VA To Let Vets Get More Private Care
VA To Let Vets Get More Private Care
The Obama administration says it will allow more veterans to obtain health care at private hospitals and clinics in an effort to improve their treatment.
Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki also said VA facilities are enhancing capacity of their clinics so veterans can get care sooner. In cases where officials cannot expand capacity at VA centers, the Department of Veterans Affairs is "increasing the care we acquire in the community through non-VA care," Shinseki said.
Lawmakers from both parties have pressed for this policy change as the VA confronts allegations about treatment delays and falsified records at VA centers nationwide.
The department's inspector general says 26 VA facilities are under investigation , including the Phoenix VA hospital, where a former clinic director says as many as 40 veterans may have died will awaiting treatment.
Officials also are investigating claims that VA employees have falsified appointment records to cover up delays in care.
The directive issued over the weekend should make it easier for veterans to get medical care at non-VA facilities, according to an agency spokeswoman.
The VA spent about $4.8 billion last year on medical care at non-VA hospitals and clinics, spokeswoman Victoria Dillon said. That amounts to about 10 percent of health care costs for the Veterans Health Administration, the agency's health care arm.
It was not clear how much the new initiative would cost, Dillon said.
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Our Vets deserve nothing but the best treatment there is.
Last year the VA sent my son to a private facility for care on one of his many problems. The problem was solved quickly. Yes, I'm for using private facilities for vets.
Privatize as much care as necessary. Mistreating vets is beyond the pale.
Yes, I'm for using private facilities for vets So am I Kav.
Its a SIN....IMO
I have been saying this for years and years. I got smacked in the comment for saying it, too.
It only makes sense. I know vets who live in a 4 hour drive away from the VA hospital here in town. A 4 hour drive to see your heart doctor to get that pacemaker on your heart they installed last week checked (an actual friend of mine in Roswell)? That is absolutely absurd. There are heart doctors in Roswell who could get him in and back out in under an hour and I would bet the cost to the VA would be the same and his chances of survival would increase a thousand fold.
I'm waiting for my friend to die in the car on the way up here from Roswell.
I'm having a temper tantrum. Fucking bastards.
I agree Grump. Vets that live in outlying areas are at special risk in some circumstances.
OMG!! That's inexcusable!!! I'm at a loss for words! .....
The very best of luck to your friend Grump...
Thanks, Tzia and Kavika. It is mind boggling and scary, too. Inexcusable and inefficient at the same time. That is NOT healthcare by any stretch of the imagination.
These Vets are just being pushed into a closet. Do as little as possible for the people that fought for this Country...ggrrr..