Today is World AIDS Day. Globally, more than 33 million people have HIV, and this day serves as an opportunity for people worldwide to unit in the fight against HIV. In doing so, VA medical centers across the country offer Veterans free confidential HIV tests. The Department of Veterans Affairs leads the country in HIV/AIDS screening, testing, treatment, research and prevention. An extensive list of documents can be found on this site intended for patient and provider alike.
The VA healthcare system is something that all Americans can be proud of. A government agency that consistently performs its mission on or under budget, that mission being to provide quality health care to a huge patient population in a geographical area that covers all fifty states and various possessions. The VA not only provides health care to our nation’s Veterans, but also serves as one of, if not the largest repository of medical research databanks in the world. The VA has partnered with medical schools across the country since the mid-1940s to provide research support and training to medical and nursing students all over the United States. If you’ve ever seen a doctor, that doctor probably got some of his or her training in a VA hospital. Some of the best care around is available, and nobody is turned away because they can’t pay for it. If a Veteran can pay something, he or she will. Our patient base is approximately 25 million strong, and we add ten thousand new beneficiaries a month. We are the ultimate expression of socialized medicine. The government provides healthcare to American citizens who have performed a public service.
We keep costs down by negotiating with pharmaceutical companies, something Medicare was unable to do under the part E prescription drug benefit package created by the republicans a few years back, and also by being the most advanced healthcare system in the world. A Veteran who has gotten his care at the VA medical center in Falls Church, VA can go to the Community Based Outpatient Clinic in Ada, OK and the doctor there will have access to all of that Veteran’s medical records, transmitted over a secure network, and available right there in the treatment room to include current medications and dosage rates. We will soon be able to do that with the medical records of military Service members who have departed their services and entered the VA system.
Part of the reason that I’m telling you all this is to toot our horn. I openly admit it. I work here, and I love working here, and I don’t want to see my job liquidated because the republicans want to keep tax cuts for the richest Americans more than they want to care for Veterans. But I’m also telling you this because I am a beneficiary of the Veterans Health Administration. I don’t want my benefits, especially the high quality healthcare I get from you, the American taxpayer, cut. I pay for part of my care because I can afford to, but every day I see patients in our Alzheimer’s clinic, our methadone program, our physical therapy center, the art therapy program, the counseling and readjustment program, the CICU, SICU, and MICU, outpatient psych, inpatient psych, and all over this facility who are a hell of a lot sicker and a hell of a lot poorer than I am and would be lost without the VA.
Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann, Paul Ryan, and other prominent republicans have called for replacing the Veterans Health Administration with vouchers:
Republicans have made it their goal to eliminate all government programs and replace them with privately owned and operated corporate entities. The V.H.A. is an integrated health care system that, as Krugman points out, “is the most efficient health care system” followed by single-payer systems like Medicare, and both outperform any private system in controlling costs while providing high-quality health care. Social Security, Medicare, and the V.H.A. belie Republican claims that private sector systems are superior to any government programs and instead of strengthening those systems, they intend on destroying them like a criminal destroys incriminating evidence showing their guilt. However, there are millions of Americans who know Social Security, Medicare, and the V.H.A. perform well or else there would not be opposition to privatizing those government programs.
The fact of the matter is that the civilian healthcare system can handle some of the case types that VA has, but cannot, as Paul Krugman notes, do that anywhere near as efficiently as the VA currently does. There’s also a lot of things that we handle that nobody else has any real experience with. Traumatic Brain Injury, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, multiple limb traumatic amputation, and a host of other conditions, including ongoing programs dealing with Agent Orange, asbestos, and other environmental toxins have patient populations that are either unique to or concentrated in the Veteran community.
The VHA is but one facet of the Federal Government that needs your support. If you get a chance, I hope that you’ll ask political candidates their positions on the VHA, the National Parks Service, and other programs of the government, and get a straight answer out of them. People should be dogging Mitt Romney at every stop, and asking him why he wants to destroy the VHA, and would he feel differently about it if he or any of his sons had ever served. We should be asking Newt Gingrich if the patriotic fervor that led him to fuck a lobbyist on his desk while married to someone else and managing the Clinton impeachment would impel him to protect the VHA and other critical government operations.
The VHA is just one government agency that has a positive impact far outsized to it’s size and budget and that performs its mission very efficiently. I know that the Postal Service is as well, and I have a very soft spot in my heart for the National Parks Service. What federal agency has had a positive impact on your life, and how is it threatened by the current crop of robber-baron-messenger-wannabes?
Linda Featheringill
And the VHA practices good medicine. Often in my transcribing of medical reports, I ask “Why did they send the patient home before x was done? The VA wouldn’t have done that.”
I suspect that if we really do start linking reimbursement to private facilities based on rate of return to the hospital, we’ll see a lot of medical care imitating VA medical practices.
namekarB
ICE has been instrumental in making Social Security solvent by deporting thousands of immigrants who paid into the system but will never draw a penny from it.
