VA nightmare a harbinger of what we can expect under Obamacare

american thinker ^ | 3/17/10 | Susan Stanton

[Nachum]

Paralleling Obamacare with existing government programs should stand as a bellwether for those who favor this bloated plot to undermine our basic freedoms. The Veteran's Administration (VA) provides a glaring early warning of our future, if Obamacare replaces our health care infrastructure. Personal experience tells a disturbing story.

Before my father graduated from high school, he joined the U.S. Air Force for two stints of service beginning in 1944. In October of 2008, we began treading water with the VA, filing for his military pension. In seventeen months, we have provided over one hundred pages of old military documents, along with current financial and health information - all the while blithely wondering, how much more do they need to know? Today, in mid-March 2010, I filed four more VA forms, in triplicate.

[Howie]

[SargeK]

The 1973 St. Louis personnel center fire wiped out records for millions of veterans, and the gov’t. has used this as an excuse to deny benefits for them ever since.

That is why I have kept every LES and set of orders that I ever earned or received.

[panthermom]

I got a glimpse into the VA this past year with a young Marine who was injured in Afghanistan. It was pitiful. Everytime somebody brings up Government healthcare I tell them to go to a VA hospital. That is what is in store for you.

My grandmother had a fulltime job until she was 91 yrs. old, when she was seriously debilitated due to shattering her hips she needed to be put into a nursing home. The government took everything and my mom had to account for every dollar from the previous 3 years. The government was paranoid that she may have tried to give away assets that could have been theirs to confiscate.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***The government was paranoid that she may have tried to give away assets that could have been theirs to confiscate.***

She should have put everything she had in a “Revocable Trust.”

[Secret Agent Man]

For the whole series of

Zero dollar bills, go here:

"Flickr Archive of Zero Bills"

[Republic of Texas]

The labyrinth of forms and busy work ARE THE POINT. The government figures most people won’t jump through all the hoops and will simply die before they have to pay a penny.

[billhilly]

There has to be more to this story. The writer refers twice to his father’s “Pension.” Unless he spent the required amount of time for retirement, or had service related disabilities I know of no other “pension” available to veterans. We are all qualified to receive the favorable drug program through the VA, which I do, and if qualified to use the VA as primary care, with the required co-payments. As an example. I spent 12 years in the Air Force on active duty, then voluntarily separated. I received not one dime for that decision, which I willingly made. Nor will I ever.

I would like to know more about this situation.

[Paradox]

Actually, the VA HEalthcare system isn't too bad, it is FAR better than it was in the old days. Clinton and GWB did alot to fix things up. Its fairly high ranked, but what these rankings DONT tell you is that unlike a "real" hospital system, they have a controlled population, and they can't get "sued" for big money.

I Can't emphasize enough the difference in patient population. One thing is taking care of former soldiers, buts its another thing altogether taking care of everyone else plus the dregs off the street.

Nope, I say that no matter how "good" VA care might come across in some surveys (despite this article), you can't use that to make a comparison with general government healthcare.

[maine yankee]

I’ve had a few bad experiences with the Va system (LA and St Louis); but I’ve receiced great care here in Maine’s Togus facilities.

Togus is unique though. It was a ‘soldiers home’ before there was a VA, and still has a lot of state oversight.

I fear one of the first things obamacare will do is destroy the VA system.

[panthermom]

By 91 she had gotten rid of most of her assets before that, actually years before that but she did have a decent amount in her checking and savings, she was still working and she did not have any expenses, my parents made a private apartment in their house for here where she had lived for like 15 years. I think the thing that had my mom so stressed was the paperwork and the fact that she had to account for every check that was written 3 up to 3 years prior, etc. The whole process took months and was extremely frustrating.

I used to joke that if she should have given a spanish name and there would be no problems.