The VA Hospital situation is a direct result of the politics of the VFW and American. The Democrats saw the VA as a way to buy the votes of veterans with FREE STUFF. Republicans competed with Dems in giving free stuff.
The solution is obvious. Sell off VA Hospitals to private investors. Issue vouchers (or whatever) to Veterans which they can use anywhere they want.
My personal opinion: Vets like me who suffered no injury in Vietnam should not get any VA healthcare. Half of PTSD is due to alcohol and drugs and is not the fault of the military. Those who have true service connected issues should receive the benefit.
Even if half of PTSD is from purposely careless lives, how do they know the other half is?
Babies are being thrown out with bathwater.
Eureka!
You make an excellent point that I have never heard remotely emphasized. It clarifies the conditions and is so simple. Good heaven’s.
I agree with you. VA benefits should be for service related injuries or service related illnesses only. If that were the case the VA could (and of course without the bureaucracy and corruption) afford top of the line care and treatment for injured vets. While PTDS is real in some cases, I also think some use it as an excuse not to work and to receive benefits. And some went into the military with pre-existing mental health issues and drug and alcohol problems or developed them much later in life.
My late father was a WWII vet and used a combination of private insurance and Medicare after he turned 65.
But he would still go to the VA once every couple of months to see a VA doctor. Why? To get his insulin and insulin needles for free at the VA. His diabetes was in no way service related but he held the opinion – “they owe me”. One day I had to correct him and let him know that I and other taxpayers were paying for his VA provided “free” insulin.