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Trying to understand VA

H

Hay hay hay

Well-known Member
Hearing all the bad about the VA hospitals.
I am just trying to understand.

Who is eligible for VA care? War vets only or all? Is it free?

Are vets also eligible for medicare when old enough (65?)?

Why would someone die waiting for VA treatment if they could go to the local hospital and get Medicare treatment?

Just trying to get some facts. News does not cover these questions. Thanks
 
IF, you were in the service, you are eligible, may not be top of the line service. I'm a nam vet, but not hurt in combat, therefore, I get some benefits, but pay for them. I can see a local doctor and pay less than seeing VA doctor, not only that, I'm not treated like a second class citizen.
 
Once all th negative stuff in the papers came out about the VA alot of letters came into the paper about how well people where treated at the VA ,with respect and same as any other hospital.Most were happy with the staff and doctors and care received. I did not see any negative letters.
 
My dad retired from the reserves after 20-plus years. He had Medicare and Tricare for retired military. He went to a local hospital, private re-hab facility and assisted living unit. We only had to pay for the assisted living unit.

It's not the care at VA, it's the wait, fraudulent practices, dealing with an out-of-control bureaucracy, and a president that gives only lip service and rhetoric rather than solving the problem.

Larry
 
I believe it was the bush administration that cut funding to the VA, better check your facts before you make a statement!
 
The executive branch can't cut funding. Funding comes from the House. Regardless, the current president campaigned in 2008 on improving the VA, said he was going to take the "best practices" from the individual VA hospitals and implement them systemwide. Now he is saying he was unaware there were any problems until he read it in the papers.
 
To answer the OP question.

Any vet is eligible. Service connected disabilities they pay 100% of care but for non service connected problems the vet may have to pay for some of their care depending on % of disability and income.

To me VA is hit or miss. Sometimes the care is good and other times it leaves a lot to be desired. For example, I have compressed disk in my neck. Eventually I will have to have surgery. Currently the closest VA neurosurgeon is in Omaha NE. So when the time comes VA will fly me to Omaha, do the surgery and then fly me home. Now if my wife wants to be with me it's on my dime unless I can convince them that I need her with me. Then they will pay for her to go.

Got a fight going on with them right now about my knees. The doc says I need at least one but refuses to do it unless I drop below 250 pounds ( I'm 6'5" and about 270). He could care less if I'm on crutch's if I have to do any amount of walking. I talked to one surgeon who claimed to have done both knees on a woman who was over 350.

Both my knees and neck are service connected.

However my primary care doc is top notch.

Rick
 
(quoted from post at 23:28:20 05/23/14) My dad retired from the reserves after 20-plus years. He had Medicare and Tricare for retired military. He went to a local hospital, private re-hab facility and assisted living unit. We only had to pay for the assisted living unit.

It's not the care at VA, it's the wait, fraudulent practices, dealing with an out-of-control bureaucracy, and a president that gives only lip service and rhetoric rather than solving the problem.

Larry
Click to expand...

Which president do you mean? I recall a Blue ribbon panel of Doyle and Albright appointed by a president to fix all the VA problems.
 
Actually, Congress, specifically the House designates spending, not any president. Congress pass bills and budgets and presidents sign them into law. By the way, that Constitutionally is what makes external_linkcare illegal, because although Chief Justice Roberts ruled it constitutional by "making it a tax", taxes levied have to be originated by the House, and external_linkcare (tax) was originated by the Senate, making it an illegal tax, nulifying Robert's argument...Constitutionally speaking. The Senate can pass amendments to House spending bills, but they are meaningless unless the House agrees to them through a "joint resolution". But back to your point of Bush cutting funding for the VA, it is illegal for any president to touch monies appropriated by Congress and signed into law by a president, which is why the issue came up when our current president set aside unused billion$ from TARP, illegally reappropriating and earmarking them for other uses. The last president legally being able to do such a thing, the closest was Bill Clinton, whom the "line item veto" existed and expired under.

Mark
 
There are 8 categories of eligibility. Group 8 is not funded, Groups 1-7 are. At times, Group 7 was not funded. Some Groups require a copay, others do not, depending what is service connected. VA coverage is satisfactory for coverage demanded by ACA. Vets are eligible for Medicare. Any Vet is eligible to apply as long as discharge was honorable.
 
