Medical Malpractice

Dems say govt health care is cheaper. So why is non-combat care costly at VA hospitals?

... for almost anything and everything? Shouldn't sending an elderly vet to a VA hospital save lots of money for the govt instead of having the vet use regular for-profit doctors/hospitals and Medicare?

Public Comments

1. You forgot to add in "FACT" for your data. That makes it automatically true. FACT.
2. First ask yourself when have the dems ever told the truth. Even when they run for election they say they are something else to get elected. So hows that hope and change going for ya?
3. The federal government has never been able to do anything cheaper in it's history.
4. bush and his cronies wanted it that way.
5. The VA provides very good care. Read the link below for details. http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2005/0501.longman.html
6. It saves a ton of money for the elderly vet because otherwise he wouldn't even be able to receive insurance from the private sector due to previously existing conditions. Not only that, but if the vet were suddenly required to get insurance from a private company, that private company would raise the premiums for him and everyone else to compensate for the added cost. This second fact would be negated if everyone in the United States were required to buy insurance, because then there would be more heatlhy people to spread the risk over, and the companies would not be forced to raise premiums because of care for those with preexisting conditions. The reason why government healthcare CAN be cheaper is if it were allowed to utilize its size as a bargaining chip to negotiate for lower prices. That is how larger insurance companies are able to charge less than the smaller ones. It goes like this: The government or Aetna for example goes to a hospital and says "I have thirty million subscribers that I can offer you access to and this is how much I will pay for..." whatever procedures they want to pay for. And because they have so many people to offer the hospital, then the hospital will then accept lower reimbursement rates or risk losing access to the large group of customers. The reason that Govt health care is not cheaper now is because it is forced to act like a small carrier and can not negotiate properly for rates. Imagine if the government had 300 million people getting insurance from it. They could negotiate much much lower reimbursement rates because no sane hospital would want to refuse the chance to have access to(and reimbursement for) 300,000,000 people.
7. Well due to cutting services, doctor availability and the sizes of VA Hospitals, they are making huge cost cutting steps. The VA has been poorly run and in the news for quite some time now as a bad model for Goverment Funded Health Care. Veterans like Mr. Griffin, 60, a squadron leader for the First Cavalry Division in 1968 who said he “saw more than enough” combat in Vietnam, complained that it took more time to see a specialist. A cardiologist, he said, visits Montrose only once every two weeks. Some experts question why veterans need their own hospitals at all given that care is available at private hospitals through Medicare, Medicaid or insurance. Australia, which has a national health system, has largely done away with its veterans hospitals. The Walter Reed Army Medical Center neglect scandal resulted from a series of allegations of unsatisfactory conditions and management at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) in Washington, D.C. culminating in two articles published by The Washington Post in February 2007. Cases of outpatient neglect, which are currently under investigation, were reported as early as 2004, but generated substantial public and media attention, which in turn prompted a number of congressional and executive actions, only with release of the Post exposé.
8. The Dems say a lot of things. The problem is often found in the fact that people listen to them. I'm almost 50 years old and I have never heard such a blatant stream of lies, distortions and exaggerations. And with a willing press, they do it with impunity...most of the time. But I think America is waking up. @libstick: I agree with everything you're saying, but would caution you not to use Australia as a 'good example'. Their public health care system sucks. Their hospitals are similar to the worst of our inner city 'public' hospitals and still going broke. I lived there. I've seen it and experienced it. The last thing I would want is a Vet turned over to a system like that, but given the state that Australia's finances are in, they had little choice.
9. Nothing the Gubmint does costs less. Nothing that private industry can do is done better by Gubmint - NOTHING. The Marxists (aka Democrat Party) will say or do ANYTHING to increase Gubmint control of your life - because by extension, THEY get more control of your life. Since the Marxists KNOW what is best, this is for 'your own good'. And of course EVERYTHING is Bush's fault. Everything.
10. If Democrats are saying government health care is cheaper than private health care, aren't they really saying their plan is to impose single-payer, government-controlled health care on everyone once they get a chance. After all, Obama made a name for himself in Illinois by pronmoting low cost programs to help the poor. Once his proposals were adopted, he worked tirelessly to expand them and multiply the costs. Why would government controlled health care be less expensive than private health care? Good point about the cost of VA hospitals. Even though Walter Reed hospital was a rat- and roach-infested hospital for veterans, it was very expensive to operate and the quality of care was poor.