Posted on Mar 20, 2014
Have you negative or positive experiences with the Military Health System?
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How was it positive or negative and what was the factor that helped to make your experience a positive one or a negative one? Please do not post any Protected Health Information(PHI) here. For this discussion let's limit this to the DOD system only and not the VA system.
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Posted 11 y ago
Responses: 15
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I had an awesome experience I was a catagory 4 in dental, happened to be near a MTF at JBLM for a class, I am stationed 3 hrs away . I walked in it happened to be at the tail end of sick call. The dentest did xrays and found i needed some work , They sent me all over the base but I will say this 3 COL , 2 LTC and a MAJ did their damndest and got me into every available slot they could yes i went in on a MON I had two cavities, 2 fake teeth redone, (caps) and a root canal done in one weeks time and most of all I missed no time from the class.
I say BRAVO and gave them a huge kudos
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SFC Jo Ann Klawitter
Too bad the military doesn’t have dental when you’re a veteran my dentist referred me twice to a oral surgeon and it is very expensive
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LTC (Join to see)
SFC Jo Ann Klawitter - yes it can be very expensive...the VA has limited dental available
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My experience with the military health care system was that the Army had three completely distinct health care systems.
1. There was the combat medical system - which existed only in/for units actually in combat. This system consisted of a platoon medic, and some absolutely insane helicopter crews. In both cases, their goal was to keep you alive long enough to pass you to the doctors. Generally they were damn good at it.
2. There was the real medical system - which included doctors, nurses, and various medical technicians all assigned to a medical unit. The vast majority of them were both dedicated and highly skilled. They did great work despite being occasionally limited by regulations.
3. There was the filter system -- which went by names like Sick Call and Acute Minor Illness Clinic. The entire purpose of this system was to prevent you from being treated by the real medical system. The medical term for what they did was "triage" although most victims had other words for it.
The VA copies the military, consisting mostly of #2, with occasional instances of #3.
1. There was the combat medical system - which existed only in/for units actually in combat. This system consisted of a platoon medic, and some absolutely insane helicopter crews. In both cases, their goal was to keep you alive long enough to pass you to the doctors. Generally they were damn good at it.
2. There was the real medical system - which included doctors, nurses, and various medical technicians all assigned to a medical unit. The vast majority of them were both dedicated and highly skilled. They did great work despite being occasionally limited by regulations.
3. There was the filter system -- which went by names like Sick Call and Acute Minor Illness Clinic. The entire purpose of this system was to prevent you from being treated by the real medical system. The medical term for what they did was "triage" although most victims had other words for it.
The VA copies the military, consisting mostly of #2, with occasional instances of #3.
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MSG Thomas Currie
SFC Jo Ann Klawitter - I don't know if the VA could ever be made user-friendly.
The VA seems to vary greatly from one place to another, and even from one clinic or one doctor to another. I had one doctor who called all the VA's presumptive connections "Junk Science." His position was that veterans had more of the chronic conditions simply because we were older.
Overall it seems that the VA is similar to the military model I described where the people who actually treat patients are pretty good but you have to get through the first layer who see their job as being to keep you from wasting their time.
Like any large organization the VA has a lot of rules, most of which probably made sense to the person who wrote them to cover some situation, but often those rules don't make any sense to the people who have to follow them in the situations they actually encounter. One small advantage that I occasionally have is my background as a GS-0341 Administrative Officer because I spent many years picking apart military regulations and policies to accomplish what my bosses wanted. I'm pig-headed enough to say "Show me the regulation" then go through every comma and semicolon.
Patience and persistence are often key to dealing with the VA.
The VA seems to vary greatly from one place to another, and even from one clinic or one doctor to another. I had one doctor who called all the VA's presumptive connections "Junk Science." His position was that veterans had more of the chronic conditions simply because we were older.
Overall it seems that the VA is similar to the military model I described where the people who actually treat patients are pretty good but you have to get through the first layer who see their job as being to keep you from wasting their time.
Like any large organization the VA has a lot of rules, most of which probably made sense to the person who wrote them to cover some situation, but often those rules don't make any sense to the people who have to follow them in the situations they actually encounter. One small advantage that I occasionally have is my background as a GS-0341 Administrative Officer because I spent many years picking apart military regulations and policies to accomplish what my bosses wanted. I'm pig-headed enough to say "Show me the regulation" then go through every comma and semicolon.
Patience and persistence are often key to dealing with the VA.
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SFC Jo Ann Klawitter
MSG Thomas Currie Thank you, thank you I finally found somebody who understands me
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SFC Jo Ann Klawitter
MSG Thomas Currie every time I call the VA, my patience is getting less and less
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