New data show long wait times remain at many VA hospitals

Disturbing. Very disturbing.

This was the headline of an article in today’s USA TODAY – READ

It makes me angry because I KNOW we can do better. We simply MUST do better.

I had just been promoted to E-2 - oh the hair? We'll ignore that. Blame it on youth & the late 80's!

I had just been promoted to E-2 – oh the hair? We’ll ignore that. Blame it on youth & the late 80’s!

I do not have a background in medicine or hospital administration, but it seems to me that there is a better solution than trying to fix the broken veterans hospital system. Most ailments that affect our veterans are the kinds of medical issues everyone faces.

Why aren’t we giving veterans a medical insurance card that would be good anywhere in our health care delivery system? They could use any doctor or hospital.

For specific problems veterans face that are difficult for a general hospital or doctor to handle, we probably need the VA – again, I confess, that’s beyond my area of expertise.

But rather than try to fix a system that is definitely busted, why not let our veterans have a choice between a VA hospital and the local hospital?

Part of my discharge from the military, included medical processing through the VA.  It was smooth, without issue and quite simple.  My brothers and sisters turning to them for care – during or after their service deserve the same.

Maybe these are questions better left for VA Secretary Robert McDonald.  He has sworn to implement the necessary changes within the Department of Veterans Affairs – specifically tackling the problems vets face when returning from war.

Considering how many billions of dollars we spend on our VA hospital system, we could let the civilian medical system take care of veterans and the VA pay the bill. I bet it would be a lot more efficient for the veterans, and it would save the taxpayers lots of money.

"TANK HILL" Ft. Jackson, South Carolina.  Echo Company, 10th Battalion, 1st Brigade, 1st Platoon - PVT. Nick Smith (5th Row, 4th from Left)

“TANK HILL” Ft. Jackson, South Carolina. Echo Company, 10th Battalion, 1st Brigade, 1st Platoon – PVT. Nick Smith (5th Row, 4th from Left)

I have always felt that the VA system should be for very specific ailments that are simply beyond the scope of a normal medical system. But it also seems rather redundant to duplicate routine facilities that already exist.

We have one of the best health care systems in the world. I am not convinced that we are offering our veterans the same level of medical coverage they would have if they simply took advantage of our existing health care delivery system.

It has been an embarrassment for the nation when the recent revelations were exposed about the inadequacy of our VA hospitals.

How many of those veterans could have been adequately treated in a local hospital without having to wait for a VA system to fit them in?

Let’s try and alleviate the crowding of our VA hospitals. Let’s try and make government smaller but more efficient and do a better job serving our veterans.