Reply #5: Try using the VA Health Care (NOT) system! [View All]

[DollyM]

Try getting health care if you are a Veteran! You would think they would be a priority but apparently not. My husband uses the VA health care system (and I use the term health care loosely)because he doesn't not have health insurance. The company he works for has him working different contracts so although he works 40 hours, it is different contracts so they do not give him any benefits. Since he is diabetic, we have to have some kind of health care for him but VA is bottom of the barrel. An example, my father, a WWII Vet went to the VA hospital with pneumonia and was discharged 3 days later with no apparent discharge plan or medications. He received his antibiotics and heart medications 10 days later in the mail! He died 2 weeks later. My husband went to the VA health clinic, which is 25 miles away, to be seen for blood in his urine. That would seem to be something that may be serious. Because he came after the lab pickup for that week he would have to come back in a week to have the lab work done. Then it would be another week before he could see a Doctor and so on. I said "Forget It--We are going to a real Doctor!" He had his lab work done at our local hospital the next day and sees a Urologist on Tuesday. I don't care how much it costs, (and VA isn't free as some seem to think it is)I am tired of him being given inadequate health care BECAUSE he is a Veteran. While we were at the VA clinic, I noticed there was not a soul in the waiting room. Yet, there were several staff members running about, lights and heat were on and so on. Plenty of money to apparently pay staff good salaries with benefits, rent a building, pay utilities, etc. but not enough money to provide adequate health care to Veterans. My suggestion is to shut down the VA Health
Care clinics and hospitals and let Veterans go to their own Doctors and hospitals and get good care without having to wait until a problem becomes serious. Think of all the overhead the Government would save and that money could be invested in providing good care, close to home. (Our nearest VA hospital is 70 miles away!) I have written my Representative to suggest just this. I am asking that others do the same. It almost seems like Bush is punishing the Veterans for being Veterans yet he seems to be working hard at making them such. This is just plain wrong!