Does the VA care at all about our vets?
 

I didn't have much contact with veterans who used the VA Clinics or hospitals before this past year. What I've seen of the care, or lack thereof, amazes me.

One fellow, John, from work went through cancer treatment in the past 5 years. A year ago he was still on the chemo therapy drugs and suddenly the VA lost his info and dropped him. Refused to pay for his drugs. He ended up paying thousands just for a month or two of the chemo drugs. When his son, who is also in the Navy came to visit around that time, found out about the problem, he went into the local clinic office and chewed them a new one, finally they reinstated John and started paying for his meds and giving him treatment again. They never reimbursed him for the money he was forced to spend.

Charlie, another older Vet from work is forced to drive his cancer ridden wife 6 hours away on a monthly basis for her cancer treatments because the local VA clinic refuses to pay the local hospital for the cost of treatment. The woman is going to Mayo clinic (which I doubt costs much less but rather, probably costs more).

About 5 months ago my SO came down with a sinus infection. He had trouble trying to transfer his files to our local clinic. When contacting the VA hospital that is 3 hours away and was responsible for the transfer, he found that they could not find his files. He tried calling the woman responsible for transfering the files and made calls to her at least once a week for 3 months. Never getting ahold of her and never receiving a return call or answer to the many messages he left. Finally I found the phone number of the patient advocate for the Great Lakes VA system and after he called that woman he had an appointment set up for he very next week.
That wasn't the end of the problem though. He has spent 5 months trying to get answers to the multiple tests, driving 3+ hours just to get an X-Ray, or MRI and now is looking at driving 5 hours just to see an ENT when I know there is one within 20 miles, but they don't belong to the VA system.

I've been amazed at the rudeness, incompetency, and downright bullish attitude of the VA's health care personel. There have been a few concientious individuals but there are so few of them that they can't make up for the other's who are completely lazy. I pity any of our Vets that are coming home now with injuries. What are they going through, just to get medication for a sinus infection??

Besides all that, the only Dr at the local VA clinic is leaving to go into private practice this year because he's fed up with fighting the red tape just to get guys antibiotics for a sinus infection and similar problems.

It is disgusting. The system was poorly equipped to handle the massive influx of new personnel after the illustrious GWOT. Hell, the system was poorly equipped before that.

Crompsin is absolutely correct on all three points. Supporting the troops requires a little more than putting a magnetic yellow ribbon on your car. Think about that for a second. People can't even make enough of a commitment to put put a permanant decal on their cars.

Raeanna, call your local veterans organization. The VFW or the American Legion. Trust me, they love to hear about things just as you've described. We veterans have a way of looking out for each other, because the government won't. I am on my second term as commander of my American Legion post, and I can tell you that the VA pays heed to these organizations, The VA is, like any other adminstration, a beurocracy. They need to be watched.

Crompsin...join. Even if you're not "active", there is power in numbers. Veterans of your generation are not joining. We need you to remain a powerful voice in Washington. There is a hell of a lot more to the American Legion than just a bar where old guys go to hang out and tell lies. As my business card says..."Still Serving".

You're right, Bill. A lot of guys getting back from the magical GWOT are tired of the bullshit dished to them by the VA. Can't get health, dental, etc. without flaming hoops and a wait list longer than John Holmes' nose.

Maybe I should get in with the old 'n crusties at the AL and VFW. Same stories... color of the bad guys change, though.

http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/8...omputermk0.jpg

Welcome to government-run health care.

i would say more welcome to capitalist ways of understanding and organization extended to areas that it should not be extended to. the va system is as it is largely because it simply an area in a budget and so is subjected to budgetary constraints--as policy-level priorities shift in a context of "fiscal conservatism"--you know, tax cuts for the wealthy that reduce inputs and so generate problems of allocation--the va system gets squeezed. the effect of this treatment of the va as an area of a budget like any other is that the vets who rely on it for health care get treated like objects.

so if there's a general cause of this, it's the conservative assumption that all forms of social relations can be made equivalent by subjecting them all to the effects of number.

so it doesn't matter what anyone within the system might think about vets, or what they do. the neoliberal way of doing things means the numbers run the show.

one thing that nationalized healthcare systems do---particularly more sophisticated versions of it (so not the british model, which is only prominent in the states because folk only read english in the main)---is to limit the extent to which medical care can be assimilated into the general logic of capitalism.

so i think the treatment being meted out to vets is a direct consequence of the logic of private health care as it currently operates--which is like a corporation.

and within that, you have this bizarre split between the numbers, which are "real" because they're "objective"---and the effects of this kind of thinking on actual human beings who have served in the military---which are less "real" because they're less "objective"....the effect of this strong enough that the fact that folk sacrifice themselves directly and indirectly by passing through the military end up being treated as cannon fodder after their service is over DESPITE all the talk you hear from the right about how important the military is to the the right in particular, and to the country in general.

so either everything about that way of thinking is a lie, or there's something else going on that explains the contradiction.
i think this is a plausible explanation.
it's ugly--but so's the situation it refers to.

