Replies

I have a friend that has been going to the VA for 20 or so years, mainly for lupus he developed. He seems to think a lot of it, which surprises me, since it is a classic socialist medical system. What do you think?

My father had the best Blue Cross coverage and he preferred the VA. The ones in the Boston area (and I speak only through family/friends experience) are quite well thought of.

A word of warning to vets who use the VA. My doc said that under obamacare, vets no longer need go to a distant VA clinic. They can now choose a local doc and save on driving.
The hook is that once you opt out of the VA system, you can never go back. (Some may not mention that last one.)
I have a friend that has been going to the VA for 20 or so years . . . He seems to think a lot of it, which surprises me, since it is a classic socialist medical system. What do you think?

In many things, I am to the right of Attila The Hun, but with the VA (at least the ones in Las Vegas), I think that this type of socialized medicine is fine.

Cases in point (outside the VA, stories are anecdotal for the most part).
1) They have signs up stating that if you aren't called within 15 minutes of your scheduled time, come to the front desk.
2) When you show up, you are given a numbered ticket, which will be displayed in a marquee over a sectioned-off booth within minutes. Show 'em your VA card and you are handed a sheet of personal info and medications used, and are asked if there's any changes. (Wife has to bring down a sheet listing all her meds each time.) Then you are called within the 15 minutes - usually less. In my visit there last week I was called before my time. Three days later, with my wife's doc, we had to wait almost an hour past her appointment.
3) Any time the VA doc prescribes a new/changed medicine, they give you a sheet of all the known side effects. Those outside the system have to ask and rarely get a printout.
4) Same with blood tests. The VA has a deal with a local hospital, so I don't have to travel 160 miles round trip. When I see the doc, she hands me the results for my files.
5) This last trip the doc said I needed another EKG. I went to the next room and in five minutes the tech came in and took the test. Same with X-Rays, in about 15 minutes. Private practice users are sent to another doctor days later for the same tests, generating another $250 office visit charge. I pay $50 for an office visit, plus $9 for each prescription. I could go to Wal-Mart at $4 a pop, but I don't want to mess with a system that, for me anyway, works like a champ.

Now God forbid, the doc tells me not to make any long-range investments and I have to go for weekly dialysis or monthly chemo, I might opt out of the VA due to the distance involved. However, I have this Theory on Immortality, and so far, it's working. :-)