Military and VA Hospitals: $ Tracking Political Donations

 – Playing politics with Veterans Health?-

By Robert F. Sawallesh [via Dan Cedusky]

Surely, political donations have nothing to do with attempting to control the type and amount of military and veterans’ health care which might compete with civilian medical facilities and hence impact on the profits of the local civilian medical industry sector. 

 Ever locate your nearest military and Veterans Administration medical facilities at http://www.govtrack.us/congress/findyourreps.xpd and then drag your mouse around those facility locations to determine which US Congressional districts surround them?

Did you then go to http://www.opensecrets.org/ to find out how much health industries donated to the members of the 111th Congress in those districts? 

Dragging  the mouse around  the map locations of http://www.macdill.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=4358  and http://www.tampa.va.gov/, which are in Tampa, I selected the following Congressional districts whose citizens could utilize the MacDill AFB “Super Clinic” and the Tampa VA Hospital, if authorized to do so: (1) http://castor.house.gov/, (2) http://www.house.gov/young/, (3) http://adamputnam.house.gov/, (4) http://brown-waite.house.gov/. and (5) http://bilirakis.house.gov/.

 It is interesting that both MacDill AFB and the Tampa VA Hospital are in Congressional District http://castor.house.gov/. However, if you look at which Congressional Representative receives the most media publicity involving the Tampa VA Hospital it is not http://castor.house.gov/. Unusual?

Back to http://www.opensecrets.org/ to discover out how much health industries donated to the above five members of the US Congress. The total is $367,085.00 and the ranges of the donations per the five Congressional Representatives are from zero dollars to $136,900.00. For an example see http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/industries.php?cycle=2010&cid=N00027462&type=I > sector tables. 

 If you review the two US Senators from Florida, http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/industries.php?cycle=2010&cid=N00031304&type=I and http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/industries.php?cycle=2010&cid=N00009926&type=I the total in health industry donations is $797,961.00. One Florida US Senator had zero donations. See http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00031304&cycle=2010 and http://lemieux.senate.gov/public/index.cfm.

So, from a profit standpoint, how much attention do civilian hospitals and clinics give to the medical services at military hospitals and clinics and VA hospitals? How does you locality rate using the above donations research analysis?

If you are now assigned to a military base with a hospital and anticipating an assignment to MacDill AFB, beware, MacDill AFB has no hospital or emergency room, just a “Super Clinic.”