FEW VETERAN FAMILIES ARE COVERED BY ANY INSURANCE
HEALTH CARE RATIONED IN AMERICA BY MONEY
By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER
As a 100% Disabled Veteran, I qualify for full VA health care, including dental and optical. It hasn’t been a perfect relationship. I got glasses a decade ago. They were broken and didn’t fit when I got them in the mail. The VA has sent me to private dentists as they have not had qualified people available. It has cost me thousands. Specialist referrals are never made or have had year long waits and most problems or illnesses have been misdiagnosed.
The point? The VA is batting about the same as our wonderful civilian health care system but it is getting better, endlesssly better than it was. The VA is crippled from a few directions that, we hope, will not hamper a national system:
- The Bush administration saw DVA health care as an entitlement to cut rather than a right earned by those that served their country.
- A totally unaccountable bureaucracy, tied to conservative VSOs, is in place insulating the DVA system from serious improvement. This group stresses an organization that places patient interests last, contrary to mandated legal ethics. (In Bed With the Enemy)
- In some, perhaps many, areas, doctors and nurses face retaliation for supporting patient rights.
Does this mean the DVA is totally broken? NO. Does this mean the "other" system is better? YES, if you have all the money in the world and are very very lucky.
Veterans come in 3 health care categories with many subcategories.
- Retirees with Tricare
- 100% Permanent and Total Disabled Veterans whose families have CHAMPVA
- All other categories with no family coverage or dental and optical.
Category 3 is huge. It assumes that these vets are employed or retired with full health care covering their families. The VA assumes that the Veterans insurance carrier will cover co-pays and fees also.
The problem with this is that the number of people in the US with health insurance is plunging rapidly. Not only that, but those with coverage are watching that increasingly restricted with severe limitations on treatments and drugs.
Additionally, it has built a system tied to scamming money. The classic case is the endless number of new drugs being pushed onto the market that are either useless, if you are lucky, or totally dangerous. Unnecessary drugs are used because doctors are inundated with "drug pimps" and falsified scientific data. Can an entire country have "erectile dysfuntion?" If Congress is any indication, I would think we may have some fakers out there.
I have experience with the health care systems in Europe and find them superior to those in the US. Many say the French system is the best. Seeing a doctor in Britain didn’t take more than 5 minutes, receiving treatment was frighteningly easy and they barely asked my name. When I took out a credit card to pay, they seemed insulted. They said, "Health care is a right, not a product."
It is my belief that we can get the DVA system on track, reform the medical ethics problem and deal with the disability pension problem that is both inundated with claims and totally mismanged.
We can do this the moment the VSOs step aside and a few key members of Congress get their own mental health issues taken care of. Current attitudes about veterans health care, in Congress and even Executive level show clear signs of delusion.
Perhaps those involved have previously existing personality disorders. I wonder if their insurance covers that?
In the interim, the vast majority of veterans have families either without insurance or at risk of losing coverage. Imagine a veteran running down to the local DVA medical center to receive treatment that he can’t afford for his own children.
Gordon Duff is a Marine combat veteran and regular contributor on political and social issues.
Gordon Duff posted articles on VT from 2008 to 2022. He is a Marine combat veteran of the Vietnam War. A disabled veteran, he worked on veterans and POW issues for decades.
Gordon is an accredited diplomat and is generally accepted as one of the top global intelligence specialists. He manages the world’s largest private intelligence organization and regularly consults with governments challenged by security issues.
Duff has traveled extensively, is published around the world, and is a regular guest on TV and radio in more than “several” countries. He is also a trained chef, wine enthusiast, avid motorcyclist, and gunsmith specializing in historical weapons and restoration. Business experience and interests are in energy and defense technology.
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