Martin
I don’t know. Part of me says ‘bring it on’. Nothing would go further to destroy the GOPs standing than to lose damn near everyone in the military or who cares about the military and to demonstrate in the starkest possible terms the efficiencies inherent in a single payer system.
I don’t mean to be cruel, but sometimes you need to let people fail in order to learn the lesson.
Luthe
I’m a grad student. My soul is currently in hock to the federal government. If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t be able to afford to get a Master’s. The big banks would probably lend me money, sure, and the credit card companies would let me eat, but the interest would eat me alive. As it is, they just took away subsidized interest on student loans for grad students(which kicks in next year, after I’m done, thank Bieber). This is going to make it that much harder for future students to repay their loans.
Still, if it wasn’t for the government, I wouldn’t be in school now. And when I graduate, the Income-Based Repayment program will make sure that I’m not paying more than I can afford to every month. Which will be good, because I want to work for a government and the pay is lousy. Public Service Loan Forgiveness will wipe out my loans in ten years, but that’s still a long time.
ETA: @namekarB:
Troll in the comments. Thought you should know.
CarolDuhart2
The Republicans really think that vouchers can cut it? It’s already a hassle with emergency care and getting into the hospital.
I fondly remember my Al-Anon meetings at the local VA hospital. The people were friendly and supportive and the facility was modern and accessible. They never asked me if I was a patient there, and never cared.
In addition, the VA because of its specialized clientele, can handle the long-term struggles veterans have with health. No civilian hospital is equipped to continually give care to the most wounded on a regular basis.
BGK
My former family doctor, a deeply religious man who cared greatly about his patients and really hated the business side of his group practice, went to the VA three years ago. I saw him about two months ago, and I swear he looks ten years younger. He told me he’s never been happier and more satisfied with his career.
Also, too, he convinced two other doctors in the practice to join him.
My point, from this admittedly small sample, is that maybe it’s good for the practitioners as well. I’d think that, all else being equal, a happier doctor with less stress would be better at giving care.
Lee
@Luthe:
My wife and I talked about this. Our oldest will start college in 3 years.
We are seriously considering the “Declaring bankruptcy when you graduate” plan for our kids.
Raven
I am glad the VA Health System has improved, and I know it has, because it was fucking awful for my cohort.
Caz
You really should get a job at the Ministry of Propaganda.
Two things:
(1) The VA is a model of inefficiency, disorganization, and poor quality of service. You’re a lost cause, but go talk to people who have to deal with them, rather than someone who gets a paycheck working for them.
(2) Govt generally is inefficient, corrupt, and expensive. We should be cutting govt’s size, not expanding it. And you’re citing the Postal Service as an example of efficient govt services?!
I can understand why you’d post this drivel, since your paychecks come from the govt, but I certainly hope you don’t really believe what you’re saying. If you do believe it, then you more ignorant and naive than any one person should be allowed to be.
I could go on and on about the crap you put in this post, but I know it’s not going to make a lick of difference to you or any of your other echo chamber progressive comrades, so I’ll just stop now.
carpeduum
The VHA is one of those things all Republicans secretly despise but know they cannot openly show their disdain for. It invalidates just about every argument GOPers have about gov’t. It proves very clearly that government is not the problem. It’s GOPers inability to govern that is the problem. So of course, in typical GOPer fashion, they must try break it somehow to make their argument seem more plausible.
See GOPers simply cannot face their own shortcomings. They must always have someone or something else to blame. Big government, Iran, muslims, Democrats etc.
They all seem to suffer from the dunning-Kruger effect.
Luthe
@Lee: Won’t work. Student loans are immune from bankruptcy. They are with you until you pay them off or die, whichever comes first.
(I’ve sometimes considered the “fake my own death” strategy, but then it’s harder to prove you got the education later.)
ETA: @Caz: Two trolls in five minutes? Must be a new BJ record.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Luthe: Nope. Over the weekend we had a thread where eight of the first ten commenters were trolls.
Soonergrunt
@Caz:
“Patients routinely rank the veterans system above the alternatives, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index.” In 2008, the VHA got a satisfaction rating of 85 for inpatient treatment, compared with 77 for private hospitals. In the same report the VHA outpatient care scored 3 points higher than for private hospitals.[6]
“As compared with the Medicare fee-for-service program, the VA performed significantly better on all 11 similar quality indicators for the period from 1997 through 1999. In 2000, the VA outperformed Medicare on 12 of 13 indicators.” [7]
A study that compared VHA with commercial managed care systems in their treatment of diabetes patients found that in all seven measures of quality, the VHA provided better care.[8]
A RAND Corporation study in 2004 concluded that the VHA outperforms all other sectors of American health care in 294 measures of quality; Patients from the VHA scored significantly higher for adjusted overall quality, chronic disease care, and preventive care, but not for acute care.[9]
A 2009 Congressional Budget Office report on the VHA found that “the care provided to VHA patients compares favorably with that provided to non-VHA patients in terms of compliance with widely recognized clinical guidelines — particularly those that VHA has emphasized in its internal performance measurement system. Such research is complicated by the fact that most users of VHA’s services receive at least part of their care from outside providers.” [5]
All those links and footnotes come from Wikipedia page on VHA.
