Medical Malpractice

If government health care is so good, why were VA hospitals in shambles?

How many answers will start with "But Bush..."?

Public Comments

1. But Bush is the cause of all life's problems. Obama is fixing them all...but its going to take time. Have patience, bushbot! Liberals are such retards.
2. Because Bush didn't give a crap...there, happy?
3. But Bush opposed government health care, therefore I will support it without giving it any sort of rational thought!
4. EXACTLY!! Look at ANY gov't run program, it's in shambles!! BOSS H- So, how exactly is gov't involvement and oversite NOT make it gov't run? Hello genius??
5. and Medicare and Medicaid are in such good shape also...and ever notice how well the government has managed Social Security and Amtrack? Fools, fools, fools.
6. I don't know where you live I guess, but around here, VA hospitals (and VA benefits) pretty much kick ass. I would go to a VA hospital if I could.
7. People that have been paying attention know that there is no proposals to open up government ran hospital or clinics. Just steps to lower the cost of health insurance, get rid of the preexisting conditions clause and other ways to lower cost. Also a optional government funded health insurance program is on the table.
8. Show me any hospital that isn't in shambles......
9. one more time for all the people who can't comprehend English.... Nobody is proposing government health care. They are proposing subsidies for people who can't afford health insurance to help pay for it, and tax credits for small businesses for offering health insurance to their employees. I think there is some kind of language barrier with right-wingers that prevent them from understanding anythign but the drivel and misinformation on talk radio.
10. Veteran Health care has always been a minimum. Even way back in the 1950's. It is better now since way back then. Their Health care is really getting Good. So give Thanks that our American Veterans are receiving better Health care.
11. as a former Canadian, I should say, Gov healthcare is deemed good only for citizens. this is why, in his ABC informational, Obama was so hesitant in saying that he would get the public option for his wife and daughter. Obama is a hypocrite, lying community organizer. get this guy out before he ruins USA beyond recognition.
12. It's true that the VA hospitals were neglected under the Bush administration. Are you proposing we get rid of them? And replace them with what? Maybe you'd like to get rid of Social Security and Medicare as well. I'd like to see the Republicans run on *that* platform in 2012! Finally, if government health care is so bad, why aren't France and England switching back to our dog-eat-dog system? They're both democracies, are they not? All it takes is a vote.
13. Hate to pop all your bubbles , but Bush had nothing to do with the VA hospitals. The govt. mis run VA hospitals have been around since the military damn near. They are the poorest excuse for a hospital or medical facility that you can imagine and will soon be the standard in this country , like it or not. You can blame bush for this as well as clinton, bush senior, reagan and all before him. It is and always been a shambles. I spent a little time in one in the late 60's and I can tell you that our new govt. run medical system will be a killing field, as well as the new obomation car manufactures, banks and everything else the govt gets its greedy hands on. Why do you think that the few people over seas that can afford it come over here for medical attention ? It is because they are already aware of the shoddy practices in their own countries run by their govt's. Change you can believe in LOL
14. It's obvious that we hate our veterans and always have. I love the conservative "straw man" attacks on goverment run programs. They scream SUPPORT THE TROOPS, but could care less about veterans.
15. Ever been to one? My dad has, he was cut from sternum to the center of his back, chest cracked, his ribs broken and MAJOR surgery. a portion of his lung removed. Remember this part when you get to the end of the story. I visited him several hours, every day. The nurses treated him (and the 5 other guys in the room, private rooms? Heck NO!) like crap. It was actually embarrassing for me to witness those men being treated that way. My father pushed the call button. After 63 minutes (we timed) she came in screaming WHAT! My father had not received the medication he was to have 7 (SEVEN) hours earlier. I was there watching, but she didn't care that she was treating a veteran who had served his country that way. My father was discharged after 3 days. The didn't bother to tell him he was being discharged until 1/2 hour before they were going to put him on a bus to his home 2 HOURS away. He did not request a bus. I was planning to bring him home. 2 hours on a bus 3 DAYS after having your chest cracked and heart surgery. THAT is how much your government cares about your health. P.S. This was in 2000.
16. that is NOT what they are trying to do........ and the Veterans Hospitals were Short-changed on Funds and had too many Administrators and Middle-men to slow everything down and screw everything up~!
17. They worked well before it was overwhelmed by the wounded from Iraq. An unnamed president did not have a plan in place to take care of them because he was sure the war would be a cake walk, In 1995 they still were rated higher by patients than patients in private hospitals. I often wonder how much experience the people who complain about the government have had with the private hospitals. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1376238,00.html
18. Because government health care is NOT so good. At Walter Reed, it appears that the rats slinking around on the floors were better fed than the patients.
19. I am a disabled military veteran who watched the decay under Bush and Cheney, and you can try all you might to plug your ears and close your mind to the idea that Bush screwed up, but the simple truth is he DID screw up...he didn't even appoint a Vet Rep until the last year of his presidency as I recall...the office sat empty after the Walter Reed neglect and decay was exposed. Bush tried to de-fund the Jefferson Barracks gym and pool for rehabilitation in order to expand the cemetary---and this during WARTIME (the moron) when severely injured or maimed combat soldiers are in need of rehabilitation services...it took a massive letter-writing campaign to Democrats in Congress and the Senate in order to keep our gym open! President Obama almost immediately appointed (Ret.) General Eric Shinseki to the Veterans Administration post---this is the General demoted by Bush for saying that they needed more troops in Iraq (and the General turned out to be right). Under Bill Clinton, VA services expanded; under Bush/Cheney, they combined offices, cut doctors to part-time, and started de-funding services. An appointment used to be within a week or two; under Bush and Cheney, the appointments were two or more months away from the date of the call. Why are you so afraid of acknowledging that Bush was an absolute failure as a president? This doesn't mean all Republicans are failures, but if they keep on backing his failed policies it will be a mighty cold day in Hades before they ever regain any voter confidence.
20. Have you ever visited a VA? Please do.We have veterans from WW2 still using the facility.The VA is overloaded with veterans that have no service related energies.I get my drugs from them,only because they bargain with the drug companies and get a lot better price,and pass it on to me.No where does it say when you join the services that you are entitled to free medical service the rest of your life.That just a given,that everyone assumes.My thinking is if you are wounded ,you do receive treatment for as long as it takes,but just because you served you country,doesn't make you entitled to a lifetime of treatment.
21. It is not. That is simply rhetoric of one side of the debate. In a debate, one side is generally bending the truth, if not lying outright. The VA is in shambles. Medicare and Medicaid are failures. The government covers roughly half of this nation's healthcare costs as it is and that share has only gotten bigger. If you listen to the supporters of government healthcare, our quality of care (relative to the technology) has dropped. However, they fail to mention that the government share in the market has only gotten bigger.
22. Obama wants to redo everybodys health care? Everybody...except his and his family, Congress and other government agencies...theirs stay the same. I wonder why? Funny he talks about being fair to all but, his family and friends are excluded.The VA will get worse with his plan.
23. The expression "government health care" is an oxymoron which explains the VA hospitals being in shambles.