“Vets should be able to visit any doctor or hospital anywhere.”
The problem with that idea is this:
The government will never pay “full boat” for anything. They will mimic medicare/medicaid and pay 40%.
This will have a dual effect, first, finding ANY doctor if you’re a vet will be difficult to impossible.
Second, if you’re just a poor schlub who is not a vet, the cost of your medical care (due to cost-shifting) will go through the roof even further than it already has.
The VA is broken, if anyone thinks DoD medicine is the answer, God bless ‘em, but I wouldn’t want to have to endure DoD medicine again (hit or miss).
The problem ultimately is that there are two classes of vets - those that legitimately need care due to actual combat injury in service to their country. These folks need every bit of care to help return them as closely as possible to a normal life. Then there are vets who are rent seekers - who want a check for life for sitting on their ass in the green zone, and there are substantial numbers of folks like that these days, sad to say.
Separate those who have clearly sacrificed for their country from those who have unverifiable claims.
We can and should treat a vet with his legs blown off in service to his country differently than someone who claims PTSD that is impossible to verify.
As long as you provide checks to anyone who says they want one, there will never be enough money to treat those who actually need care.
” than someone who claims PTSD that is impossible to verify.”
Bull shlt too.