My view of the Veterans Administration

Sixty some years ago I delivered papers like many young boys and girls.  I had a fairly large route of 124 customers and delivered the Seattle Times every afternoon and in the morning on Sundays.  One of my stops was the new Veterans Hospital on Beacon Hill where I left any extra’s I had for the men there.  I usually kept about 6 or 7 extras for this stop.  What I saw at that hospital has had a profound effect on my life.  Many guys wandering the halls half dressed with wet pants mumbling to themselves aimlessly sauntering around.  These were the same guys who had without a thought for their own safety had brought our enemies to their knees in Germany, France, Italy and the South Pacific.  

I thought this is what a Veterans Hospital was, a place where they put the guys whose families didn’t want them.  Being a young boy in the 50’s I knew someday I would be a veteran too and I vowed I would never go to a V.A. hospital and to this day I haven’t.  I have been lucky as I have been able to afford outside insurance for all these years.  Many of my friends aren’t so fortunate and have to go to the V. A. for treatment.  Now we see that the atmosphere hasn’t changed that much as far as the attendants are concerned.  The mentality that would lead to making false appointment lists just to feather their own financial being is no different than what I saw as abusive non attendance when I delivered papers.  It’s the mentality of Civil Service and it permeates our government in all areas.  I’m not accusing every Civil Servant of this malaise but when they allow it to happen on their watch they are just as responsible as the bad ones. 

As the war winds down and we are inundated with the large muster out that Obama is planning for our military we will have more and more veterans who require these services standing in line, if not changed this program will only get worse.  It is beyond a government’s ability to administer such a program when it is besieged with bureaucracy.  This should be in the minds of every citizen as we are now faced with the ultimate test where all citizens’ medical decisions will be handled by bureaucrats rather than their own doctors.  With the advent of unionization for government workers it is impossible to fire or even reprimand bad employees. 

The answer lies in the public sector through outside insurance programs and benefits for the medical profession not based on hours worked but by personal achievement.  Free enterprise will always do a better job through competitive programs.  The idea that a centralized medical system with layer after layer of reports and repetition is better is nonsense.  The V.A. should be turned over to a private system that is paid on true performance of duty.  It should be run by trained hospital administrators and doctors who are familiar with a medical program and understand their potential personal psychological problems that come from working with badly injured and mentally impaired patients.  The money that is being spent including the fraud on Veterans care would more than cover the expense of a properly run private program.  We must wake up to the fact that our turn is just around the corner with the total implementation of Obama Care.  Good luck to us.