Thanks for playing.
RalfW
The phrasing of your question to Newtie the desk-defiler is just the pick-me-up I needed this afternoon!
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Caz: And you, since you barely read the post or give a shit about the commentor, need to realize that the grunt part of soonergrunt indicates his military experience. I have military experience as well. And I would trade what I have for something like military healthcare or the VA. I can’t right now because Bush 2 and the Republicans decided that I make too much money to pay into the VA system.
I know this comment won’t matter to you because you stuff your shit in your ears every morning, so just go DIAF.
BattleCat
This blog was posted on December 1, 2011 4:00 pm.
10 minutes to first off-topic snark.
21 minutes to first balls-to-the-wall troll.
BattleCat apologies, Soonergrunt, but Zander still has you beat in terms of Time Until Trolling.
Chris
@Caz:
Ah, this idiot again. Looked up the definition of the word “communist” yet? No? Good for you, O Great Expert At Spotting “Propaganda.”
Then why do you keep coming back here? In the hopes that one of us poor ignorant rubes will be enlightened by your brilliance? Is it worth all the hand-wringing you put yourself through every time you read something by Wrong Again Cole and the rest of us?
Gin & Tonic
@Caz: I know you’re not interested in dialogue, but I know people, well, who would be dead and decomposing at the bottom of the ocean if it were not for the inefficient, corrupt and expensive public servants of the Coast Guard.
I suppose the world would be better if their services were privatized, and you had multiple, competing for-profit rescue services, which, when you placed a MAYDAY call, would route it to a call center in the Philippines to verify your policy number and coverage. While you were on fire and taking on 37-degree water.
Soonergrunt
@BattleCat: I don’t really want to win that particular competition.
numbskull
@Caz: I’m on faculty in a top flight PRIVATE healthcare group/hospital and with the local VA (note, though, that none of my salary derives from the VA).
Both are top-notch in patient care for the procedures they have in common. Both have outstanding research. However, the VA has many more procedures than the private concern due to the special needs of many of the VA’s patients. I sit on several committees for both entities. In every instance, EVERY INSTANCE, the VA system is more efficient for identical or similar enterprises.
Sucks to be you, Caz.
scav
@Belafon (formerly anonevent): The Bad Faith Polyphonic Chorus (♪ ♫ Trollelujah! Trollelujah! Trollelujah! ♪ ♫) can be quite astonishing some evenings, especially when they start flirting with each other snd/or beating each other with sticks. Hard to tell the difference between those activities, actually. Kinda cute.
Chris
@Soonergrunt:
LOL, you’re asking the consumers to rate a service they actually use? Why, that’s almost as bad as asking those faggy soshulists who actually live in Europe if they’re really dying in the streets waiting for health care! What are you thinking?
These people have the truth! They have the Bible! And Atlas Shrugged! (Not necessarily, if ever, in that order!) Your facts can’t repel wisdom of that magnitude!
The Moar You Know
My dad goes to the VA. I go to Kaiser.
There is simply no comparison. One system barely works at all. One is the best health care system I’ve ever seen.
PROTIP: The “best health care system I’ve ever seen” sure as shit isn’t Kaiser, who managed to do something I thought impossible and miss a broken neck – X-rays were taken – on a man who was hospitalized for two weeks. He was the husband of a friend of mine. That good man died five days after he was released. He turned the wrong way in front of his wife and kids and died, strangling, on the floor in front of them.
That’s your private health care right there.
RalfW
@Soonergrunt: Nice of you to bother.
When I read “Govt generally is inefficient, corrupt, and expensive” I think, “yeah, but corporations are dumb, inefficient, corrupt, corrupting, and a massive rip off.”
Or to paraphrase Churchill, Government is the most inefficient, corrupt, and expensive system of meeting our collective needs, except for all the other systems we’ve tried.
WaterGirl
@The Moar You Know: Holy crap. What a tragic story. So, so wrong. Just wrong beyond belief. I am sorry his family has to live with that memory.
Benjamin Franklin
Caz should contemplate what happens when Physicians are businessmen, first.
Frans
@Caz: Show me on the doll where the VA touched you.
BattleCat
@The Moar You Know:
That is so… /bad/, I’m actually not sure how to describe it.
Soonergrunt
@RalfW: It gave me an excuse to link spam from a wiki article, instead of going to the trouble of updating the original at top. I should thank him, but he’s just a twit.
