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...