What's your view on doing away with the VA health system?

Privatization is best. Issue with the VA as with all governmental agencies- you cannot fire folks for not meeting the standards. Most government employees do the bare minimum to stay employed. That's bad news for health care

Very doubtful since Healthcare insurance is quite a bit higher for individuals who is on a fixed income. Who brought this ideal up in the first place. We some of the people were brave enough to join the service. Now your talking bout doing away with it when they said they would provide medical care to its veterans. What more is taking place that some individuals don't know about. Also there are some Veterans already doctoring with the civilian sector with some of the issues that they can't handle and paying out of there own pockets. I believe the VA HOSPITALS JUST NEED TO DO A BETTER ASSESSMENT OF PRIORITY SO IT DOESN'T COME DOWN TO THIS. SO HOW IS OTHER PEOPLE FEELINGS ON THIS ISSUE

Okay, before I answer. . . I don't use a VA hospital, but l am friends with some that do/have. My work insurance covers me very well. With that said...

I think that a vet should be able to choose their own physician. The vet will feel more comfortable seeing the same physician, or group of physicians, than not knowing who they will see when going to a VA facility. I know there is a VA clinic close, but the closest VA hospital is a hour and a half away. Not everyone is lucky enough to have a clinic within 30 minutes. To do this, l would think the VA would have to set themselves up like an insurance company to inform the vet what doctors are available in their area. Also, they would have to be more dependable than they are now with payments or it will end up like Tricare and not widely excepted.

Bad idea that's what helps keep me healthy, alive, and out of the poor house and a cardboard box. and those medical professionals that work in the V.A. take a little bit more time to care and to make sure you get what need and don't just diagnose and run off to treat somebody else.
are there hang ups and screw ups and does the ball get dropped yup but for the most part they do get it done and do get it done right and they do care and yes there are those special select few that cause a lot of bad press and screw things up a lot.........
but I'll take the V.A. heath care system any day of the week verses going to a civilian facility where they over bill you when they are not supposed to bill you at all and then they treat you not so good for being a veteran.
I love the V.A. health care system because they really do care and take their to take care of the veterans. The V.A. has my Endorsement and vote ☺

i prefer using the va, i feel more comfortable there, i like that there are others like me all around, gives me a sense of still being in. besides i have absolutly no complaints about the care ive received in the 16 yrs ive been using them. i hear all the problems but honestly, i have never encountered any of them and ive used 4 different states in the last 16 yrs. granted the getting to know the new hospital is a tad frustrating but doesnt take long at all to get comfortable with them. the very few times ive been sent to civilian drs because the va couldnt do something, i hated it.

I am with Capt Porter on this but if the democrats have anything to do with it we will get screwed

I do not think that "Doing away with" the VA health system will appreciably change anything. The biggest problem with the VA is in the administrative side, scheduling appointments and determining benefits based on service connected disability. It has been my experience that the VA staff personnel who have day-to-day contact and interaction with the Veteran population truly care about the Veteran. Not so much with the administration staff. To outsource the healthcare role to local hospitals, in many areas, will create such a burden those hospitals will not have the resources to meet the needs, many of them specific to the military experience, of their new found customer. To accommodate this the medical staff previously employed by the VA system will be hired into the private sector. So the direct care provided will not change much, while the administrative processes will not change at all, and will probably worsen since there will be a corresponding decline in budget.

The health system is needed by the veterans because where earned it. If veteran has health issue related to their time in service the government has responsibility to provide care. I can relate to this because I was exposed to chemical that shouldn't have been mixed with jet fuel that we used for training. Thus there are thousands of people were exposed to toxic chemical that shouldn't have been.

Doing away with VA health care sounds good, I fear that would end up being the first step in eliminated of covered health care for those vets in real need. I would hope I am wrong, but past history tends to move toward the get your own and it would be strictly a system controlled by the insurance industry.

For higher level care, I would agree...

