Posted on Sep 15, 2015
Remember Ben Carson's comment on closing the VA? Would you believe he just doubled down?
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"Carson: Shutter VA healthcare system"
Think it is a re-post?
This is from Mr. Carson's Monday comment!
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GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson said on Monday that military veteran care requires such a drastic overhaul, he’ll end the Veterans Health Administration if he wins the White House.
“When it comes to veterans’ care, Americans are rightfully outraged, and can no longer be content with business as usual,” Carson wrote in a USA Today op-ed.
“The VA is like the federal version of the Department of Motor Vehicles: inefficient, incompetent and infuriating,” he said. “Except the VA is much worse: at least the DMV’s long wait times do not kill its applicants.”
Carson said his background as a neurosurgeon makes him skeptical that Veteran Affairs can rehabilitate its ailing healthcare system.
“These failures cannot stand,” Carson added. “At a minimum, the Veterans Health Administration should be eliminated to forge a 21st Century veterans health care solution.”
Carson said he is outraged by the agency’s delays, corruption and poor service for former military personnel.
“The astonishing findings of public and private audits have turned out to be much worse than anyone suspected,” Carson wrote.
“Decades of effort and billions of taxpayer dollars have been thrown at ‘fixing’ the VA, and the results have been abysmal,” he said. “The backlog of veterans waiting for treatment or even disability classification is stupendous, and drives them to frustration and even desperation.”
Carson argued on Monday that the VA must increase its speed and efficiency in dealing with veterans’ medical needs.
It must also improve its programs for helping veterans re-enter civilian life, he said.
Carson’s remarks come amid surging enthusiasm for the retired doctor across multiple national polls.
He currently ranks second in the race for next year’s GOP presidential nomination with 16.8 percent, according to the latest RealClearPolitics average of samplings.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/253615-carson-shutter-va-healthcare-system
Think it is a re-post?
This is from Mr. Carson's Monday comment!
----------------------------------------------------------------
GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson said on Monday that military veteran care requires such a drastic overhaul, he’ll end the Veterans Health Administration if he wins the White House.
“When it comes to veterans’ care, Americans are rightfully outraged, and can no longer be content with business as usual,” Carson wrote in a USA Today op-ed.
“The VA is like the federal version of the Department of Motor Vehicles: inefficient, incompetent and infuriating,” he said. “Except the VA is much worse: at least the DMV’s long wait times do not kill its applicants.”
Carson said his background as a neurosurgeon makes him skeptical that Veteran Affairs can rehabilitate its ailing healthcare system.
“These failures cannot stand,” Carson added. “At a minimum, the Veterans Health Administration should be eliminated to forge a 21st Century veterans health care solution.”
Carson said he is outraged by the agency’s delays, corruption and poor service for former military personnel.
“The astonishing findings of public and private audits have turned out to be much worse than anyone suspected,” Carson wrote.
“Decades of effort and billions of taxpayer dollars have been thrown at ‘fixing’ the VA, and the results have been abysmal,” he said. “The backlog of veterans waiting for treatment or even disability classification is stupendous, and drives them to frustration and even desperation.”
Carson argued on Monday that the VA must increase its speed and efficiency in dealing with veterans’ medical needs.
It must also improve its programs for helping veterans re-enter civilian life, he said.
Carson’s remarks come amid surging enthusiasm for the retired doctor across multiple national polls.
He currently ranks second in the race for next year’s GOP presidential nomination with 16.8 percent, according to the latest RealClearPolitics average of samplings.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/253615-carson-shutter-va-healthcare-system
Election 2016
Republicans
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 24
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I listened to him last. He's too laid back for me. He doesn't know what he's talking about with the VA system. How could he know where the pitfalls are without being personally involved. All I got out of this ridiculous article is him telling us what's broken with the VA system. I didn't read anything about how to fix it. It is fixable but only through someone who knows how to fix it, not someone telling us something we already know.
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I think he is right, we do need to increase the speed and efficiency in dealing with veteran's medical needs and the current system is BROKE. I think he is wrong on a couple things too, the American people are not sufficiently outraged and you cannot get rid of the V.A. but might be able to transition it into something more effective with proper leadership.
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I think Dr. Carson is right; the bureaucracy is strangling the VA. If veterans had a government card that they could take to any civilian hospital or doctor there would be no lengthy delays to contend with and veterans would get better service more conveniently than they get now.
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Maj Kim Patterson
We have a government card. It is called the "Veterans Choice Card" but that is a misnomer. It is not a veteran's choice, the choosing is done by employees at a call center in AZ who have little to no medical knowledge who are very skilled at dropping the call, losing the paperwork, not entering the info into the computer or communicating with each other. This circus caused over a 60 day delay on surgery for an infection that had taken over my face and now I am facing bilateral paralysis of the eyes. I had to be farmed out due to no ENT at my local facility. Those who care for me at the VA are amazing at what they do despite the burdens and constraints of this antiquated system. It needs fixed but I do not have a solution.... Yet.
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Capt Seid Waddell
I believe that Dr. Carson's idea was that the veteran would have the choice - as we have with any credit card.
BTW, hope they are able to take care of that infection. That sounds bad.
When I was in Viet Nam I picked up Jungle Rot and the AF Flight Surgeons were able to stop its spread but not stop it in six months of treatment. When I got home and showed it to my father (a WWII Flight Surgeon in the Pacific Theatre) he treated it and had it cleared up in two weeks. The old treatments were effective even if the ointments did cause lightning bolts between the eyeballs twice a day.
BTW, hope they are able to take care of that infection. That sounds bad.
When I was in Viet Nam I picked up Jungle Rot and the AF Flight Surgeons were able to stop its spread but not stop it in six months of treatment. When I got home and showed it to my father (a WWII Flight Surgeon in the Pacific Theatre) he treated it and had it cleared up in two weeks. The old treatments were effective even if the ointments did cause lightning bolts between the eyeballs twice a day.
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Maj Kim Patterson
Capt Seid Waddell - I do agree that bureaucracy is strangling the VA. My doctors are doing as much as humanly possible with their hands tied to continue to provide care the way they worked so hard to learn and give.
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SPC Jan Allbright, M.Sc., R.S. I agree with him but it is another campaign promise. Don't forget that President Obama promised to close Gitmo. That isn't going to happen any time soon.
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