Veterans medical care

[IGIT]

the worse nurses i've ever met worked at the VA..

i shit you not.. i was an intern and on call one night at the VA.. nurse pages me for patient with crushing chest pain.. i see the patient.. he looks like the classic definition of a myocardial infarct..

i tell the nurse to do an EKG and draw some labs and give some pain meds, aspirin, etc..

the nurse tells me to go the EKG machine myself and that she doesn't draw blood so she'll have to call the phlebotomist.. she also can't do anything until i put the orders into CPRS... i wanted to vag punch the old dumb unionized cu.nt

hello AznTrojan,

well, there are certainly good anecdotes and bad anecdotes from folks who have been treated at the VA. i'm sorry your experience was so hateful to you.

i know you want the VA to just hand you a carton of your Vicodin or Oxycontin or whatever it is you want to ingest, but due to the prolific drug abuse and fraud that veterans are perpetuating on taxpayer dollars, there have to be protocols before you can get your opiates.

if you want better treatment, and more timely treatment, you'll have to (regrettably for you, i'd think) vote for a Democrat. the ones blocking increased funding for the VA are the GOP members of the House.

- IGIT

 

[Calmete]

Oh cool, another non scandal under this administration.

 

[IGIT]

Oh cool, another non scandal under this administration.

hello Calmete,

the scandal is that the country as a whole doesn't give a shit about honoring our commitments to our returning veterans.

politically, the scandal is that House Democrats drew up a resolution to fund the VA more adequately and the GOP killed the measure by adding amendments to the funding bill that they knew Mr. Obama would find radioactive - so the measure went nowhere.

- IGIT

 

[AznTrojan]

hello AznTrojan,

well, there are certainly good anecdotes and bad anecdotes from folks who have been treated at the VA. i'm sorry your experience was so hateful to you.

i know you want the VA to just hand you a carton of your Vicodin or Oxycontin or whatever it is you want to ingest, but due to the prolific drug abuse and fraud that veterans are perpetuating on taxpayer dollars, there have to be protocols before you can get your opiates.

if you want better treatment, and more timely treatment, you'll have to (regrettably for you, i'd think) vote for a Democrat. the ones blocking increased funding for the VA are the GOP members of the House.

- IGIT

uhh.. i think read the post wrong.. i did a part of my medical training at VA for 4 years.. the nurses suck donkey shit

 

[IGIT]

uhh.. i think read the post wrong.. i did a part of my medical training at VA for 4 years.. the nurses suck donkey shit

heya AznTrojan,

i didn't know you worked or trained at a VA hospital. (i might have gotten you confused with an earlier poster who complained that he didn't get his painkillers promptly and hassle-free).

if you did, this is where you talk and i listen. tell me, do you feel that the VA gets the funding it needed in the aftermath of the Iraq/Afghani conflicts?

- IGIT

 

[Calmete]

hello Calmete,

the scandal is that the country as a whole doesn't give a shit about honoring our commitments to our returning veterans.

politically, the scandal is that House Democrats drew up a resolution to fund the VA more adequately and the GOP killed the measure by adding amendments to the funding bill that they knew Mr. Obama would find radioactive - so the measure went nowhere.

- IGIT

Sweeeeet!!!!! It looks like failures under the Obama administration are no longer auto blamed on Bush!!!!

 

[IGIT]

Sweeeeet!!!!! It looks like failures under the Obama administration are no longer auto blamed on Bush!!!!

hullo Calmete,

i think you read my post wrong. the issues at the VA are related to being grossly underfunded - and that issue rests in the House of Representatives, not in the White House.

if you want to be critical of President Obama, there is a long list of things to cite, but the problems at the VA are not one of them.

- IGIT

 

[AznTrojan]

heya AznTrojan,

i didn't know you worked or trained at a VA hospital. (i might have gotten you confused with an earlier poster who complained that he didn't get his painkillers promptly and hassle-free).

if you did, this is where you talk and i listen. tell me, do you feel that the VA gets the funding it needed in the aftermath of the Iraq/Afghani conflicts?

- IGIT

nope.. not only is it underfunded.. no one really want work for the VA unless they really like the benefits..

i saw plenty of OIF/OEF vets with head injuries in an outpatient clinic.. the support for these patients is completely insufficient

 

[OldGoat]

hello OldGoat,

i did as you suggested...i read the first page of links.

there was one bit about firing employees, but it only pertained to around 450 out of the 300,000 folks who work for the VA, and even that reference was to senior level executives at the VA.

nothing on unions at all.

i guess this was just a chance for you to lob a grenade at unions - but it seems decoupled from the actual issue.

as i said, it's about funding.