I think you mean welcome to the - republican, where are those WMDs I thought were here when I spent trillions to start a war in Iraq - run health care.

I would not necessarily call it government run health care. I would call it 'budgeted' health care.

See, with Medicaid and Medicare, I've seen health care that is done right. People go to the Dr they choose, within an HMO sometimes but not always, and then the state/government reimburses the health care providers for the costs incurred. There are no limits as to how many patients they will admit (unless you go to dental or optical specialists) and the government simply places guidelines as to protocal. ie. a person must be seen by a general physican before seeing a specialist or a person electing to have their tubes tied must wait 30 days to be sure it is THE decision they want, or a person who wants to use smoking cessation medications must see a counselor on a regular basis to also help with the mental/emotional aspects of quitting smoking.
- In this realm the medical care is handled in such a way as not to be wasted on a person.

In the VA hospital realm of things everyone is a number and treated as such. No one considering who the person are or what their needs truely are. The constant song and dance I get from these emplyees is that "OH we are so swamped, we just can't handle all the paperwork/patients/cleaning/whatever." IF this is true why aren't they submitting requests for more help and if they are, where are those requests going?

Do we need to call our congressmen and get on them to increase budgeting for the VA or is there something else that would be more beneficial?

While agree with your point the numbers more like 600-700 billion, with a "B" not a "T", thus far.

Still it's a valid point. We could have funded a damn fine health program for that. Shit add in the Wall St. bail out and... man, I don't even want to think about it.

"Money is free. You can just print more!"

So ignorant and ready to blame LOL

The VA is a mess because of the "smaller government" philosophy. Prior to Saint Ronnie, it was working, and working well. You can thank yourself and your ilk for the mess.

I wonder why I can't find -any- vets, then, who think the VA has -ever- done a good job? I've known vets from every war since Korea, and every last one without exception curses the VA. Ask somebody who was in Walter Reed circa 1973; it was just as bad then as it was in 2005, if not worse.

I remember some hullabaloo about a hospital and apt housing for VA who were still needing frequent treatment. The food and sanitation were even called in question if I remember right. I'm surprised that some overhauling of the entire system wasn't tended at that time enough to filter all the way out to other clinics.

What do WE do about it? besides contacting the VFW, what do the general public do? I wouldn't have a clue where to start.

i've never had any problems in my dealings with VA regional offices, VA hospitals, or VA centers, and i've been dealing with them for almost 40 years. i've heard more horror stories from so-called "public" hospitals than i have from VA facilities...

Hubby has been home from Afghanistan for a little over a year. When it comes to the mental treatment of PTSD, our VA hospital has been good. They even gave a class on PTSD for family members of soldiers. As for any physical ailments that require medicine, I think they are seriously lacking. He has had to see his own doctor for some things and pay quite a bit out of pocket.

Early on, the VA kept asking if he has health insurance. WTF? When injuries are from being deployed in the military, it shouldn't matter whether or not a person has health insurance to go elsewhere for treatment.

Oh, and ...
I just joined the auxiliary at our AL post last week. :wave:

Update on our current VA battle...
My SO got a call from the VA the other day. We assumed it was to inform him of the results of his MRI. They never left a message even though he explicitely asked them to. Not even a "Mr... Please call...". He ended up calling 3 different places to find out who called him. Never did find out. Instead he did talk to the nurse (no receptionist at the local clinic) at the local clinic and she asked another Nurse, if he needed to come in for anything. The other nurse said no. Then we get a letter in the mail today saying that he Missed an appointment. What?! He called to find out what was going on. ANOTHER nurse said that he'd been scheduled for a lab test to make sure the radiologic die they'd used for the MRI was out of his system. To top it of the nurse who'd given him the wrong information in the first place is the one who keeps screwing things up. She refuses to leave him messages on the answering machine, even though he's asked. She has spoken rudely to both of us, and she always looks hung over at the clinic. He is planning on writing a clear and detailed complaint letter soon.

This sounds less like a systems issue and more like an issue of a couple of incompetent and uncaring people. Any organization large enough will have its share of asshats.