As you can tell with some of my writing, I do not love the Veterans Administration (VA) nor do I hate it. I try to accept it for what it is, a huge bureaucratic system that can be difficult to navigate. There are some veterans that love the VA, and some that loathe it. As it stands right now top leaders of the VA and many congressional representatives are moving forward with plans to put more veteran’s medical needs in the hands of private sector healthcare. They are attempting to replace the veteran’s choice program designed to cut wait times for veteran services in areas where the VA was too far away. Where this can be good in rural areas where the VA is hours away, it can be problematic for VA’s and their funding. Privatization of the VA is a slippery slope, generations of veterans will have to live with the decision for the rest of their lives talking about the “good ole VA” and how much they miss it. By placing more funds in private hands, it takes away veterans utilizing the VA, hence cutting the VA’s budget, resulting in less services, producing a death spiral to for the VA. The private healthcare system is not always better, to so many private physicians it’s about money not patient care.
When greed takes over often what’s best for the patient is not always what takes place in the private sector, veteran will be no different. But what scares me is the possibility of the privatization being worse than the VA itself. The private healthcare system is already overtaxed and some patients have trouble getting an appointment with their primary care provider. There is a shortage of primary care providers because the money is in specialization medication, not being a primary care provider. I have a very close friend who was the Director in a major hospital system in southern California, and what I learned from him is, private hospitals can be as bad if not worse than the VA. He quit a six-figure job because he could not ethically deal with the greed of some doctors and what they were doing for money to some of the patients. The acts the doctors took were legal, but lacked ethics and compassion.
One of the biggest fears I hear from veterans is private doctors do not understand Veterans issues. According to a VA official discussing privatization before congress, the private care physicians under the new program will not be required to complete or attend veteran specific training concerning veterans only issues. Studies have shown that veterans get far better care from healthcare professionals who have veteran centered expertise. Physicians in the civilian sector might not understand how Agent Orange, Gulf War Syndrome, Burn Pits, suicidal thoughts, PTSD, or trouble adjusting to civilian live can affect a veteran’s symptoms and miss something big.
One of the biggest complaints I hear from veterans is the VA uses interns and physician’s assistants to work with veterans. This is true, but private hospitals use interns and PA’s too, because they can pay them less and make a larger profit. Physicians assistants and interns are not the problem at the VA; the problem lies with the number of veterans the VA must handle. After 16 years of war, the success of battlefield medicine, the competency of corpsman, field hospitals, and improved evacuation skills, more veterans are surviving their wounds. If the VA must be privatized, the best way can be utilizing veterans who understand veteran’s issues and culture as the providers. The problem is there are not enough medical professionals who are veterans to serve the need. There must be mandatory training for those who were not, or have not, been in the military culture.
Whether you like the VA or not it appears to me the VA medical system has more pro’s than con’s. As I continually talk to veterans many of them think the privatization of the VA is a bad idea. The veterans I have spoken to want the VA to spend its money and focus on training who they have, hiring more people, build better facilities, and fire those who are not willing to conform, not send them outside the system where physicians decisions are made because of money. As Amy Webb of AMVETS stated to congress “Veterans want the VA to work for them” not be destroyed by a “bleed it dry strategy” of outsourcing and underfunding. It is time veterans who want to maintain the VA as an entity need to stand up to the Trump administration. According to some senators, the Trump VA budget is 6 percent larger than last year’s budget, but 33% of the increase goes to utilizing the private sector while 1.3% goes toward VA care. President Trumps budget includes 13.2 billion dollars in mandatory funding for outside care for veterans. Any way you look at it, you need to let your congressman know where you stand on the issue of privatizing the VA. Please contact them!
For questions or comments, I can be reached at afterdutyvets@gmail.com or visit our website at marriedtoptsdpro.com and like us on Facebook at Married to PTSD Pro.
Contact your senators and congressman for comments on privatizing the VA
US Senate
Dianne Feinstein
11111 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 915
Los Angeles, CA 90025
Phone: (310) 914-7300
Kamala D. Harris
312 N. Spring St
Suite 1748
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 894-5000
US House of Representatives
Paul Cook
14955 Dale Evans Parkway
Apple Valley Town Hall
Apple Valley, CA 92307