Lee
@Luthe: Get smaller student loans and use the avarice of the credit card companies to live off them.
Then BK on the Credit Cards and payoff the student loans.
(never said it was a good plan, just a plan :)
Soonergrunt
@Benjamin Franklin: The big thing that happens is that they are so busy trying to see enough patients to make a profit after all of their expenses, many of which are incurred trying to meet the varying requirements of different insurance companies, that they miss things with their patients.
RalfW
My dad is a rock-ribbed Republican who used to get personally auto-signed Christmas cards from St. Ronnie of Reagan (they sat on the mantle driving me and my mom nuts).
So you’d think he’d hate all that socialized, expensive, VA care.
But yet he goes out of his way to be sure to get all his prescriptions from the VA. Huh.
He’s pretty fond of his Medicare pacemaker, too.
geg6
The Department of Education, the bugaboo of all right-thinking wingtards.
I came from a large (6 kids) working class family in Western PA. My dad was a union steelworker and my mom a homemaker (until her father died and she used her piddly inheritance as an only child to pay for her own college education which she did while working part-time and being a mom) until I was in junior high when she became a reporter for the local newspaper. The most my father ever made was $32,000/yr. and that was only for one year, just before he was forcibly retired in 1984 when his mill, which once employed over 10,000, was closed(thanks, St. Ronnie of Raygun!).
It wasn’t easy over the years for my parents, what with six kids and all, but they scraped and saved and managed to give each of us $3000 to go to college. We were expected to figure out a way to pay for the rest. They knew nothing about the FAFSA or student aid, but were desperate for us all to go to college. I was number five out of those six and by then my older siblings knew how to fill out a FAFSA. So I took their advice and did it, too. In those days, my tuition at Pitt was about $5000/year and I lived on campus my first year and in an apartment with friends my second. I decided to save some money my last two years (plus I had obtained a full-time entry-level job in advertising sales near home) and commuted into Pittsburgh my last two years. I managed to get out of college with a relatively small amount of debt (thanks to the PA State Grant Program), for which I am thankful and which was paid off within the 10 year term of the loan. I also took out loans to get my M.Ed., which I just paid off a few months ago.
Without the federal student aid programs, my siblings and I could never have been able to get college educations and be as successful as we have been. After undergrad, I went into advertising but always wondered what I could do to help kids like me and my sisters and brothers. One day I got a phone call asking if I wanted to teach a GED class at the local community college (my sister was an English instructor there) as the teacher had moved at the last minute. I said yes and that was the beginning of my career in adult basic and higher education. Eventually, I ran a program for TRIO and sponsored by Penn State which helped lower income first-generation adults to pursue college, a job that led me to be very well-versed in financial aid. That eventually led to me becoming a student aid officer at a branch campus and the rest is history. Today and for the rest of my career I will be helping students, students just like me and my siblings, pursue the educations that they and their parents dreamed of and worked for all their lives. It is a most gratifying job and I am thankful that I get to do this.
Without the Department of Education and the federal student aid programs, this would not have been possible for me, my brothers, or my sisters. But more importantly, it would not be possible for millions and millions of students every year.
PhoenixRising
The VHA just works. I needed some options to patch my eye injury, and they sold me what I needed from the pharmacy’s OTC counter, no questions asked. Because as the authority on patient care for eye loss and injury, they just know more than the CVS across the street. TBI and PTSD, same thing–we have a lot of data on what works from the VA.
Benjamin Franklin
“they miss things with their patients.”
Yes, my brush was too broad. But many overlook a diagnosis which could be preventative, and wait until the aliment is so advanced, it cannot be ignored.
I realize they are on an assembly line, but when you take an oath to ‘do no harm’, there is some integrity which needs addressing.
Lee
@RalfW:
My father-in-law is the same way. He never mentions how much he hates soc lism around me anymore as my reply is always “No you don’t, it is keeping you alive and out of squalor”.
Lee
@RalfW:
My father-in-law is the same way. He never mentions how much he hates soc — lism around me anymore as my reply is always “No you don’t, it is keeping you alive and out of squalor”.
Soonergrunt
@geg6: My wife got her Masters’ Degree, only because of Federal Student Loans and Pell grants. While paying off the loans, she’s paid more in taxes, state and federal, than she ever got in Pell grants.
Soonergrunt
@Lee: I took the liberty of deleting the duplicate comment. The only reason it was there is likely that I approved it out of the spam filter earlier in the first place.
The Moar You Know
@WaterGirl:
@BattleCat:
It’s beyond fucked up. It’s as clear a case of malpractice as you could ever dream of, but no settlement offers – Kaiser’s going to make them go to court anyway. They’ll win millions.
No amount of money could possibly replace the father and spouse in their lives, however. He was a good guy. The error was literally inexcusable. There’s not enough money in the world to even make this a mockery of justice, no matter how it turns out.
