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.
I n hisbook, “America the Beautiful,” Dr. Carson writes on page 102, “I believe we have taken the moral low road on this issue [i.e., illegal aliens]. Some segments of our economy would virtually collapse without d deport many individuals who are simply seeking a better life for themselthese undocumented workers—we all know that—yet we continue to harass anves and their families. Is there a way to apply logic to this issue and arrive at an intelligent solution?” (Ben Carson Has Presidential Ambitions, But Is Soft On Illegal Aliens; Jerry McConnell; Canada Free Press; 2/4/14)
Was that superiority a DoD-management thing or a matter of an age in which overall mores were better?
“I’d think it a better move if there was a sincere attempt to have the VA be run by veterans as much as possible”.
Agree 100%.
Not quite.
I am a retired officer and still hold a Commission in the United States Military. I am subject to recall until the age of 65 years old.
If you think that means nothing, back in the 1960s my uncle was retired in the same way and was called out of retirement and sent back to Active Duty.
And my the distant uncle (on the desire to sell too the Gov't as a client "healthcare" products) says:"You think SSI is ****ed up you should see the VA"
He was an honest liberal!
We all know something is wrong with the VA and kudo's to Dr. Carson to having the cohones for touching another 3rd rail of American politics.
I ask, would our Veteran's accept a Health Savings Accounts and "Direct Primary Care" contract with their primary care as an acceptable replacement to the VA, aka a VA without walls if you will ( with Dr Carson's exception )?
All things considered, that’s still a small number of people to be in charge of. The staff at Johns Hopkins neurology appears to be less than 100 people.
This country owes it vets.
Get rid of HUD, Education, IRS, EPA first.
They can do all kinds of creative pricing and care ideas, as far as I’m concerned, as long as they don’t put it under the department of defense.
But, I again ask the question why don’t these politicians bring up Endowment for the Arts or the Education department when they want to cut something. Why is the first thing out of their mouths always about veterans or active duty military salaries and benefits?
Amen!
How low has America stooped where it spends hundreds of billions on care and social services for illegal aliens and billions on foreign aid. Yet we're going to tell Veterans who've taken years out of their lives to risk it all, but they now want new *qualifiers* for Veterans heath care care?
Instead of tearing it down, we should be doing just the opposite, and build Veterans health care for ALL of our Veterans who've served.
It’s not been part of DOD in my lifetime, and I’m a retiree.
In looking at the history of veteran’s care, I don’t see where it’s ever been under the DOD.
Those "contracts" that I, and millions of other veterans signed are not, nor were they ever iron-clad. There are clauses throughout everything you sign, especially when it comes to enslistments, retirement pay, and any other benefits that contain the words in some form, "everything in here may change to meet the needs of the government/service branch."
The perception that the military "promised" its personnel something is a bit of a myth. Those promises can be kept, but only as far as there's money to pay for it. And whether or not healthcare for veterans comes from one Cabinet department or another should not matter, as long as it's provided.
Please do not take away from my comments that I am not grateful for those vets who made much larger physical, mential and emotional sacrifices than I did. I am, and I believe those vets should be cared for. But we should be looking for the best and most cost-effective ways to do that, and if consolidating government departments is effective, we should consider doing it.
Not going to happen Lou.
This post and present debate is not about the merits of eliminating waste across the board. I don't think you'll find any arguments for NOT eliminating the departments you suggest.
This post asks the question about Ben Carson's statements on the DR show, as to whether or not healthcare for injured or disabled vets could be administered through the DOD, and eliminate the VA.
I say it's worth considering. Others seem to take this as a slight against veterans, when it's nothing of a sort. I am not necessarily a Carson' supporter, but his proposal has merit.
I’m sure there are weasel words in contracts, because there always are. Also, as you say, we are discussing a vastly different issue...the lives and health of those who risked there everything for their country.
We should honor the promise.
In the meantime, we fund billions and billions of care, education, welfare, and food for ILLEGAL ALIENS. We fund hundreds of billions more for fake welfare recipients, fake SSI disabilities. We fund billions more for sleazy crony capitalist shady deals, inport/export shady deals, and solyndra type corruption.
And these people want to pick on VETERANS?!
I think they have their heads up their azz!
Why do these politicians ALWAYS come after veterans first?! What the hell is wrong with them?
Carson is just another being herded, influenced and bought off by party insiders.
In fact Carson and the rest should be forced to wear Nascar style suits so we can see which corporations own and bankroll them.
New qualifiers? What are you talking about? A veteran is a veteran. Your comments about veterans on the streets and their incomes are nothing but red herrings. I never said anything about eliminating benefits, I'm saying it does not matter whether they receive their benefits through one department or another. There are plenty of good reasons for simply maintaining their benefits through the DOD, rather than through the DOD and then the VA.
Carson may have your suggested good intent in mind, however I think the end result for the VA would not be beneficial to Vets and the proposal is not well thought out by Carson.
Even the VA needs reform, but its goals of taking care of our nations finest and honoring a promise made to them by our nation for their service are at least admirable as compared to the wealth redistribution departments that should be nixed.
All of the candidates should be focused on the gross offenders abusing our nations wealth and tax payer funds. Just my opinion.
I was referring to this below regarding my qualifier comment.
"The military has promised health care to veterans as part of the deal for signing on to risk their lives. For those already in the system, I would support no change. For those who haven’t yet signed on with the military, it is possible to change the promises made to them. The question is whether they will accept that deal."
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