I currently use the VA for 100% of my medical needs although I have TRICARE insurance. I live in the San Diego area and am fortunate to have many locations to go. LA Jolla VA is one of the top hospitals in the nation in my opinion. They are very responsive and provide referrals to civilian locations if they cant see you quickly. As for not living close to a VA hospital or clinic. In the last year or so if you are in the VA system you should have received a card called "VA Choice" which allows you to go somewhere near your location, Away or home. Check it out at http://www.va.gov/opa/choiceact.

The problem with the VA, and the federal government in general, is the supervisors inability to discipline and get rid of under performing employees. I was a Team Leader at a Vet Center and I had 2 under performing employees I tried to get rid of to no avail. I was told the risk of a law suit was too great to risk firing the employees! So they were allowed to continue to work, get paid, receive benefits, despite bad ratings, counseling statements, etc. So you have these employees that really only care about their paycheck and making sure they leave right at the 40-hour mark each week. They are allowed to be rude to vets and no one says anything. As far as I know, even the Sec of the VA does not have the power to fire someone on the spot. This has to change. Set up a task force whose goal is to go out and find bad employees, write them up, and get them out.

Yes. Why should our taxes pay for a corrupt health system?

A system that utilizes VA hospitals for those injuries and/or diseases peculiar to service related disease or injury and an open availability to other medical facilities might help the situation. With that type of help available to Vets there would be a case load distribution that could be better handled by the VA Hospitals and make ready care open to the VET.

I hear the news of extended wait times at VA hospitals, but at least as a government funded operation, there are checks and balances. Yes the VA has issues, but watching the whole choice program roll out, and all the issues I see with it, I don't think privatizing the VA will accomplish what we as Vets need. There will be no accountability with outside providers. I would like to see more accountability at my VA and hopefully they are on the right track to fix that.

I'm 80% disabled and can receive care for a sniffle free of charge from the VA. I have used this benefit zero times. At some point veterans should be responsible for their own health. As the system is now some completely rely upon the VA for their health care , personal health be damned. While something may not be immediately life threatening, if you can't see a doctor for two or three months, it certainly could turn in a life threatening situation. The system for appointments and wait times is not going to get better and an alternative should be sought to reduce the wait times but a little personal responsibility for ones own health would go a long way. Enabling them to pick their own provider would certainly help them do that.

but of course, the government breeds theft, and most care only about dollars, not about vet health care, if there politicians involved there are crooks , thieves,

I am 40% service connected disabled and on permanent disability retirement. Later in life I became 100% disable due to no service connected reasons. I use the VA for primary care at an outpatient clinic, but use Medicare and Tricare for Life for all specialist, test, imagery, surgery, pharmacy, etc. this keeps the VA informed of my total health situation while I can select my providers of choice for everything else.

As far as I am concerned, the VA system (and not just the medical) is nothing but another bloated federal agency who seems to go out of their way to make life difficult for veterans and retirees but until the political double speak and posturing ends it will remain business as usual. As a retiree I have seen a continual loss of benefits ended in the name of saving dollars yet the DoD pushes forward with one obscenely priced program after another many which duplicate systems being developed by another branch of the service already yet those who served with honor and dignity previously are the ones that are paying with broken promises. Lack of COLA's for retirees under the false flag on zero inflation, limited access to local pharmacies utilized for years, commissary being tinkered with, a new retirement pay system, and now talk of cutting GI Bill benefits is just several in a long list of cuts to those served and we all know how bad the VA medical system can be. To those young people looking to serve their nation today and to those serving contemplating a career, I would exercise caution as you have become as disposable as the vending machine coffee cup.

Why hasn't it been done already? I am, fortunately, able to use Civilian Health Care. In my opinion, comparing the V A Health Care System to Civilian Heath Care is not even close. I have been scrutinized, mistreated, had my Wife Verbally assaulted at V.A. Clinics and Hospitals in Nebraska. I could write a book however, I believe my point is made, Scrap the V.A. Health System Now!!