(quoted from post at 20:34:09 05/23/14) I believe it was the bush administration that cut funding to the VA, better check your facts before you make a statement!
Click to expand...

VA funding under Bush went from 47 billion to 94.3 billion in 8 years.

In 2003, VA funding went from 51 billion to 59 billion dollars.

Va Funding increased 23% in just the first two years of the Bush administration.


The "cuts" everyone talks about are the effect of baseline budgeting, where a projected increase from, say, 4 years back isn't as large as initially claimed it would be. Some call that a "cut". IOW, if a budget originally had a $100 million increase and it ended up only being a $90 million increase because costs were lowered somehow, politicians call that a "cut". It's actually an increase, not a cut.

None of that is to say the system is perfect at all. But external_link has had since 2009 to get it right and he's done nothing. Why is that Bushes fault?
 
(quoted from post at 21:38:55 05/23/14) Actually, Congress, specifically the House designates spending, not any president. Congress pass bills and budgets and presidents sign them into law. By the way, that Constitutionally is what makes external_linkcare illegal, because although Chief Justice Roberts ruled it constitutional by "making it a tax", taxes levied have to be originated by the House, and external_linkcare (tax) was originated by the Senate, making it an illegal tax, nulifying Robert's argument...Constitutionally speaking. The Senate can pass amendments to House spending bills, but they are meaningless unless the House agrees to them through a "joint resolution". But back to your point of Bush cutting funding for the VA, it is illegal for any president to touch monies appropriated by Congress and signed into law by a president, which is why the issue came up when our current president set aside unused billion$ from TARP, illegally reappropriating and earmarking them for other uses. The last president legally being able to do such a thing, the closest was Bill Clinton, whom the "line item veto" existed and expired under.

Mark
Click to expand...

Bravo!!! Best post I've seen in a long time anywhere outlining what's happening.
 
As Gov't continues to grow,the economy continues to decline and we borrow almost a Trillion$ a year to keep operating and everyone to keep getting their Gov't goodies the breaking point is fast approaching and really has arrived.Still its a pretty dang poor thing that Veterans get cut while the welfare folks, the farm subsidy folks, those at Gitmo and others have their trough full.
 
I'm a disabled vet but I do not seek treatment there. You go there and you sit for hours waiting to be seen. My Dr was in my opinion incompetent.
He mis-diagnosed my problem as my hip and it took a civilian Dr to point out that it was my spine. The civilian Dr said "Any fool good have seen it was your spine" Good Dr's don't work for the VA, they go into private practice.
All presidential candidates make promises they can't keep.
 
To compare a presidential candidate to a doctor is ridicules. The fact of the matter is the VA cannot hire a doctor good or bad for what they pay. Most VA personell that I have had contact with are working there because they feel an obligation to the veterans and want to be there. The VA is not a place to follow the money. Private practice or group practice is where the money is. The money in this case is controlled by the insurance companies via the congress. Ask a congress person how much they really care about your broken leg.
 
(quoted from post at 01:18:40 05/24/14) Hearing all the bad about the VA hospitals.
I am just trying to understand.

Who is eligible for VA care? War vets only or all? Is it free?

Are vets also eligible for medicare when old enough (65?)?

Why would someone die waiting for VA treatment if they could go to the local hospital and get Medicare treatment?

Just trying to get some facts. News does not cover these questions. Thanks
Click to expand...

A friend of mine served during and after the Korean Conflict but didn't see active duty. 8 or 10 years ago he was having some health problems that his doctor couldn't diagnose. His doctor sent him to several specialists. None could figure out what the problem was. One of them suggested he go to the VA. My friend balked at that idea because he'd heard so many negative reports about the VA. He eventually ran out of other options and went to the VA. He said it was the best thing he'd ever done. He said the VA doctors were like the Maytag repairman....nothing to do. A team of VA doctors quickly diagnosed the problem, and devised a treatment and monitoring plan. They made a huge positive change in his health and quality of life.
If I remember correctly there was no cost to my friend.

I can only speculate as to why someone would wait for the VA instead of using Medicare. My guess is those people don't have a Medicare supplement, or the money to cover their share of the costs, and possibly don't qualify for Medicade.
 