Caz
Franz, good one there, that made me laugh.
I know a male vet who was trying to get a prostate procedure at the VA, but the paperwork he received said he wasn’t eligible because he was female and prostate operations are not covered for females. It took months, PLURAL, for them to straighten it out.
If a private health care provider were offering this level of service, they’d be out of business quick.
Profits, although you all hate them because you’re a bunch of commies, do stimulate growth, efficiency, quality, and affordability. The more competition for profits there is, the better quality of goods and services we all have access too, and a greater range of the same to choose from.
Govt has no incentive to do things right, because if they lose money, they can just funnel more tax dollars to it.
Doesn’t the simple logic of this sink in with any of you, or are you all so wrapped up on fighting the class war that you can’t see the simplest of economic principles at work around the nation and world?
My dad has been to numerous VA’s in his life too and he has finally decided he’s never going back because the service and quality of care is so poor.
Are there execptions to the rule? Sure. But as a rule, I think the VA is generally a piss poor health care provider. That someone’s life was saved by a VA somewhere sometime is totally irrelevant to the issue.
But I’m happy to see that none of you questioned my comment about the Postal Service. At least we can agree on one thing it seems!
And the reason I post on here is just for fun, not to change any minds. When I read the crazy off the wall wacky drug induced fantasy land bullshit on here, it makes me feel good to comment so I can make sure I remain grounded in reality.
But I’d love to debate any of you sometime on the issues on this site, like in front of an audience. That would be a supreme ass whoopin without much effort really, because you’re all ridiculously removed from reality.
slag
I feel this. Just filling out a Fafsa enabled my eligibility for a private fellowship. So, even without actually paying for it, the government helped me get a free master’s degree. Better than winning the lottery.
R-Jud
My dad and I literally would not exist without the GI Bill, as it paid for my grandfather to get his master’s at Penn, which is where he charmed the socks off my grandma (who was also there thanks to the GI Bill, having been a WAC).
Chyron HR
@Caz:
You’re sooooo grounded in reality, Caz.
Linkmeister
@Caz: Screw you. I get my care from the VA, and it’s been spectacularly pro-active compared to what I got from Kaiser for my $400/month.
Soonergrunt
@Caz: “If a private health care provider were offering this level of service, they’d be out of business quick.”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHA (Breathe) HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHA
You’re talking about the same hospitals that amputate the wrong limb, incur medication errors, violate confidentiality, and a host of other failures of care at a rate multiple times that of the VHA.
And as for the postal service, why don’t you try to send a package or envelope to anywhere in the country at the same speed and accuracy as they do for the cost? You can’t. In fact, UPS and FEDEX use the postal service for last mile delivery in a significant part of the country.
Please, dude–you’re embarrassing yourself here.
WaterGirl
@The Moar You Know: It makes me sick to even think about it. Even beyond how he needlessly lost his life, his family may never be free of the horror of those last minutes. Just heartbreaking.
efroh
My brother works at the VA too (General Counsel’s office). :)
Soonergrunt
My new computer parts have arrived! I’ll be building my new PC this evening. Later all.
Cat Lady
I thank the FSM for the FDA and the FDIC. Thalidomide? No thankya. Deposit insurance? Yes plz.
janeform
@Soonergrunt: Thanks for this post, Soonergrunt. I work with some of the researchers who did the study comparing VHA with commercial managed care systems, and they’re top-notch. The ambulatory care clinic managers I work with are tops as well: smart, dedicated, very hard-working. Veterans I talk to almost uniformly praise the care they get at the VA.
Villago Delenda Est
Caz is a pathetic little ideologue, totally without any grounding in reality.
Fuck him and his loathsome ilk.
JCT
As a physician I was extremely pleased with the health care and support my late father-in-law received at the Bronx VA. He was a funny guy — used to enjoy tweaking all of his relatives about their sub-par experiences at their big Manhattan hospitals.
I’m looking forward to donating some time to them when I retire — there’s a very nice one in my new town.
demz taters
Let me add to the chorus in support of the VA. Without it I would have NO health care right now, just as I come into the age when both my mother and my aunt were diagnosed with very early-stage breast cancer (and both now cancer-free decades later). Before I found out I was eligible two years ago, I spent a lot of mental energy trying to resign myself to the very good possibility that I didn’t have a whole lot of years left. What kind of person argues that we should put more Americans in that position?
Another thing – It’s not Cadillac care and like everything else from the government that does the average citizen good, it’s suffering the slow starvation of Republican policies. But it’s what I think most people would expect from a public option and contrary to accusations that we feel “entitled,” I am grateful for what little I have literally every day.
numbskull
@Caz:
That’s exactly what I think every time I pay my cable bill.
numbskull
@Caz:
Oh, but your dad’s negative experience of course trumps all other data. Roger. Check. Got it.
