Ben Carson: ‘We Don’t Need a Department of Veterans Affairs’

CNS ^ | August 28, 2015 | Melanie Hunter

[brivette]

I was in the same time you were... and you don’t have a pea brain, thank you.

[b4its2late]

There's a whole lotta govmnt departments we don't need. EPA, should be the first to be knocked down to bare bones and Education done away with. Then tackle the VA issues.

Here's the list....

[Sister_T]

Like Rush always says:

The purpose of the military is the kill people and break things.

I agree with you. Leave the DOD to its mission of winning wars.

Keep the VA separate from them AND keep the promises to the vets!

[xzins]

The doctors and staff at VA have done excellent jobs with everything from cancer care to heart surgery to colonectomies in my family.

They’ve got some fine medical care. They need more of it, and they need less bureaucracy on the actual health care side of their mission. The bureaucracy consumes tons of money that could be spent on more actual care and the doctors and staff to provide it.

[joshua c]

The only way to government waste, fraud and abuse is to reduce the size of government.

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

-— Veterans, of all groups in the USA, should have their own special advocates, their own special budgets, and access to specialized health care. -—

Let them compete with private hospitals and then —and only then— will they finally improve.

The VA should simply be a board with a budget, giving health insurance vouchers to servicemen, and extra money to wounded vets to spend at the hospital of their choice.

[11th Commandment]

DOD is about winning wars.

You mean it is not about integrating transsexuals, suppressing religious freedom it fighters???

[xzins]

There's a whole lotta govmnt departments we don't need. EPA, should be the first to be knocked down to bare bones and Education done away with.

Excellent. That's part of my complaint, too. Why do these politicians always ignore the Education department, the EPA, Endowment for the Arts, the IRS, etc., and go straight after (1) veterans and (2) soldier salaries and benefits?

I think they're sick SOBs to even think of veterans and troops in their first sentence.

[DoughtyOne]

I think Carson is a decent man with some decent views.

Retired neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson...

Folks, this guy was a good neurosurgeon. That ranks him on a scale of 1 to 10 in executive experience, a 3 or 4.

In general this means he had an office with five to ten employees. Even then he may have hired an office manager.

Is he truly qualified to be president?

Just holding decent idea does not make one presidential.

[brivette]

agree...

[Moonman62]

Why, when people look at the size of government, do politicians always look at injuring veterans as one of their first and best options?

...

I read the article and I came away with a totally different impression. If the way we care for veterans is reformed for the better, I don’t think it would be a drag on the DOD at all.

The routine care would be done by vouchers or savings accounts at regular facilities.

[xzins]

I have no problem with competition (although ObamaCare will make that virtually impossible even for the non-veteran).

I’m opposed to putting our warfighters in the bad position of having to choose between weapons and training on the one hand, and after-service care for the former military.

If I were a general and I didn’t worry FIRST about money for winning wars, I hope someone would fire me.

[Gaffer]

My mother, God rest her soul, was a very dedicated nurse in the VA for decades (through Vietnam and long afterwards). I cannot tell you how many times she came home dejected at the people that ran the hospital, even as my own father was relegated to being treated by them.

I am glad the experience you have with family members was excellent. That is not the case throughout that agency.

[dragnet2]

Carson is herded by the party insiders. Same with Walker etc. All prepaid.

[xzins]

It is not possible to have a laser focus on winning wars if you are required by law to focus elsewhere.

[oh8eleven]

We Don’t Need a Department of Veterans Affairs
Yes we do. But what we need to do is eliminate the health care portion and go to a voucher system.

[defconw]

The VA is in the business of making sure they don't have to pay claims out to sick veterans. They bend over backwards to lose records, not explore treatment options, sweep conditions under the rug, etc. I never know if they are being truthful or thorough.

Not sure anything would change under the DOD, but it would be cheaper to put them all on tri-care and let them go to whatever doc they choose.

[Tennessee Nana]

Veterans are not military ...theyre private citizens, unattached to the government as soldiers are..

[11th Commandment]

Here is where Carson has got it right and I think he hints of it here. We need to privatize the VA health system except for those highly specialize war injuries. Carson mentions brain trauma. I like the health saving accounts and I would add that the veteran should have a "gold card" insurance program.

Why do we need a VA hospital next to the Cleveland Clinic? In Columbia, Missouri there is an old VA hospital next to a state of the art MIZZOU hospital. All these hospital do is photo ops for politicians at grand opening ribbon cutting ceremonies. After that, they serve no purpose.

[ozarkgirl]

I think Carson is a decent man with some decent views.

I really like Ben Carson but (and that's a big BUT) I just don't think he's strong enough to be President. In some polls he's 2nd and I understand where people are coming from but to be President you have to be strong, fearless and able to twist arms to get what you want done. I don't see that, much as I like him I would liken his demeanor to be like Jimmy Carter. I don't see that ability to twist arms to get the job done. He's more of a "sit down and let's talk about it kind of guy".