(quoted from post at 04:56:29 05/24/14) Every president in the last 35 years has said he was going to improve the VA. Never happens.
Click to expand...

yep...


mvphoto7201.jpg
 
"To compare a presidential candidate to a doctor is ridicules" Dan, read that again and show me where I compared one to the other? Perhaps I should have started another paragraph? Nit picking are we?
 
I worked for a year at the VA in 1973. Got a pretty good idea of how it operates. Do not see where anything is different today. I would blame multiple presidential administrations. Also, I am no external_link fan, but the problem started decades ago.
 
Mark,
Thank you for the simple explanation of why external_linkcare is not legal. I wonder why the talking heads on tv can not explain this way. Do not even here it expplained on Fox news,
 
(quoted from post at 21:38:55 05/23/14) Actually, Congress, specifically the House designates spending, not any president. Congress pass bills and budgets and presidents sign them into law. By the way, that Constitutionally is what makes external_linkcare illegal, because although Chief Justice Roberts ruled it constitutional by "making it a tax", taxes levied have to be originated by the House, and external_linkcare (tax) was originated by the Senate, making it an illegal tax, nulifying Robert's argument...Constitutionally speaking. The Senate can pass amendments to House spending bills, but they are meaningless unless the House agrees to them through a "joint resolution". But back to your point of Bush cutting funding for the VA, it is illegal for any president to touch monies appropriated by Congress and signed into law by a president, which is why the issue came up when our current president set aside unused billion$ from TARP, illegally reappropriating and earmarking them for other uses. The last president legally being able to do such a thing, the closest was Bill Clinton, whom the "line item veto" existed and expired under.
Mark
Click to expand...

-The Affordable Health Care for America Act, H.R. 3962, was introduced in the House of Representatives on October 29, 2009, and referred to several Committees for consideration.

-The newly amended bill eventually passed the House of Representatives at 11:19 PM EST on Saturday, November 7, 2009, by a vote of 220-215. The bill passed with support of the majority of nnalert, together with one nnalert who voted only after the necessary 218 votes had already been cast. Thirty-nine nnalert voted against the bill. All members of the House voted, and none voted "present".[27]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affordable_Health_Care_for_America_Act
 
First and foremost, wikipedia is updated by anyone and everyone, you and me. It is no encyclodedia and is ONLY as good as anyone that updates it. In other words, if my dogs could type, they could go to wikipedia and update...

Mark
40 House Members To Sue Over Senate Origination Of...
 
CAS, it makes you wonder. Years back, a certain president raised the posibility that since our military is voluntary, that the members should have to pay for their own medical insurance, and bills if injured. I won't name the president, but it wasn't decades or centuries ago. So when the whole VA flap came up recently, and a certain president told everyone how mad that he was, should any of this be true, my first thought was...how mad could he possibly be, given a proposal some time back to have our soldiers pay for their own health care, since "...the military is volunteer", using his words. Now, if you go to Snopes, those people that are supposed to know everything about anything, what is fake, and what is true, and ask if a certain president proposed that, they will say that its bogus, never happened. However, CNN has a video that someone played recently that has VA boss, Gen. Shinseki admitting at the time, that a certain presidential administration was in fact considering exactly that. So, you have to ask yourself who is correct. Snopes for calling the story bogus? Or General Shinseki, VA Secretary in an administration, a very official guy with only one person above him, saying on video at the time that they are (then) considering exactly that? And then you also have to ask yourself, if a president is or was considering doing that, just how mad could he really be about what is happening at the VA. You also have to ask yourself why it is that at daily white house press briefings, lots of those types of questions are asked, and seldom presented during the nightly news, and if they are, about mid news, given 20 seconds time. A reporter, Lara Logan, just left CBS news a few months ago over exactly that...daily stories and questions, buried daily, she claimed and still claims very publicly. One could get the impression that the news folks are vested very heavily, no matter the cost, in the succession of...something or someone in particular.

Mark
 
Years ago I sat in the Dallas VA hospital. For 13 hours waiting for an AO exam. Then a nurse came out and told me. You must go to Waco for that exam.Ask her why wasn't I told that this morning.She just walked off.I wouldn't put my dog in a VA hospital.
 