There was a time, a loooong time ago, when the VA really struggled to meet standards. Gee, I wonder, when did that start to turn around?…
BTW, I notice that you have nothing to say about the observations from professionals who inhabit both the VA and the private sector, who really live, eat, and breathe this stuff, as I do. Well, at least you’re smart enough to STFU when actual experts speak. A true flash of brilliance on your part. Whodathunk.
Catsy
@Caz:
It’s a pity you have no self-awareness or sense of shame, because that is one of the most humiliating and embarrassingly delusional sentences I think I’ve seen anyone write in a long time.
kerFuFFler
One of the problems that government agencies have is that most people are unaware of the benefits they have derived from their programs and oversight. People see money deducted from their paychecks for taxes but don’t really get to see up close and personal the disasters in their lives that government agencies have prevented. Very few people get sick from their food due to federal standards for meat packing and the like preventing easily avoidable contamination. Cleaning up the water and air have prevented so much pain,suffering and disease (not to mention horrific medical bills and income lost due to illness!). Safety standards for cars and car-seats, airplanes and trains preventing death or serious injury ….building code standards preventing fires and other hazards…..Vaccination schedules preventing epidemics…
Statistically it can be shown that all these sorts of programs more than pay for themselves and are hence both practical and highly beneficial for the citizenry at large. But on an individual basis it is impossible to know exactly what disasters their families have been spared due to effective government agencies and programs.
This is one of the reasons the GOP finds it so easy to discount the value “big government”, and why they work so hard to erode public confidence in experts. The experts are the ones who can study the large scale effects of regulations and the like and tell us how much they have helped.
I have lived in foreign countries where the water is not even potable. Exposure to that reality makes me appreciate hugely the wonderful “luxury” of being able to feed my children with so little risk
Cassidy
@Luthe: GS pay lousy? Oh no son. I’ll give you a quick breakdown. The FAM’s (application process I’m going through) starts at GS9 (38K a year) + Leap (25%)= 45-47 (approx). Then you add in locality pay, which starts around 14%. All in all you’re talking close to 60K a year starting. How much more do you need?
WaterGirl
@Cassidy: Hey Cassidy, I haven’t been here much the last month or so. Any news on your job situation?
kay
My father loves the VA and he’s not the easiest person in the world to get along with, partly because he’s a clean freak.
Must be spotless and orderly in there or he’s not sticking around.
waratah
I am late posting here as my husband had appointments today at his growing, now smaller VA Hospital. We drive fifty miles and are very pleased with this hospital. I had two veterans tell me today they drove three hours to come there. They could go to larger hospitals the same distance but like this one better. When my husband needed eye surgery they paid for him to see an excellent specialist that had relocated here to take care of his elderly parents. The wait time to see doctors in the specialty clinics are the longest, but not anywhere near as long as I have in the private sector.
I asked one young doctor that had transferred here would he rather be in private practice. He said he was but he could not get any one to fill in for him for any time off. This way he works week days, has paid vacation, health insurance and is a lot happier.
Thank you Sooner, please keep posting on this subject.
Cassidy
@WaterGirl: Currently working contract at a Hospital, doing clerk work. I still had a clearance, so I was hired in a week. My wife has an interview tommorrow, so hopefully we can get off food assistance soon. I’m not too proud to ask for it, but there are alot of people needing it, so if I don’t… Other than that, just waiting for responses from a variety of gov’t agencies, mostly in the same vein of LE (park ranger, police, criminal investigator, etc.). All in all, things are slowly meandering forward. I don’t think about eating my pistol everyday and cashing out my 400K life insurance for the family, so that’s progress.
Right now, I’m trying to decide on a deadline. It looks like the Army will take me back if I go Special Forces.
And thank you for asking. If you all don’t know, this place is where I came to vent and reach out. I don’t really have any live friends I can do that with.
waratah
Well I do not post very much here so am surprised I am in moderation for the first time. My posts are very much pussy cat.
Phoenician in a time of Romans
@Lee:
We are seriously considering the “Declaring bankruptcy when you graduate” plan for our kids.
Something that bugs me – why don’t American students just get their degree and just move, relocate overseas and refuse to pay cent one of that debt? What am I missing?
jacksmith
REALITY!!
( http://my.firedoglake.com/iflizwerequeen/2011/05/16/how-about-a-little-truth-about-what-the-majority-want-for-health-care/ )
( Gov. Peter Shumlin: Real Healthcare reform — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yFUbkVCsZ4 )
( Health Care Budget Deficit Calculator — http://www.cepr.net/calculators/hc/hc-calculator.html )
( Briefing: Dean Baker on Boosting the Economy by Saving Healthcare http://t.co/fmVz8nM )
START NOW!
