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1. 

   dtroutma said, 8 months ago

   VA gets care at much less cost than “private”, primarily by negotiation of prices, like on drugs. My recent “quick stop” to the private doc (ER, it was weekend) was $378 for less than 5 minutes.

   
   Mitt, Ryan, and Republicans claims that private insurance and care coverage is cheaper is totally bogus, as my doc does many times as much paperwork for the private insurance, as for VA/ChampVA.

   
   With pre-existing conditions like mine, “private” policy for anyone new would either not be possible, or $5,000 a month would be CHEAP!

   
   Single payer, folks. You keep your private doctors, hospitals etc (t’ain’t “socialized medicine”) and you’d get better, faster, cheaper care, because the doc’s office staff would be cut with far less paperwork to do.
2. 

   churchillwasright said, 8 months ago

   TROUT: Glad to find you here. (Not really). This is off-topic, but below is a little news item I ran across yesterday, and I thought of you. Pathetic, I know.
   
   “(CNSNews.com) – The backlog of veterans’ disability claims has jumped by 179 percent during President Barack Obama’s first term in office, reaching 883,949 outstanding claims, according to Veterans Administration statistics.
   
   “The backlog of claims is at near-record highs, with 65.8 percent of claims being backlogged for 125 days or more.
   
   “The total claims include disability claims by veterans as well as from surviving spouses, children, or parents…
   
   “When Obama took office, there were approximately 390,000 outstanding claims, of which only 22 percent had been pending for more than 180 days.
   
   “That number had been falling during the second George W. Bush administration, despite the military being heavily engaged in two wars. At the beginning of Bush’s second term, the VA had about 480,000 outstanding claims, with only 21 percent backlogged for more than 180 days.
   That number fell by almost 100,000 claims by the time Obama took office.
   
   “…the backlog problem has more than doubled in the past two years alone. In January 2012, pending claims stood at about 880,000, with 64 percent backlogged for more than 125 days. That number was up approximately 116,000 over the previous year.”
   
   Backlog of Veterans’ Disability Claims Increases 179% Under Obama
   
   Prediction: TROUT will completely ignore this post, and by tomorrow will be back lying to all of us how terrific Obama’s been for his and his son’s VA Disability Benefits, and how much more Obama cares about Veterans than that evil Boooosh.
3. 

   dtroutma said, 8 months ago

   ^Quite the contrary. INcreased backlog, yes. Did Congress under Boeher sufficiently increase funding for staffing? No. Did large number of ’Nam era vets start applying, as well as continuing Iraq and Afghan vets? Yes.

   
   Does a Republican controlled House do anything? No. Did republicans vow to do everything they could to limit Obama to one term, even if it meant destroying the country, and our veterans? YES!
4. 

   Radish said, 8 months ago

   Finding a job is difficult for civilians and vets, more people are applying for disablility to get money to live on. The same thing is happening to Social Security Disability.
5. 

   churchillwasright said, 8 months ago

   TROUT: You better start supplying links. Start with “large numbers of ’Nam era vets” are suddenly applying for VA Disability, 40 years after the war ended. Or why it’s necessary to increase their budget when the backlog “number had been falling during the second George W. Bush administration, despite the military being heavily engaged in two wars.” In case you’ve managed to miss Obama’s stump speeches, he’s single-handedly ended one of those wars. Numbers should be down, not up.
6. 

   dtroutma said, 8 months ago

   ^Churchie: It’s called the influx of “baby boomers” aging and needing help, mostly thanks to Bush crashing the economy in ‘08. Check out the VA’s own pages, or VFW, or DAV statistics and articles, I do. Maybe if you checked some real facts, not just “links”, and spent as much time attacking the real culprits in the Republican party, instead of me, you’d find out more.

   
   btw: my son is among those being abandoned by "leftovers’ from previous appointments and elevations in the Pentagon, NOT the over-stretched VA. Also, in the last week, I’ve contacted three ‘Nam era vets now looking for assistance with their health problems, and they’ll be going to sign up with VA, after all these years, and I live in a tiny little town. There ARE a bunch of us out there.
7. 

   braindead08 said, 8 months ago

   Per Mitch McConnell,the American health care system is the best in the world and only needs a little tweaking. People who are not insured is not a problem.
8. 

   Respectful Troll said, 7 months ago

   http://www.examiner.com/article/romney-stands-by-claim-uninsured-can-get-care-they-need-emergency-rooms

   Over 18k ppl died in their homes from lack of access to healthcare last year.
   C.
9. 

   Gypsy8 said, 7 months ago

   @Respectful Troll

   That’s right C Downs, around 20,000 die annually because they can’t get coverage.
   -Also, hundreds of thousands go bankrupt annually because of healthcare bills (Harvard Medical College says 700,000);
   -Death by medical mishap is the highest by far in the U.S. among nine richest nations;
   -Neonatal health of babies is dead last of 23 most developed nations.
   -Even under Obamacare, around 23 million will not have insurance;
   -By any metric, the U.S. system is the costliest on the globe. Administration take up about 20% of costs. By comparison, administration under that “socialist” British system takes only 5%. And the British live longer on average.
   .
   Its a strange situation when you consider that medical technology in the U.S. is some of the best available.
   .
   It means “for profit” healthcare doesn’t work very well for the masses. The rich fare much better.
10. 

    churchillwasright said, 7 months ago

    TROUT: LInks and quotes. I supply them. You do the same. Relying on your reading comprehension and selective reading recollection, not to mention your anecdotal BS, just don’t cut it.
11. 

    Respectful Troll said, 7 months ago

    @Gypsy8

    Sad story, but excellent post…Thank you Gypsy.
    C.
12. 

    Ketira shena Pretarasedrin said, 7 months ago

    @Radish

    I’m not doing that because there are no jobs – I’m doing it because no one will hire me simply because I’m obese (among other conditions, at least two I can prove that are genetic). It seems that if you’re slim (in my area of Florida), you at least have a chance of getting a job.
    .
    Problem is that there are at least 1000 people ahead of you trying for the exact same job. So why not file for Disability? It’s the only option open to me.
13. 

    Ketira shena Pretarasedrin said, 7 months ago

    @Respectful Troll

    HA. I went to the emergency room twice last year – for the same reason. Both times, not only was I billed for the services I got in the hospital, but also the ER visit as well. I like the hospital (they have very nice staff there), but I will not go back there unless I have insurance.
    ….and about a month after the last visit, the Debt Collectors started hounding me with phone calls, even when I told the hospital I could not pay them!
    .
    Romney is wrong about ER visits. What does he care? If he gets sick, he has a ton of Insurance via the GOP to help him get well….
14. 

    NeoconMan said, 7 months ago

    @Ketira shena Pretarasedrin

    ^ If you can’t afford insurance, it’s your own dumb fault for not borrowing a couple of million dollars from your father to start a business when you were young.
15. 

    Respectful Troll said, 7 months ago

    @Ketira shena Pretarasedrin

    I liked the post but didn’t understand the HA. Did I misspeak?
    Prior to having a job with medical benefits, your story was one my family went through. I sincerely hope you are in a better situation with good health for you and those you love.

    Respectfully,
    C.
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