(quoted from post at 08:34:57 05/24/14) First and foremost, wikipedia is updated by anyone and everyone, you and me. It is no encyclodedia and is ONLY as good as anyone that updates it. In other words, if my dogs could type, they could go to wikipedia and update...

:roll:
Click to expand...
 
(quoted from post at 17:44:35 05/24/14) Years ago I sat in the Dallas VA hospital. For 13 hours waiting for an AO exam. Then a nurse came out and told me. You must go to Waco for that exam.Ask her why wasn't I told that this morning.She just walked off.I wouldn't put my dog in a VA hospital.
Click to expand...
illy, I experienced the same thing over 12 years ago. That was way before the current fiasco about veterans care. I'm blessed with a wife that has good insurance and I don't or wont ever go back to the VA, God willing. The way I see it, the VA is simply waiting for all us older combat vets to die. Things will not change until the VA stops paying bonuses to the hospital administrators. My wife told me there's a book out addressing this situation, I think the title is 'Waiting for an Army to Die'.
 
(quoted from post at 12:58:44 05/24/14)
(quoted from post at 08:34:57 05/24/14) First and foremost, wikipedia is updated by anyone and everyone, you and me. It is no encyclodedia and is ONLY as good as anyone that updates it. In other words, if my dogs could type, they could go to wikipedia and update...

:roll:
Click to expand...

Doesn't Wiki say that ALL dogs must be fed large amounts of bacon?
Click to expand...
 
The Bush transition team told the external_link team that there were major problems with the VA. This was reported on Fox News.
It sounds to me like both Presidents own the VA problem.
 
(quoted from post at 22:34:09 05/23/14) I believe it was the bush administration that cut funding to the VA, better check your facts before you make a statement!
Click to expand...

Well Russ, the facts have been checked, checked many times. The VA budget under Bush went up every year he was in office, from 48 billion to 99 billion.

Just to break it down for you, here is the list of yearly increases:
2001 Bush increased the budget 8.58%
2002 Bush increased the budget 9.92%
2003 Bush increased the budget 11.54%
2004 Bush increased the budget 6.95%
2005 Bush increased the budget 8.79%
2006 Bush increased the budget 6.19%
2007 Bush increased the budget 11.22%
2008 Bush increased the budget 10.37%
2009 Bush increased the budget 9.85%

Thats an average annual increase of 10.426%.

To contrast, Bummer did increase the VA budget, but the increases are below.
2010 Bummer increased the budget 13.32% <Which was really Bush's budget, only signed by Bummer.
2011 Bummer increased the budget 10.37%
2012 Bummer increased the budget 0.74%
No further data available, but wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Veterans_Affairs) says 2014's budget will be up over 2013's budget 4.3%. I did NOT add that percentage in with the below average because it is not part of a more detailed and creadable source.

Thats an average annual increase of 8.143%

As you can see, Bummer has been slashing the VA's budget at an unbelievable rate. Really, it should come as no shock that our vets are dying while they wait for care. In fact, under Bummers watch, its a surprise that we havent lost more vets.

But the real question is, Russ in MN, why would you lie about facts and figures that are so easy to look up? Why would you lie about that? Just a few clicks on google and I found the real information.

https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RS22897.pdf

And just in case anybody has a problem with my source of information, it came from the Congressional Research Service. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_Research_Service

Feel free to double check my math, I did go to a public school after all.
 
(quoted from post at 09:58:44 05/24/14)
(quoted from post at 08:34:57 05/24/14) First and foremost, wikipedia is updated by anyone and everyone, you and me. It is no encyclodedia and is ONLY as good as anyone that updates it. In other words, if my dogs could type, they could go to wikipedia and update...

:roll:
Click to expand...

red, I can roll my eyes at you post quoting the democratic underground. Certainly NOT the most reliable source of news.

Rick
Click to expand...
 
You have GOT to be kidding. You are using an ad put out by
the democratic underground as proof of your statements.
LOL. That's a good one.
 
Yeah, nnalert Underground is such a non-partisan source. The bigger question is why did that bill not pass. IOW- what riders were attached that killed it? I'm betting that's why it died. O have no faith in the other side either and the guy pictured is a disgrace, but theres more to this than the DU blurb states- there always is.
 
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