefits, follow-up on high risk patients, etc. They could even sponsor treatment centers at other hospitals for the types of treatments where they are the experts. The rest, like you said, should be treated by regular doctors and they just pay like any other insurance company. No reason to have to get referrals.

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My guess is Kennedy will be able to "go crazy" on healthcare. Well those are actually Trumps words. He will have Musk as a resource so they will use the VA as a model to ensure improvements are that before making it available widespread. This will be good for our veterans.

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A new broom always sweeps clean.