Campaign to privatize VA care moving in the wrong direction

[DonViejo]

07/11/16 01:02 PM

By Steve Benen

After controversy erupted a couple of years ago surrounding the Veterans Administration, Congress created something called the Commission on Care, whose members would write recommendations that would help shape the future of the VA. For conservatives, this created an opportunity to pursue a long-sought goal: privatization of veterans’ care.

In April, the Washington Monthly’s Paul Glastris wrote a piece for the Boston Globe, noting that several conservative Commission members quietly put together a recommendation calling for full privatization of the VA by 2035, prompting renewed lobbying from prominent veterans’ groups, including the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars, strongly opposing the far-right push.

Last week, the veterans’ advocates prevailed. Glastris published a report on the end of the fight, at least for now.

On Wednesday, the Commission released its final report. To the surprise of most observers, the commission rejected privatization as the solution. While detailing a host of serious failings with the VA, the report notes that “care delivered by VA is in many ways comparable or better in clinical quality to that generally available in the private sector.” It concludes that the new Choice Program was “flawed” in both its design and execution, adding that “the program has aggravated wait times and frustrated veterans, private-sector health care providers participating in networks, and V.H.A. alike.”

Rather than wholesale outsourcing, the report recommends addressing issues of access by “standing up integrated veteran-centric, community-based delivery networks,” a plan roughly similar to the one Hillary Clinton had called for.

more
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/campaign-privatize-va-care-moving-the-wrong-direction?cid=eml_mra_20160711

[tonyt53]

1. it all comes down to money - money when the care is privatized.

Some people think this mess with the VA has just started of only affect those that have been in the US military since Bush II took office. Ever see the movie "Born on the Fourth of July"? The author (Kovic or something like that) wrote the story based upon his own experiences in 1974 as a returning Vietnam vet. 1974. My dad, a WWII vet, gave up on the VA in 1976. My oldest brother (Vietnam vet) gave up on them during Reagan's term.

Privatization isn't the answer. More responsibility by the providers would do wonders though. The Va hospital system has a high number of doctors that cannot hold down positions at other hospitals due to their poor performance, so the VA is their only hope of a job. Even small towns that need doctors won't touch them.

[yeoman6987]

2. This is government health care

This has to succeed if universal health care is to even have. a chance.

[tonyt53]

3. A whole different bunch of providers with the VA. They live in a different world.

[HereSince1628]

4. Both major parties want to get rid of entitlement obligations.

Lack of concern for vets is why people who love vets want the government to quit making them.