As you all know. Had congress passed a single-payer or government-run robust Public Option CHOICE! available to everyone on day one, our economy and jobs would have taken off like a rocket. And still will. Single-payer would be best. But a government-run robust Public Option CHOICE! that can lead to a single-payer system is the least you can accept. It’s not about competing with for-profit healthcare and for-profit health insurance. It’s about replacing it with Universal Healthcare Assurance. Everyone knows this now.
The message from the midterm elections was clear. The American people want real healthcare reform. They want that individual mandate requiring them to buy private health insurance abolished. And they want a government-run robust public option CHOICE! available to everyone on day one. And they want it now.
They want Drug re-importation, and abolishment, or strong restrictions on patents for biologic and prescription drugs. And government controlled and negotiated drug and medical cost. They want back control of their healthcare system from the Medical Industrial Complex. And they want it NOW!
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WILL NOT, AND MUST NOT, ALLOW AN INDIVIDUAL MANDATE TO STAND WITHOUT A STRONG GOVERNMENT-RUN PUBLIC OPTION CHOICE! AVAILABLE TO EVERYONE.
For-profit health insurance is extremely unethical, and morally repugnant. It’s as morally repugnant as slavery was. And few if any decent Americans are going to allow them-self to be compelled to support such an unethical and immoral crime against humanity.
This is a matter of National and Global security. There can be NO MORE EXCUSES.
Further, we want that corrupt, undemocratic filibuster abolished. Whats the point of an election if one corrupt member of congress can block the will of the people, and any legislation the majority wants. And do it in secret. Give me a break people.
Also, unemployment healthcare benefits are critically needed. But they should be provided through the Medicare program at cost, less the 65% government premium subsidy provided now to private for profit health insurance.
Congress should stop wasting hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money on private for profit health insurance subsidies. Subsidies that cost the taxpayer 10x as much or more than Medicare does. Private for profit health insurance plans cost more. But provide dangerous and poorer quality patient care.
Republicans: GET RID OF THE INDIVIDUAL MANDATE.
Democrats: ADD A ROBUST GOVERNMENT-RUN PUBLIC OPTION TO HEALTHCARE REFORM.
This is what the American people are shouting at you. Both parties have just enough power now to do what the American people want. GET! IT! DONE! NOW!
If congress does not abolish the individual mandate. And establish a government-run public option CHOICE! before the end of 2011. EVERY! member of congress up for reelection in 2012 will face strong progressive pro public option, and anti-individual mandate replacement candidates.
Strong progressive pro “PUBLIC OPTION” CHOICE! and anti-individual mandate volunteer candidates should begin now. And start the process of replacing any and all members of congress that obstruct, or fail to add a government-run robust PUBLIC OPTION CHOICE! before the end of 2011.
We need two or three very strong progressive volunteer candidates for every member of congress that will be up for reelection in 2012. You should be fully prepared to politically EVISCERATE EVERY INCUMBENT that fails or obstructs “THE PUBLIC OPTION”. And you should be willing to step aside and support the strongest pro “PUBLIC OPTION” candidate if the need arises.
ASSUME CONGRESS WILL FAIL and SELLOUT again. So start preparing now to CUT THEIR POLITICAL THROATS. You can always step aside if they succeed. But only if they succeed. We didn’t have much time to prepare before these past midterm elections. So the American people had to use a political shotgun approach. But by 2012 you will have a scalpel.
Congress could have passed a robust government-run public option during it’s lame duck session. They knew what the American people wanted. They already had several bills on record. And the house had already passed a public option. Departing members could have left with a truly great accomplishment. And the rest of you could have solidified your job before the 2012 elections.
President Obama, you promised the American people a strong public option available to everyone. And the American people overwhelmingly supported you for it. Maybe it just wasn’t possible before. But it is now.
Knock heads. Threaten people. Or do whatever you have to. We will support you. But get us that robust public option CHOICE! available to everyone on day one before the end of 2011. Or We The People Of The United States will make the past midterm election look like a cake walk in 2012. And it will include you.
We still have a healthcare crisis in America. With hundreds of thousands dieing needlessly every year in America. And a for profit medical industrial complex that threatens the security and health of the entire world. They have already attacked the world with H1N1 killing thousands, and injuring millions. And more attacks are planned for profit, and to feed their greed.
Spread the word people.
Progressives, prepare the American peoples scalpels. It’s time to remove some politically diseased tissues.
God Bless You my fellow human beings. I’m proud to be one of you. You did good.
See you on the battle field.
Sincerely
jacksmith – WorkingClass :-)
englishmajor
Loved this post, too. Loved the argument and the sentiment, but, yes, also the Newt fucking the lobbyist line – and Frans’s “show me on the doll where the VA touched you” comment. I’ve been trying to get my sister on here for a long time and that might have done it. Thanks.
My kids are educated by the government (talking state here), as was I – though they’re trying to take that away too, and doing a good job of it.
