Why do Vets hang in there on the bad scheduling at the VA

[lvoc]

It appears clear that reasonable scheduling of appointments at the VA has been a problem for decades and remains one. Gaming the scheduling system had become instituionalized. I expect it was true anywhere...likely VA management who published the truth failed and were replaced.

What I don't understand is why the Vets put up with it. I would be in the same age group as the older vets and I would certainly not wait more than a couple of days for a serious need. And even for an elective visit I am going to do something if it gets to a month or more.

So why are the Vets trapped into the VA? Do they not have Medicare or Medicaid? Or if not why not run off to the emergency room?

I be damned if I am going to sit around dying while waiting for a way out appointment. Why would these guys.

Maybe someone who understands this can explain why the Vets have no option but to wait.

[Skydive Outlaw]

I don't understand how the best that this country has - veterans/US military that risked their lives in foreign countries doing a job that most people would not want to do: that are 'the few, the proud' and 'Army strong', etc, etc. - Are either unable and/or unwilling to be able to just get medical insurance once they are out of the military. You would think that with all that they have had to endure fighting for freedom and dedicating so much to protecting this country that they would at least have the ability to secure medical insurance on the open market. It just seems strange that some of them would line up at the VA unless they didn't want to pay for regular medical insurance and/or did not want to receive a bill for medical services.

[Wayland Woman]

I am guessing a lot of the vets are too young for Medicare and make too much month for Medicaid and they also don't have private insurance to pay the cost of making appointments outside of the VA. Ever try getting an appointment in a new doctor's office if you don't have insurance? Not so easy even when you can afford to pay up front.

[30to66at55]

A friend of mine was a nurse at the VA hospital in Boston. He often mentioned that most of his patients were either older Korean War or WWII guys or the Vietnam War generation. His comments were that the older group were a tough lot and were there because they had no insurance or they simply had used the VA all their lives. The younger Vietnam era guys, in his words, were mostly drunks and drug addicts.

It does amaze me that the VA system has so degenerated. My father, a WW2 veteran with medical insurance from his job, actually used the VA in the late 1950s for heart surgery...back when heart surgery was still relatively rare, dangerous, and probably the most dangerous of surgeries at that time. From what I was told the VA hospital was, at that time, the best place to go for that surgery. Clearly the VA in the post ww2 period was doing the right thing and providing exemplary care for the vets.

[longnecker]

Why did the Vets themselves keep this so quiet for so long?

[retiredtinbender]

I'm a military retiree and have heard about this since I first went in the service. Even Playboy (I only bought it for the articles) used to badmouth the VA and it's treatment of veterans. To me, it's not been real quiet but it seemed to me that the the oversight by Congress has been minimal at best. One of our Gov candidates was on the committee and is getting hammered for not doing anything previously but is now acting shocked and angry. Gee, where have I heard that before? He does do quite a bit for us vets in Maine.

I haven't dealt much with them as I live too far away from the center to go. I have Tricare which has done me very very well and saves me a lot of 4 hour rides one way. The times I did go I was treated well and quickly. Most of the vets I talk to here have had the same experience. I have heard no one complain of the things coming out of the news. Might be the Maine population is so small.

[texdav]

Most I talk to talk about poor service and wait time for anything serious. Even VA now acknowledges it. The real problem is falsifying documents on wait time to stone wall congress. This has been going on for decades and McCain brought it up in 2008 campaign. He said he gave up and would promote issuing a card to very veteran to be used at any public hospital or provider.One only has to look back at hearings over the years on VA and their responses which basically now are being called false reports by officials. Its a crime to falsify government records; so hope they get to bottom of it. Congress is now looking to go to federal court to get records requested for years now.

[Tuck's Dad]

This is not a new issue and is not limited to just the VA. This is socialized medicine for a segment of our population (service members) and you can allocate care based on price or time. Socialized medicine controls costs through wait times - not a problem with routine care, you frequently get well before you see a doc, huge problem if you have a major medical issue that requires relatively urgent treatment where speed of treatment time equals life/longevity.

Tri-Care has simular policies that cause undue wait times. How it works is a doctor has x number of required "visits" per day (it was 15 at one hospital I am aware of, but I don't think the number is standardized). There are up to y visits fenced for wounded warriors (5 at the hospital I mentioned), and those slots are held open until the start of the shift. If they are not taken (in most places that is the case) the case load remains at 10 appiontments, unless the doctor agrees to see walk-ins (and many won't). It is not uncommon for a week or more wait for routine visits, but that assumes you can get an appointment scheduled through central appointments. Again, they only take calls until the appointments are "filled" then they stop answering the phone, or tell you to call back tomorrow (this can take a week or two to get scheduled, although ussually it only takes a couple of days), so the option frequently taken by military spouses and dependents is to show up at the post ER (wait times frequently in the 4-10 hour range) for colds, flus, turned ankles, nasea, etc. etc. - This is stupid, expensive, and resource intensive, but it's how it works.

It is rare you will see the same doctor twice in the system, even though you are assigned a primary care doctor (unless you have an ongoing treatment for a long term/chronic illness). My experience has been I have gotten the best routine care from the PAs, and the specialists are great if you can get to them, but there are a LOT of gate keepers!

Now, WRT VA, significantly increase the case load, but not the number of appointments per doc, lower the priority level for all but a select few (combat wounded, and yes, they should have priority IMO), set up the system as a regionally based care system, but apply it to vets with two or more dwellings living in different regions, and you have the recipe for disastrous care from a wait standpoint.

Why do vets use VA? Those reasons are all over the map, and each vet will probably have his or her own reasons. In my case, I use them for combat/training related injuries and major items that are not urgent (80% disabled with internal injuries, circulatory and lung issues, and a couple major joint problems), otherwise I use Tri-Care.

[longnecker]

I think those that falsified reports to get bonuses should be forced to give them back.

[2nd trick op]

Originally Posted by longnecker

Why did the Vets themselves keep this so quiet for so long?

Welcome to the world of socialized medicine; and does anyone out there still deny that "single payer" --- the darling of the same people who bring us the "climate change" hype -- will force the same gridlock on all of us?