- IGIT

And youd be wrong. Wherever You have government unions protecting terrible workers you have problems.

If funding fixed systemic institutional problems caused by inept government workers protected by archaic work rules the 100 mil that Zuckerman gave a school system would have made a difference. It's not about money it's about work culture. You and others are far too vested in your flawed world view to see obvious reality.

 

[OldGoat]

hello AznTrojan,

well, there are certainly good anecdotes and bad anecdotes from folks who have been treated at the VA. i'm sorry your experience was so hateful to you.

i know you want the VA to just hand you a carton of your Vicodin or Oxycontin or whatever it is you want to ingest, but due to the prolific drug abuse and fraud that veterans are perpetuating on taxpayer dollars, there have to be protocols before you can get your opiates.

if you want better treatment, and more timely treatment, you'll have to (regrettably for you, i'd think) vote for a Democrat. the ones blocking increased funding for the VA are the GOP members of the House.

- IGIT

Can you not read? He said he was an intern, which implies he's a MD or DO and can prescribe the drug. And you are not so subtly suggesting he's a junkie! Shameful IGIT.

 

[IGIT]

Can you not read? He said he was an intern, which implies he's a MD or DO and can prescribe the drug. And you are not so subtly suggesting he's a junkie! Shameful IGIT.

hello OldGoat,

re-fucking-lax, Goat. i misread his post, i said as as much in my response to him. for all the inconsistent blather that flows from your gullet, you should be the last to wag your finger at anyone, son.

there are vast tracts of literature on the topic of the VA being underfunded, and that point was amplified by AZN himself. as to your point in focusing on the unionized workers being the issue - its a hollow one and unsubstantiated despite your froth on the topic.

- IGIT

 

[Calmete]

Holy crap. Can I get a running list of deaths that just so happen to be "covered up"?

Benghazi, fast and furious, Government motors ignition switches, va hospitals.

I'm sure I missed a few....

 

[Scubamuppet]

3 pages of posts and, unless I missed it, not one mention of Tricare.

http://www.tricare.mil/Welcome/ComparePlans.aspx

For additional information on benefits (VA and external) refer to the following sources:

1) VA Benefits Briefing (Participants guide) - 2013 Edition
2) VA Federal Benefits for Veterans - Dependent and Survivors - 2013 Edition
3) State and local programs
4) Veteran NPO's, support groups, etc.

It's not all doom and gloom for veterans/retirees. In short, there is a massive amount of support (federal, state, local, npo) available for veterans. More, in fact, than veterans will ever actually make use of because they either:

1) didn't/don't know these programs exist (either didn't attend a transition seminar or didn't pay attention during it. Or maybe their service's transition program is non-existent/shitty.)
2) Didn't/don't bother to ask for assistance (out of fear, ignorance or apathy).
3) Know about assistance programs, but don't bother to make use of them.
4) Cannot possibly be eligible for every single program.

 

[IGIT]

hiya Scubamuppet,

3 pages of posts and, unless I missed it, not one mention of Tricare.

http://www.tricare.mil/Welcome/ComparePlans.aspx

For additional information on benefits (VA and external) refer to the following sources:

1) VA Benefits Briefing (Participants guide) - 2013 Edition
2) VA Federal Benefits for Veterans - Dependent and Survivors - 2013 Edition
3) State and local programs
4) Veteran NPO's, support groups, etc.

It's not all doom and gloom for veterans/retirees.

i think the reason no one mentioned Tricare is that its sort of a "Captain Obvious" thing to bring up. its the mechanism by which healthcare is distributed to veterans in the United States - there is nothing to discuss about it (other than the reality that both the Bush and Obama administrations have been sought to cap Tricare benefits and raise the fees that veterans pay to be enrolled in the program).

In short, there is a massive amount of support (federal, state, local, npo) available for veterans. More, in fact, than veterans will ever actually make use of because they either:

1) didn't/don't know these programs exist (either didn't attend a transition seminar or didn't pay attention during it. Or maybe their service's transition program is non-existent/shitty.)
2) Didn't/don't bother to ask for assistance (out of fear, ignorance or apathy).
3) Know about assistance programs, but don't bother to make use of them.
4) Cannot possibly be eligible for every single program.

this assertion you're making seems goofy...really an empty claim. to suggest veterans are unaware of their Tricare benefits is like suggesting senior citizens are unaware of their Social Security benefits.

its a moronic assertion.

