Why Veterans Affairs benefits are not socialist

040110 | Keith Brown

[Keith Brown]

There is a number of leftys who continue to make the comment that VA care and benefits are socialist.

Since I have worked at the cursed VA, I sent this letter to my local paper(in their format), who refuses to print it.

I hope someone can find info they can use here.

[Keith Brown]

As the healthcare debate continues I write to refute the notion that the care received by US Veterans from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and or VA benefits in are socialist. I have heard this argument by non veterans with political agendas. So here are the facts that prove the VA is not socialist.

1. VA care and benefits are earned by honorable services rendered via enlistment contract, not given. Socialist care is given to everyone in a geopolitical area. 2. Veterans have the choice to not use VA care. Socialists don’t. 3. The VA discriminates in the levels of care it gives. Care levels are decided by many factors including levels of disability, economic status, age, eras, and theaters of service. Socialist care is one and all. 4. The VA can send veterans to private care. In socialist care if they don’t provide it, you are out of luck. 5. The VA doesn’t manufacture its own drugs or medical equipment. Socialist care does. 6. Although rare, VA medical care can be revoked. Socialist care can’t refuse the most abusive user.

Although the VA has many of the negative aspects of Socialized care….(decisions made by bureaucrats not doctors, weeks and month long waits, chronic troublemakers slowing the system with frivolous care requests, years of appeals, little personal connection with doctors…) it’s not socialized care. No, I’m not a doctor, I’m a former US Marine who’s worked around the VA medical system and has seen all of the above firsthand.

[Keith Brown]

Sorry for the typos.... a 16 hour day doesnt promote clear editing.

[nickcarraway]

I have never heard of anyone who thought VA benefits are socialist. I can’t imagine thinking that. I thought it was criminal that we didn’t pay benefits to Filipino soldiers who fought in the U.S. services, and were promised the benefits.

[Thane_Banquo]

Thanks for setting that straight. Semper Fi, Marine.

[vbmoneyspender]

In the military, if you screw up there is a possibility that you may pay for your mistake with your life. If politicians were willing to extend these same workplace rules to federal bureaucrats, then I would be more than willing to pay for their healthcare with my tax dolloars.

[astyanax]

Well done!
Hard to argue with those points.
I can see why they refuse to print it.

[Del Rapier]

The VA is corrupt and it hides behind veterans.

I could care less if they crash and burn.They are not socialist,it is just the people who work there,tend to be usually pretty far to the left.

Big on people respecting them,not so much on respecting those who serve.

[Paradox]

Big on people respecting them,not so much on respecting those who serve.

I worked for many years in the VA system, and I can tell you that, although most government workers are relatively liberal (to us), ALOT of VA employees are former/current military, and they still tend to be conservative. I'd say that overall, the employees there would qualify as "conservative democrats" (if there was such a thing).

[Jet Jaguar]

BTTT

[Brad from Tennessee]

Thank you for the years of sacrifice you’ve rendered to help make life healthier, safer and more dignified for our warriors.

[panthermom]

I have heard it over and over again....these people cannot wrap their mind around the fact that VA benefits are earned...

[Keith Brown]

Yeah...I gave heard that even from some other vets.

Thought I’d set it straight!

[Keith Brown]

Good call!

If they would even get fired instead of promoted I might not hold them in such contempt!

A flogging would be cool....

[Keith Brown]

Sure there are.... I call them Pro USA leftys.

My pop was an old Marine... but pro union, pro little guy, and pro USA. It kills him to see what it has become.

[Keith Brown]

You are welcome!

Thanks for the support!

[Keith Brown]

I hope this helps to set them straight!

[SZonian]

You make some pretty serious allegations there.

I would argue that the VA is probably incompetent in certain areas and instances, but to say corrupt is taking it to a whole other level.

I fail to see how or what they’re hiding from when you say they hide behind the veterans.

You may care less if they crash and burn, but the many thousands of veterans who seek and receive medical care at these facilities might have a thing or two to say about that.

As for their political leanings, I have no proof. Do you, or are you just making a generalized assumption because they work for an arm of the U.S. gov’t?

As for your last comment, I would ask if you’ve been on the receiving end of such treatment and if so, was it at every VA facility nationwide?

You are disparaging a lot of folks in your comments. That’s a pretty broad brush your swinging around.

[Brad from Tennessee]

The VA provides unique services that veterans, no matter what their means, cannot find anywhere else. For quite some time I attended a support group at the VA Hospital in Memphis which was 12 Vietnam combat veterans. We met once a month with a Masters level VA therapist who specialized in PTSD. The group still meets. The VA knows more about PTSD than any other U.S. institution. The Israelis have probably studied it even more extensively because so much of their civilian population is affected and has been going back as far as the Holocaust.

[Keith Brown]

True.

But they provide these singular services abominably.

And they are not socialist.

[csmusaret]

Maybe you can tell me why we still have a separate medical system for veterans. Why not just give them Tricare and let them seek treatment where they choose instead of commuting to a VA facility somewhere?