Posted on 08/31/2015 8:25:07 AM PDT by xzins
Retired neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson told the Dave Ramsey show on Wednesday that the Department of Veterans Affairs should be folded into the Department of Defense and VA facilities should only be used for specialized care like traumatic brain injuries and limb replacement procedures.
“The size of government has to be reduced significantly. There’s a lot of stuff that we’re doing that doesn’t make any sense. We have a Department of Veterans Affairs. We don’t need a Department of Veterans Affairs. Veterans Affairs should be in under the Department of Defense, and it should be smooth transition,” said Carson.
The Republican presidential candidate said the U.S. should also examine how it cares for soldiers and that they should be in a support system immediately when they enlist, especially when they go into combat.
“We need to be looking at the way that we take care of soldiers. You know 14 percent down recruitment for our voluntary Army right now. Why? Because they’re looking at what we’re doing to our veterans,” he said.
“When a person applies to the military, they should be in a support system immediately from day one, particularly when they go through combat, because that’s when all the trauma is occurring, and we should have people in place a year before their time of discharge to be working on their integration back into society,” Carson added.
“There shouldn’t be a period of unemployment when they come out of the military, and they should have a health savings account, which allows them to go to any medical facility in the country, and we should be delighted to take care of them,” he said.
“We should use the VA facilities for specialized care for traumatic brain injury, limb replacements, and research,” Carson added.
Sorry, Ben, you are dead wrong to put the VA under DOD.
1. DOD is about winning wars. They want weapons and weapons systems that cost in the megabucks. They will starve hospitals to devise weapons and to train our military. They are right. Generals SHOULD be concerned with winning wars. That's why you don't put them in charge of treatment of FORMER military.
2. The VA is a distinct budget. They have those who campaign for their money in the halls of Congress. If DOD were doing the arguing for money, they would argue more strongly on the side of weapons and training.
Carson is wrong.
Veterans, of all groups in the USA, should have their own special advocates, their own special budgets, and access to specialized health care.
None of this should be taken to mean that the VA is well run. It isn't. It's full of waste, fraud, and abuse. It should be cleaned up.
Who of the candidates concerned with veterans is the best at firing people and not going along to get along?
Trump
Cruz
Why, when people look at the size of government, do politicians always look at injuring veterans as one of their first and best options?
Sorry, Ben, you are dead wrong to put the VA under DOD.
1. DOD is about winning wars. They want weapons and weapons systems that cost in the megabucks. They will starve hospitals to devise weapons and to train our military. They are right. Generals SHOULD be concerned with winning wars. That’s why you don’t put them in charge of treatment of FORMER military.
2. The VA is a distinct budget. They have those who campaign for their money in the halls of Congress. If DOD were doing the arguing for money, they would argue more strongly on the side of weapons and training.
Carson is wrong.
Veterans, of all groups in the USA, should have their own special advocates, their own special budgets, and access to specialized health care.
None of this should be taken to mean that the VA is well run. It isn’t. It’s full of waste, fraud, and abuse. It should be cleaned up.
Who of the candidates concerned with veterans is the best at firing people and not going along to get along?
Trump
Cruz
You can say that again!
I’m glad you agree!
I’m glad you agree!
Amen.
A new poll just came out showing Carson and Trump tied in Iowa at 23%. With the remarks about getting rid of the VA system, instead of improving it, he has reached his high water mark. What a dumbass thing for him to say.
why do small government Conservatives always exempt bloated military budget from any cut whatsoever. Fake Conservatives want big government just like Liberals just different spending priority for departments. VA should be Pentagon responsibility and the only thing they do is providing VA with a health saving account, in which they could shop around
Seriously, I see what he wants to do, but like you said, they have different missions.
What we don’t see mentioned in this mess is that military medicine is just as screwed up as the VA. “Merging” the VA with DoD is just plain silly.
Carson’s seems to be a nice guy, but this idea sucks. I’ll vehemently disagree with him on this one.
Devil’s advocate here. Dr. Carson has practiced medicine in the private sector for decades, and has achieved excellence. If a man with his background looks at the VA system and says, “I think I know a better way to serve the vets...” I am going to pay attention.
If he were commenting on how to run the Space Agency, for example, he would be on less firm ground.
The VA should NOT be a defense department responsibility.
They should fight wars and focus on fighting wars. If they do their jobs right, they will automatically put everything into fighting wars.
That is why the VA should be separate. That way the care of veterans is not shoved to the back by those whose attention should be on fighting wars.
Nor should the military be a social experimentation dump.
Nor should it be a firefighting resource.
It should be about fighting wars and WINNING them. Period.
When a person is in uniform, he is a hero. When he is out of uniform, he is a cost. He needs to be protected by law.
I have to agree with you.
No one ever seems to look at welfare, WIC, Section 8, food stamps, “0bamaphones” or, according to the Heritage Foundation, the numerous agencies that overlap in function.
And heaven forbid if you even breathe the suggestion that Social Security should be reformed, simply to make it run better!
He’s not military. He doesn’t know how to fight wars. He doesn’t have a clue.
Warfighters should be focused on warfighting and not on education bills, housing benefits, and hospitalization for the former military.
If a general did NOT place priority in his budget on warfighting, I’d fire him.
And that’s why the VA should be separate.
I am in favor of fixing the VA so it can help veterans.....something that is is not doing so such as the VA hospitals. In the meantime, I would temporarily have VA applicants be allowed to go to any hospital that honors Medicade/Medicare. VA hospitals are not helping vets in a timely fashon at all and many are not getting care. This would be a short term fix until the VA is righted.
I’m a veteran of 8 years (1968-76), and I can see some of his points. I never have cottoned much to being shuffled out of active duty off to the VA to complete the promises made to veterans.
I do know that active military hospitals don’t care all that much about numbers and disposition (in my experience, mind you) in terms of letting that affect the care they give..
No one can tell me the VA ever had, has, or will have that dedication.
And while we’re at it, a separate Federal agency, separate budget, separate administrator, doctors, nurses and infrastructure doesn’t comfort me given what I know of my 66 years of being alive. I’d trust a military doctor or nurse with my life. I am not so sure about VA anything.
Just two cents from a dumbass country boy with a pea brain.
Don’t forget Dr Ben and Trump have been friends for years. At one point when delegates are being distributed this will be obvious.
Allowing Vets to have a veterans card and go to their normal care provider makes sense. Others have suggested the same. However, if those Vets came under DOD, they would be underfunded, because the critical mission of the DOD is winning wars. It is not ‘negotiating’ hospital care for former military members.
You are spot on with your post here.
Carson is getting too wrapped in ‘wonkishness’ on this subject.
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