I’m also pretty damn proud of the ADA. That was some enlightened shit.
prufrock
When I was diagnosed with cancer at the tender age of 24, the VA took care of me, despite the fact that I had no insurance. Total cost to me? Zero. I love the VA.
r€nato
@Caz:
I have. I’ve spoken to several vets who use the local VA hospital. These men range from a liberal Democrat to a politically apathetic person to an Obamacare-hating conservative Republican.
Every one of them raves about how good the VA health care system is, particularly the efficiency. They can often get in sooner to see their doctors than any of us who have private health plans. They can do secure online chats with their doctors. The copays are reasonable. The standard of care is outstanding.
r€nato
@geg6:
hmm. You mean you’re not working at becoming RICH?
Herman Cain thinks you’re a sucker.
Soonergrunt
I got the computer built. I think the video card is bad. The computer appears to work, but no video signal. I don’t have a spare, so I’ll have to try to figure something out.
Lex
As a medical reporter, I read the book “Best Care Anywhere: Why VA Health Care is Better Than Yours” a few years ago. The author’s initial claims about VA health-care quality struck me as unbelievable, so I went and tracked down the studies on which he purported to base this claim.
And damned if they didn’t say exactly what he said they said. I was both floored and deeply gratified.
I will say this: The Department of Veterans Affairs’ disability compensation-and-pension program is screwed up to high heaven, and my senior senator, who chairs the VA committee, has done jack squat that I can tell to fix it. But the health care? A global model. Thank you and your colleagues, Soonergrunt, for what you do for our vets.
Soonergrunt
@Lex: Thanks! It’s an honor, to say nothing of the fact that I’m a beneficiary myself.
One thing about VA–a LOT of our staff are beneficiaries, so we see it from both sides.
As far as the other side of the VA, the Veterans Benefits Administration–well, those people are truly fucked up. I’d rather kick myself in my own face than deal with them.
waratah
One other thing I think is great is that veterans have online access to order medicine, and you can see when the last time you ordered. My husband is now able to see his lab results online. This is only just now available where we are but I am really happy as he can check and compare just as the doctors and nurses do.
Soonergrunt
@waratah: yeah. MyHealtheVet is a pretty cool feature.
For those who don’t know what waratah and I are talking about, MyHealtheVet is a website tied into the Veteran’s individual health record and appointment schedule. it lists current prescriptions, allows the Veteran to order refills, allows the Veteran to download a copy to her personal computer, which she can then use or transport in any way she sees fit. She can chat over secure, encrypted link with her healthcare providers and specialists in real time.
AA+ Bonds
Thank you for doing a good thing with your life.
AA+ Bonds
@jacksmith:
lol, welcome to Balloon Juice
Yutsano
@Cassidy:
I’m a GS-6 with locality pay of 21% and night differential. I’m clearing about $39K right now. In a year that’ll jump to about $43K. I’m also single. It’s kinda sweet. :)
Soonergrunt
@jacksmith:
But apparently they aren’t distributing certain meds where they really need to go.
brantl
I live in the country, and was driving into town one summer day, came over a hill, and found a guy laying in the road, barely moving, his bicycle trashed. I helped him up (gingerly, his collar-bone seemed to be broken), helped him into my truck, put his bike in the back, and proceded to drive him to the VA Hospital, at his request(I had no cell phone, I couldn’t call anybody). He was shocky, I was afraid he had a concussion, so I kept him talking. He told me that he was a vet, that he had identification, and he would be fine.
To make a long story shorter, I drove up to the emergency entrance and as we got out of the truck, a nurse ran out the door with a wheelchair, asked what had happened and whisked him away for treatment. He called over his shoulder to me to not worry, he’d be fine.
Stuff it up your ass, Caz.
Dave
I’m retired AF and don’t use the VA. However, my family and I get our primary care from Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio (now San Antonio Military Medical Center (SAMMC). We were not huge consumers of medical care until this year when I started having some cardio issues. I was astounded at the quality and comprehensiveness of the care at the Cardiology Clinic. It was well coordinated and integrated and kept me fully informed at every step of the process. I doubt that who have happened in the private sector.
WaterGirl
@Cassidy: That definitely looks like progress to me! Not where you want to be, yet, but definitely progress. I say yay for that.
I know you left the military in part because you wanted to spend more time with your family. (really!) (not as code for some political scandal) So I hope you guys can make ends meet one way or another until you find something here at home that is a good fit for you.
i know you have kids, but I don’t know the ages. Is anybody at a stuffed animal phase? Because I have a couple of really cute and soft stuffed animals (unused) that I just have no room for (yes, even as an adult my relatives buy me stuffed animals).
I put them in a box a couple of months ago when I did my spring cleaning, and they are going to go somewhere else for the holidays. So if your kids like stuffed animals, I would love to have them go to someone I know.