Defenders of Freedom with Socialized Medicine
I recommend following the link and reading the whole article. People tend to focus on a few isolated scandals and therefore dismiss the VA as a poor system, but a broad view of the data indicates just the opposite. Veterans, as a whole, are more satisfied with their care than Medicare recipients or those covered by private health insurance. The VA, by virtue of its vertical and horizontal integration, is able to provide comprehensive care plans to its patients in a manner that very few other US systems can. It has a very sophisticated electronic record keeping system. It's a model.Rick Tanner is one American who loves his government-run health care.
After serving in Vietnam and spending three decades in the U.S. Navy, Tanner retired in 1991 with a bad knee and high blood pressure. He enrolled in the Veterans Health Administration and now benefits from comprehensive treatment with few co-payments and an electronic records system more advanced than almost anywhere at private hospitals.“The care is superb,” said Tanner, 66, a San Diego resident who visits the veterans medical center in La Jolla, California, and a clinic in nearby Mission Valley. The record- keeping, he said, is “state of the art.”
As Congress considers changing Americans’ access to health care, the veterans agency, whose projected budget this year is $45 billion, is evidence that the government can provide care favored by patients that may offer savings when compared with private insurers."
People talk about extending Medicare to the whole population. We would do better to extend the VA to cover everyone. If it's good enough for the men and women who put their lives on the line, and in many cases suffered terrible injury, to defend our nation, why isn't it good enough for all of us?
Extending the VA to everyone; I hadn't heard that idea before. Sounds good.
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