(02-02-2019, 09:28 PM)mikesez Wrote:

(01-31-2019, 12:35 PM)B2hibry Wrote: Literally, every single line you wrote here is wrong. You want to see what kind of cluster socialized medicine in America would look like, the VA is the poster child!

- Doctors don't hire on to the VA because of bureaucracy and image issues.
- The VA treats veterans with or without service related injury or illnesses.
- The VA is not only preventative care but also treatment. They care about the why, how, and fix action. Unfortunately, each of those has another bureaucratic level and specialist.
- Wait times are ALLWAYS long! One rare exception is if you happen to be lucky enough to live in a relatively low populated region. Wait times have gotten so bad that they implemented a program called CHOICE to allow members to seek out private providers.
- The VA is and has been doing a worse job than private providers. There have been numerous upper level firings and reorgs over the last few years. Still not working.
- Private providers will see "these" people. See the CHOICE program. In fact, most members will do everything possible to go to a private provider over the VA. I have friends that would rather pay out of pocket than go to the VA. And why wouldn't a treatment team whether VA or private have the same prevention and treatment goals?

Odd... when I scroll down I see you talking about 30% and 70% and 10%.
They task doctors with figuring out what percentage of your ability to work was extracted by Uncle Sam.
Everyone gets a number, nearly everybody is frustrated with their number, or someone else's number. When I ask veterans what they think of the VA, the conversation always seems to loop back to those numbers.
But when I try to describe this system you give me the old Luke Skywalker "everything you said is wrong" treatment.
A more universal healthcare system for the rest of us non-veterans would not dabble in things like these numbers.
and this is just one reason I think bringing up the VA when talking about these ideas is kind of a red herring. 
We set up the VA to say thank you to the men and women who were either drafted or volunteered to fight on our behalf. we did not set it up to be an example of what state-run healthcare could look like for everyone else.