@txradioguy
@sneakypete
Astounding to me that some think we should institute this kind of thing nationwide, to the whole populace.
@GrouchoTex You ain't the only one. I avoid treatment at the VA hospitals now even if it means I have to do to a regular hospital and pay out of pocket. Last time I went to a VA hospital to have them cut out a "undefined growth" (I am an Agent Orange vet,and very few of my medical problems are ever defined by the VA),they cut it out,and then forgot to reattach the blood vein when they sewed me up. The result was a loss of circulation that caused my leg to turn black and purple,with them doing nothing more than telling me to take more fluid pills to try to make the swelling go down,and that if nothing else works they will be happy to amputate my leg and give me one of the fancy new high-tech ones.
I basically told them to go piss up a rope because I wanted a second opinion,and went to a local vascular surgeon who told me that IF I had came to him when the problem started it would have been no problem at all,but at that point we had to get rid of the infection before he could operate. It took about 3 weeks for it to heal,and then he did a standard vein replacement procedure right there in his office under a local anesthetic,and 45 minutes later I was out the door and on my way home. 15 years later I am still having trouble with the leg and infections,but I still have it and am still walking around. Even though my leg and foot are still so big I have to wear a bigger shoe on my left foot than my right foot because of the typical swelling.
BTW,I had to pay for the vein replacement surgery and treatments out of pocket,too. No big deal because after Medicare it only ran to 400-500 bucks total.
I was told later that the VA didn't suggest this surgery to me because they didn't offer it,and their doctors are not allowed to suggest surgeries they don't offer. Because of this they were prepared to amputate my leg and offer me a 20k + prosthetic replacement,+ physical thearapy,as opposed to a couple of hundreds bucks to save my leg.
And people wonder why the government always needs more money.