The US House of Representatives made history yesterday when they passed a healthcare bill. I am sure the debate will rage on as it does not go into effect until 2014. Once the elections take place this year, we may once again find that they have not gotten things done as the new members will surely move to repeal it, if there is a Republican majority following the election.
The devisive legislation has pulled at the seam of the country. Liberals say we need it to help everyone get better health care; while conservatives say that it is too expensive and interferes with a persons rights. No one can really say how it is going to work for sure, until it is initiated and the bugs worked out. I have mixed emotions about it.
I am angry that there was legislation included that had nothing to do with healthcare. Student loan legislation has nothing to do with healthcare. Education money and the revision of NCLB have nothing to do with healthcare. But, these were items attached as amendments. No real mention of them, though.
If the government runs this bureaucratic nightmare the way they allow the VA in Prescott, AZ to run, then the whole idea is a sham. The Prescott VA seems to be a place where bureaucrats are more interested in covering their own butts than providing great service to veterans.
Case in point: My brother-in-law is trying to have surgery on a leg. The VA in Prescott has gone out of its way to prevent him from having this done. His "primary care " person ( a nurse practitioner) cancelled his surgery on her own without ever seeing him; she has overridden orders for prescriptions (cutting his pain medication in half) and did not even see him for months. When he called her to tell her that he was bleeding internally and was having blood pooling in his abdomen, her reply was that she "didn't have time for this". Two days later, he was taken to the hospital just hours from death. She constantly does not refill prescriptions on time, leaving him in constant pain due to an open wound. With service like this, it is no wonder the Prescott VA has one of the highest suicide rates for patients and former patients.
If he complains, he and those that advocate for him, are met with threats and put in positions where retribution is possible should they complain more.
If this is the way the government treats vets, what's to stop it from treatin you and I the same? We may be on the brink of a very scarey situation. And, with universal healthcare, why do we need the VA or Medicare? These two programs could be released and the people who use them could just go into the system. Or, how about this...We get rid of the VA and give all vets a card that allows them to go anywhere for their care, and the government will pick up the tab? Close down the VA hospitals and make them shelters, or turn them into regular hospitals?
We need to get ahead of the curve on this before 2014.
Doughnut
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