Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My dad served in the Korean war. He has stayed with VA healthcare because it's free. They pay for everything, including prescriptions. Which would be great if they actually did anything to help him when he needed it. He's had constant back pain that is severely limiting his ability to function to the point that he and my mom are going to have to go into assisted living. Rather than trying to find out what is causing the back pain, the VA gave him tramadol. The tramadol doesn't help the pain. He has tried to call back and get something else, to no avail. He went to the VA ER the end of May in excruciating pain. They gave him a shot of morphine and 20 Percocet and told him to call his VA primary care doctor and schedule an MRI. He did. They scheduled the MRI for August 15th - said that's the earliest they can do it. He finished the Percocet, went back to the tramadol, and is still in pain. Has tried to contact his primary care doctor again to see if there is something else he can take for the pain and they say no. Tried to schedule an appointment but their way of scheduling is to find out you need an appointment and then send you a letter in the mail telling you when to come in. The only letter he got is the letter he would have gotten anyway to get a Lupron injection (he has prostate cancer) in mid-July. So he went to a civilian hospital over this last weekend to see if they can do something. He has Medicare, no supplemental insurance since he uses VA, so there will probably be a large out of pocket expense for this. They gave him a shot of Dilaudid, a prescription for Percocet and told him to either get someone at the VA to listen to him and help him with his pain, or see an anesthesiologist/pain specialist outside of the VA system to get his pain under control. My dad said the exam the medical student did in the ER is the most thorough exam he's had in a long time.
I called the VA and got a recording. Left a long, detailed message, telling them my dad is in a lot of pain and needs help, needs someone to address his pain/do testing to find out what is causing it, instead of just giving him medicine that doesn't work. That was over an hour ago; no call back yet and they close for the weekend in 25 minutes. The MRI they scheduled is still over a month away - whereas when we were in the civilian ER, they said that an MRI could be done there on Tuesday of this week - but they didn't seem eager to do a lot, I'm sure because all he has is Medicare and no supplemental insurance and it wouldn't be covered.
My mom, on the other hand, has good supplemental insurance that pays everything not covered by Medicare, and she is well taken care of. I think I am going to get my dad some supplemental insurance if I have to pay for it myself and dump the VA. The only problem is, if we get national healthcare it's probably going to be no different than the VA.
I'm an Army veteran And I've used the VA many times with no problems. We have a state of the art VA facility here in Dallas, TX and I've never had anything but pleasant experiences.
My uncle is a WW II vet, and he uses the VA b/c it's better care than he could get from a civilian dr. in the rural area where he lives.
The problems in the OP could and do happen in all kinds of health care facitilites. I work in a pediatrician's office, and our patients have trouble getting an appointment in a timely fashion at Children's Hospital in Denver. Just one example.
My dad served in the Korean war. He has stayed with VA healthcare because it's free. They pay for everything, including prescriptions. Which would be great if they actually did anything to help him when he needed it. He's had constant back pain that is severely limiting his ability to function to the point that he and my mom are going to have to go into assisted living. Rather than trying to find out what is causing the back pain, the VA gave him tramadol. The tramadol doesn't help the pain. He has tried to call back and get something else, to no avail. He went to the VA ER the end of May in excruciating pain. They gave him a shot of morphine and 20 Percocet and told him to call his VA primary care doctor and schedule an MRI. He did. They scheduled the MRI for August 15th - said that's the earliest they can do it. He finished the Percocet, went back to the tramadol, and is still in pain. Has tried to contact his primary care doctor again to see if there is something else he can take for the pain and they say no. Tried to schedule an appointment but their way of scheduling is to find out you need an appointment and then send you a letter in the mail telling you when to come in. The only letter he got is the letter he would have gotten anyway to get a Lupron injection (he has prostate cancer) in mid-July. So he went to a civilian hospital over this last weekend to see if they can do something. He has Medicare, no supplemental insurance since he uses VA, so there will probably be a large out of pocket expense for this. They gave him a shot of Dilaudid, a prescription for Percocet and told him to either get someone at the VA to listen to him and help him with his pain, or see an anesthesiologist/pain specialist outside of the VA system to get his pain under control. My dad said the exam the medical student did in the ER is the most thorough exam he's had in a long time.
I called the VA and got a recording. Left a long, detailed message, telling them my dad is in a lot of pain and needs help, needs someone to address his pain/do testing to find out what is causing it, instead of just giving him medicine that doesn't work. That was over an hour ago; no call back yet and they close for the weekend in 25 minutes. The MRI they scheduled is still over a month away - whereas when we were in the civilian ER, they said that an MRI could be done there on Tuesday of this week - but they didn't seem eager to do a lot, I'm sure because all he has is Medicare and no supplemental insurance and it wouldn't be covered.
My mom, on the other hand, has good supplemental insurance that pays everything not covered by Medicare, and she is well taken care of. I think I am going to get my dad some supplemental insurance if I have to pay for it myself and dump the VA. The only problem is, if we get national healthcare it's probably going to be no different than the VA.
Depends on the VA.
If your dad has a history of prostate CA and now has severe back pain, he needs an MRI a little sooner. In the absence of CA or radicular symptoms, plain films would be fine. Pay for it yourself and get him imaged.
Obamacare will be the same. $3.2 trillion in extra expense for longer waits. It is amazing that liberals seem to crave more expensive, lower quality care and worse economic conditions. I can't wait to see what they come up with next!
If universal healthcare is anything like VA healthcare, I don't want it
Universal healthcare isn't anything like VA healthcare - at least not in Canada. I & my friends and relatives have had no problems getting diagnosed & treated in Canada - but wait times for many procedures are longer than they are in the States. The difference is in attitude - Canadians & their gov't view healthcare as right (a bit underfunded but still a right) but the US gov't & bureaucrats act as gatekeepers where healthcare is a privilege to be grudgingly rationed out.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
