Not too long ago, I got into a “discussion” with one of those selfish, talking-points addled members of the Lamest Generation. Being an idiot, he decided to try to shoot me down by pointing to the VA as some kind of a terrible red flag for Government-run healthcare.

I replied, naturally, that the only VA healthcare that sucked happened to be those parts that Chimpy outsourced to his buddies at Halliburton (Walter Reed, anyone?) I kindly pointed out that he had actually made my point for me, and thanked him.

But, still, the “VA BAD!!!” bugaboo is firmly entrenched as a Rushpubliscum talking point, so it is useful to know exactly how well, or how poorly, the VA performs in delivering healthcare. I can tell you that my father was taken pretty good care of by the VA, and actually passed on at a VA facility.

My personal observations are mine, of course, and some Rushpubliscum dope addict parrot would be quick to point that out. So let’s not rely on what I have to say; let’s hear from some other vets on the issue of VA healthcare.

Rick Tanner is one American who loves his government-run health care.

After serving in Vietnam and spending three decades in the U.S. Navy, Tanner retired in 1991 with a bad knee and high blood pressure. He enrolled in the Veterans Health Administration and now benefits from comprehensive treatment with few co-payments and an electronic records system more advanced than almost anywhere at private hospitals.

“The care is superb,” said Tanner, 66, a San Diego resident who visits the veterans medical center in La Jolla, California, and a clinic in nearby Mission Valley. The record- keeping, he said, is “state of the art.”

As Congress considers changing Americans’ access to health care, the veterans agency, whose projected budget this year is $45 billion, is evidence that the government can provide care favored by patients that may offer savings when compared with private insurers.

Researchers publishing in the New England Journal of Medicine, the British Medical Journal and the Annals of Internal Medicine in recent years have endorsed the system. A Canadian policy journal, Healthcare Papers, devoted an entire issue to it in 2005.

“The VHA’s experiences have become a model around the world,” the editor-in-chief of Healthcare Papers, Peggy Leatt, wrote at the time.

The government is both payer and provider of care to the veterans, employing 19,000 salaried doctors in 153 medical centers and more than 900 outpatient clinics. Last year, 5.1 million veterans were treated, and millions more are enrolled.

The system is a larger enterprise than that envisioned for the so-called public option being considered by Congress, where the government would run a nonprofit insurer as an alternative to the private industry, not provide care. That hasn’t stopped opponents such as House Republican leader John Boehner from warning that President Barack Obama favors “government-run health care,” a criticism that bothers many veterans.

“I really get annoyed every time I hear these talking heads talking about ‘the government can’t run anything,’” said John Rowan, 64, president of the Vietnam Veterans of America, who visits a New York clinic for complications from contact with the chemical Agent Orange. “Most veterans would give it a fairly good rating.”

Those talking heads reflect public perceptions; a May 2008 Harvard School of Public Health survey found that three out of five Americans don’t believe Iraq War veterans get high-quality care. Stories of long waits are common, and some connect the department to the moldy, rodent-infested housing exposed in 2007 at Washington’s Walter Reed Army Medical Center, a facility run by the Defense Department (and outsourced to Halliburton-a VERY IMPORTANT distinction. ~Jolly Roger), not Veterans Affairs.

Patients routinely rank the veterans system above the alternatives, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index. Last year, the government program got a satisfaction rating of 85 for inpatient treatment, compared with 77 for private hospitals. The index, a University of Michigan project, found that veterans’ outpatient care scored 3 points higher.

Proponents say the agency also offers a model for restraining health-care costs. While an August report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found a “substantial degree of cost control,” it also said the comparison with private care is difficult because of the changing mix of enrollees in the veterans system and differing benefits.

Well well. The terrible Gubmint has a healthcare system that other countries come to study. Do you suppose there is even one healthscare cretin even remotely aware of this?

This is a damning indictment of private insurance that should be discussed, right now, in Congress. Unfortunately they are so well bought off that this discussion is unlikely to ever take place.

Tags: failure, healthcare, lies, private insurance, rushpublicans, veterans administration

This entry was posted on Friday, October 2nd, 2009 at 9:12 pm and is filed under Healthcare Crisis, Jolly Roger. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.