Posted on 05/15/2016 6:14:49 AM PDT by rktman
After a national wait time scandal, it was supposed to be a program that helped veterans get access to faster, more convenient medical care.
However, the I-Team discovered the Veterans Choice program implemented at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is fraught with issues. Some of the problems include a confusing appointment process, health care providers not getting paid, and veterans being harassed by bill collectors.
Treatment approved, then denied
When Stephen DuLong needs to see a doctor, he usually makes the trip from his home in Onset, Mass. up to a VA facility in Boston.
But last summer, the Navy veteran learned it would be two months before he could see a specialist. It was longer than he could afford to wait.
“I was in pain and needed to see someone soon,” DuLong told the I-Team.
DuLong learned he was a candidate for the new Veterans Choice program, which was created in late 2014. If veterans live 40 miles from the closest VA facility, or face a wait at least 30 days for an appointment, the program allows them to see a private physician.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.cbslocal.com ...
The problem with everything done by a government is it is an arbitration where almost nobody gets what they want. There are countervailing forces to every idea or concept. Some are agenda driven, or profit driven or just power plays by people to whom power is no fun if you don’t exercise it. But no matter what the goal, somebody has a say who doesn’t want the goal or who has some reason, legitimate or otherwise to put in his damaging two cents.
The Navy had the goal of getting rid of an obsolete carrier bomber but the head of the Congressional budget office always held up their budget approval until they agreed to continue buying the turkey. During Gulf War 1 this plane regularly bombed the wrong and most embarrassing targets so Bush cancelled it and pulled it from service by decree.
Unfortunately, dictatorial decisions can also suffer the same maladies as arbitrated ones.
Something else that Juan McLame has touched and subsequently turned to sh*t.
This is just from my perspective and is not meant to be anything but empirical evidence.
But from what I’ve seen at the local VA and elsewhere, the Federal government saw a problem (the Phoenix VA was the epicenter) and politicians wanted to be seen as doing SOMETHING.
So they threw lots of money at the problem.
And the VA Administrators, as they typically do, spent it as fast as they could. Not on the problems that they had. But on building projects and “programs” that were “created” by hiring more Federal employees.
But here’s the kicker! The problem IS THE FEDERAL EMPLOYEES! Secretary McDonald came in promising he would clean out the “dead weight” but soon found out the Federal employee unions run the VA system.
Until the top administrators are fired and replaced with people who put veterans first instead of the union first, the VA problem will never be fixed.
Just my opinion.
The VA should be a branch of the military and only veterans allowed to manage it, no political appointees.
Most of the medical people are OK.
The VA bureaucrats are organized crime and should be dealt with as such.
I try to use it as minimally as possible. Mostly for a scrip I can’t afford on the outside.
I have tinnitus as well and finally am going to see the VA audiology folks in June. The big wigs turned me down for a disability(not that I really need one) because of my rating when I was discharged. Guess the forgot the year and a half I spent in the engine rooms way before there was OSHA and thresh-hold limit values on noise exposure. Ear muffs? What’s that? You know the drill. My outside audiologist said my hearing sucks and in a crowded room I’m pretty much useless in a conversation.(maybe it’s me. LOL!) Maybe some white noise aids will help. We shall see. Thanks for your service there devil dog.
They sent me a list of approved providers. None of them were anywhere near me. All of them were either 125 or 800 miles away where the VA clinic and hospital are and require me to pay for all my own travel expenses unless it is for one of my service connected conditions (They will pay for me to travel for my knee, but not for my hip; for my hearing aids, but not for my eyeglasses).
It is easier and cheaper for me to just write the check to the local, not approved, clinic.
For me, the CHOICE program is useless. Worse. It is a thumb in the eye of all disabled veterans.
And, to put the icing on the cake, our local pharmacy will not fill my prescriptions because “The VA just does not pay”
That sucks. Probably no amount of calls and comm had any effect either. Or just avoid the BS and pony up.
Question...
Why aren’t Vets put on MediCare or some sort of alternative private care system versus having to secure care through the VA?
It seems like the VA will never function properly. I realize that some special treatment entity is necessary for the initial treatment of badly wounded vets, but it seems that transitioning those vets to a private system is the real answer to all the delays, etc. within the VA.
Good question. Probably too simple of an answer. I have medicare, a medicare supplement(my pocket$$) and the VA going on. I guess you have to play them against each other to try to get the best care.
I wonder if it isn't a plot to destroy the VA healthcare system and force veterans into ObamaCare.
Thanks for the response.
So, prior to going on MediCare were you stuck with just the VA or does that come about only if you were not covered through your employer?
It seems like the Vets that are under 65 are experiencing problems with the VA, perhaps based on the fact that they are not covered by an employer.
I had employer “provided” retirement medical until I hit 65 then it was employer “provided” medicare supplement after that. I “ “ the word provided cause it was costing me $900/mth to be “provided” their coverage. They kicked all the 65+ retirees off the system and provided us a means to find outside supplement that would keep us from being forced to obie care. A particular med I was getting at $40 for a 3 month supply was now going to cost me with insurance $1200/mth. That is when I tried to, and eventually, got back in the VA system. I had a VA card from back in ‘69 or ‘70 but they just kind of scratched their heads and said I needed to refile. That in itself was a hassle due to my retirement and SS income. I don’t remember putting any stipulations on Uncle Sam when I enlisted. Weird. Anyway, the scrip problem is finally taken care of and costs me now $8/mth. Not a life of death thing but for sure a quality of life thing.
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