The Goat Pen

As usual, you are avoiding the question I asked. Do you think the VA, in theory, is a good thing? Or do you think vets should just be given insurance so they can go see any doctor in the free market system? I hadn't thought about it, but why not the latter?

The question is....based on empirical evidence, can the gov't run anything efficiently? If this admin has accomplished anything, they have proven beyond any doubt that more gubment and stifling regulation is NOT the answer.

Oh yeah....in theory, most gubment proposals are good....in practice, we see something totally different. Eliminating poverty is good, nay, great theory.....


.....even better theory, send me your money and I'll pay more tax.

So you think we should get rid of the military altogether?

Nope.

hedge wrote:As usual, you are avoiding the question I asked. Do you think the VA, in theory, is a good thing? Or do you think vets should just be given insurance so they can go see any doctor in the free market system? I hadn't thought about it, but why not the latter?

The latter is more expensive, I believe based on studies, and it translates to less quality, of course. By Obamacare squeezing doctors and hospitals on reimbursements, low to middle class Americans may have to accept a low level of care.

Why do you trust the government so much with the military so much, Toe, given your obvious contempt at their ability to run anything else? The military is the biggest boondoggle of all, and yet you slavishly support it. Why?

..military is the biggest boondoggle of all,


Hardly, war on poverty/great society easily tops the boondoggle list. Obamacare, if it lasts, will end up on top in a few years.

As long as we pay vets for illness/injury like we do 4.5 million of the 9 million who recieve VA care you will have a broke system. You have no motivation to get better if your getting paid not to. You clog up the system by taking up slot after slot in varius specialties hoping you can game the system for 10 % more disability. Happens every day. That being said watch the 60 minutes report on new ways to treat PTSD and you'll see the other side of disabled vets that deserve everything we can do for them. Unfortunatley those heroes are the minority of patients in the VA

Should the VA be privatized--I think so., VA exists like any other govt bueracracy many times more concerned about itself then the members it serves

The feds just gave the go-ahead for testing marijuana for PTSD...

Customer satisfaction at the VA used to be consistently higher than at private sector hospitals. 6 or 7 straight years at the time of this article.

http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=14560

Just found this...in 2013 the VA again topped the private sector in customer satisfaction

http://www.militarytimes.com/article/20 ... tisfaction

Morphine tends to have that effect...

Dr. Strangelove wrote:Customer satisfaction at the VA used to be consistently higher than at private sector hospitals. 6 or 7 straight years at the time of this article.

http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=14560

Just found this...in 2013 the VA again topped the private sector in customer satisfaction

http://www.militarytimes.com/article/20 ... tisfaction

Wonder if they cooked those books like they did the lists and wait times?

DOWN GOES CANTOR!

DOWN GOES CANTOR!

Tea Party birthrate is going to soar next March.

The repubs are rudderless. Get ready for Hillary. She'll win by a bigger margin than Reagan did in '84.

AlabamAlum wrote:

Dr. Strangelove wrote:Customer satisfaction at the VA used to be consistently higher than at private sector hospitals. 6 or 7 straight years at the time of this article.

http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=14560

Just found this...in 2013 the VA again topped the private sector in customer satisfaction

http://www.militarytimes.com/article/20 ... tisfaction

Wonder if they cooked those books like they did the lists and wait times?

While I know you're joking, for the teabaggers in the audience I'll point out that that the polling isn't done by the VA itself.

And yeah, wow to Cantor losing. Meanwhile Lidnsey Graham looks likely to survive because the tea party is fucking dumb enough to run SIX CANDIDATES against him.

Dr. Strangelove wrote:And yeah, wow to Cantor losing. Meanwhile Lidnsey Graham looks likely to survive because the tea party is fucking dumb enough to run SIX CANDIDATES against him.

He got 58% of the vote so it wouldn't have mattered if the Tea Party ran 1 or 100.

Dr. Strangelove wrote:

AlabamAlum wrote:

Dr. Strangelove wrote:Customer satisfaction at the VA used to be consistently higher than at private sector hospitals. 6 or 7 straight years at the time of this article.

http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=14560

Just found this...in 2013 the VA again topped the private sector in customer satisfaction

http://www.militarytimes.com/article/20 ... tisfaction

Wonder if they cooked those books like they did the lists and wait times?

While I know you're joking, for the teabaggers in the audience I'll point out that that the polling isn't done by the VA itself.

I'm not joking. I know exactly how it's done and the numbers are not above some manipulation. HCAHPS and Press-Ganey scores can be "managed" if you have a certain creative "ethical looseness".

sardis wrote:

Dr. Strangelove wrote:And yeah, wow to Cantor losing. Meanwhile Lidnsey Graham looks likely to survive because the tea party is fucking dumb enough to run SIX CANDIDATES against him.

He got 58% of the vote so it wouldn't have mattered if the Tea Party ran 1 or 100.

Lots of tears on the campus of Bob Jones U I'd wager.