- IGIT

 

[IGIT]

uhh.. i think read the post wrong.. i did a part of my medical training at VA for 4 years.. the nurses suck donkey shit

heya AznTrojan,

i've read up on the topic and your claims...and really, i can't find anything to substantiate it.

i've seen several articles which cited incompetence on the part of nurses - scattered cases - but nothing to indicate systemic incompetence on the part of VA nurses, and certainly nothing to indicate that nurses in the VA system are any more (or less) competent than nurses in the private sector.

sorry, some faceless guy on the interwebs claiming that VA nurses "suck donkey shit" isn't cutting it.

am i saying that there aren't administrative issues at the VA? no, i'm not - but those are "top down" problems. its absurd to say that it's the nurses, low level cogs in the overall VA apparatus, that's causing the issues at the VA.

- IGIT

 

[IGIT]

And youd be wrong. Wherever You have government unions protecting terrible workers you have problems.

If funding fixed systemic institutional problems caused by inept government workers protected by archaic work rules the 100 mil that Zuckerman gave a school system would have made a difference. It's not about money it's about work culture. You and others are far too vested in your flawed world view to see obvious reality.

hi OldGoat,

Zuckerman's 100 million dollar infusion into the Newark school system is an interesting story, but it really doesn't relate to the issues that the VA faces. as often is the case, you're citing something unrelated and trying to draw some kind of tenuous correlation.

sorry, it's not working.

the issues in Newark have more to do with white flight to charter schools and issues of poverty that exist amongst the general populus in Newark.

you seem to want to look at a nuanced issue and lazily say, "oh, its the unions", when in reality the problems at the VA stem from;

a) a lack of funding in the face of a huge surge of incoming veterans from the Iraq and Aghani conflicts and...

b) upper echelon managers at the VA that devised "off the books" wait lists, hidden from both the public and congressional oversight, to deal with a system that is currently overburdened and overwhelmed.

it really doesn't have a lot to do with unions - and you can't back up your claims, OldGoat.

- IGIT

 

[IGIT]

(Reuters) - U.S. Senate Republicans blocked legislation on Thursday that would have expanded federal healthcare and education programs for veterans, saying the $24 billion bill would bust the budget.

Even though the legislation cleared a procedural vote on Tuesday by a 99-0 vote, the measure quickly got bogged down in partisan fighting.

Supporters said the measure would have brought the most significant changes in decades to U.S. veterans' programs. For example, it called for 27 new medical facilities to help a healthcare system that is strained by veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

With Democrats pressing for passage this week, Senate Republicans, backed by their leader, Mitch McConnell, attempted to attach controversial legislation calling for possible new sanctions on Iran that President Barack Obama opposes.

Republicans also raised budget concerns, forcing another key procedural vote that ended up killing the bill.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/27/us-usa-veterans-congress-idUSBREA1Q26O20140227

...and thats all you need to know, really.

- IGIT

 

[AgentOrange24]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/27/us-usa-veterans-congress-idUSBREA1Q26O20140227

...and thats all you need to know, really.

- IGIT

Disgusting behavior.

I look forward to voting against Mitch tomorrow.

 

[IGIT]

Disgusting behavior.

I look forward to voting against Mitch tomorrow.

hullo Agent,

i'd vote against Mitch also, but i don't know that this is purely a "left vs right" thing, though i agree that GOP maneuvers in the House to cut the legs out from Democratic legislation that at least would have addressed funding shortfalls is disgusting.

the POTUS, Mr. Obama, has been complicit in the cutting of Tricare benefits too - he's equally guilty of being cowed by the far right's mania on the deficit. the reality is that VA hospitals have been stretched beyond the breaking point for a while now...its very old news that dates back to the Bush administration.

the public itself, despite all its "we support the troops" horseshit also could care less about the plight of its veterans (beyond putting a yellow ribbon bumper sticker on their autos).

it's really kind of an indictment on the United States in general.

- IGIT

 

[AgentOrange24]

hullo Agent,

i'd vote against Mitch also, but i don't know that this is purely a "left vs right" thing, though i agree that GOP maneuvers in the House to cut the legs out from Democratic legislation that at least would have addressed funding shortfalls is disgusting.

the POTUS, Mr. Obama, has been complicit in the cutting of Tricare benefits too - he's equally guilty of being cowed by the far right's mania on the deficit. the reality is that VA hospitals have been stretched beyond the breaking point for a while now...its very old news that dates back to the Bush administration.

the public itself, despite all its "we support the troops" horseshit also could care less about the plight of its veterans (beyond putting a yellow ribbon bumper sticker on their autos).

it's really kind of an indictment on the United States in general.

- IGIT

The only thing that sucks is, as much as I dislike Mitch, he brings home the bacon.

It would suck losing someone that high up in Washington, but it's just time for him to go.