I agree. The system is clogged with many less than legitimate health concerns. It has been many years since an enlistee was guaranteed health care for life. Those that complete a minimum of 20 years, and those that have on-going service connected disabilities should be the priority. Combat related conditions (for life) should be the number one priority. All beyond those three considerations should be standby/space A.
Civilian health resources should be used where appropriate and the VA needs to clear out its underbrush and massive bureaucracy. With civil service being what it is, reform is difficult to impossible.
> Those that complete a minimum of 20 years, and those that have on-going service connected disabilities should be the priority.
What about those already retired — in their 70s, 80s, and older, with retirement incomes below the poverty level — who can’t afford to pay the supplemental insurance payments for Medicare? They retired with the understanding that they had enough to subsist, if not to live in comfort. Now, at an age when they have little chance of working to support themselves, do you support dumping them into the rest of the indigent population, in many instances causing them to lose their homes or not be able to pay rent, in effect, putting them on the street?
“Sorry, veterans, we changed our minds. ‘Thank you for your service’ and all that, but you old bastards need to get off your duffs and earn a living!”