Walter Reed Hospital: Deplorable! Still Want the Government to Run Your Health Care?

[Chuckiechan]

That's exactly what you will get!

[Theophylact]

Actually, the VA hospitals offer the best medical care in the country. It's the Defense Department that's screwing our wounded troops at places like Walter Reed.

[MTAtech]

From yesterday's NYT Column by Paul Krugman,

Valor and Squalor

,

What makes this a particular shame is that in the Clinton years, veterans’ health care — like the Federal Emergency Management Agency — became a shining example of how good leadership can revitalize a troubled government program. By the early years of this decade the Veterans Health Administration was, by many measures, providing the highest-quality health care in America. (It probably still is: Walter Reed is a military facility, not run by the V.H.A.)

But as with FEMA, the Bush administration has done all it can to undermine that achievement. And the Walter Reed scandal is another Hurricane Katrina: the moment when the administration’s misgovernment became obvious to everyone.

[Chuckiechan]

Of course, it was all good under Clinton and all bad under Bush...Just ask Paul Krugman.

The point is that military or not, they hospital system is run under the US government. It's decisions are made by taxpayer supported personnel not the private sector.

[mad1]

Originally Posted by Theophylact

Actually, the VA hospitals offer the best medical care in the country. It's the Defense Department that's screwing our wounded troops at places like Walter Reed.

Here is a list of the top ranked hospitals of 2006,http://www.usnews.com/usnews/health/.../honorroll.htm.

[Toadman]

Actually, the VA hospitals offer the best medical care in the country.

You're being facetious again right, Theo? Ask a service member.

[MTAtech]

Originally Posted by mad1

Here is a list of the top ranked hospitals of 2006,http://www.usnews.com/usnews/health/.../honorroll.htm.

That just confirms what Theo was saying, the VA is no longer the best. Do you have a list for 2001?

It's obvious that the issue is budgetary. According to Salon,

The Army Times reported late last month that during the war, the number of soldiers approved for permanent disability retirement decreased by more than two-thirds, from 642 in 2001 to 209 in 2005. (While most disability benefits given by the Army are subject to review in case of significant health improvements, permanent-disability cases are the worst of the worst: These are soldiers whose injuries will clearly leave them disabled for life. A decrease in their numbers is counterintuitive in wartime.)

[zen]

Originally Posted by MTAtech

That just confirms what Theo was saying, the VA is no longer the best.

How the hell did you get that from his statement?

The VA's have come a long way in the last 10 years. Not the best but very good indeed. Their reputation as a second class facility is long gone. They employ some of the best Physicians around.

[TOAD6147]

Walter Reed is a military facility, not run by the V.H.A.

And therein lies the bugaboo: the military is broken in more ways than one. So I have to disagree with MTA here. The VA, while grossly under budgeted, is still a top-notch institution and a shinning example of nationalized health care.

The VA's have come a long way in the last 10 years. Not the best but very good indeed. Their reputation as a second class facility is long gone. They employ some of the best Physicians around.

And although I agree with Zen in most part (with the exception of his inference that anything has improved over the "last ten years"), i don't give any politician credit for it's success, least of all Repugants and their president.

[Theophylact]

And guess what? The White House put pressure on the Defense Department to privatize the workforce at Walter Reed; the contract went to IAP, which

is owned by Cerberus Capital Management LP, an asset-management firm chaired by former Treasury secretary John W. Snow. The company is headed by two former high-ranking executives of KBR, formerly known as Kellogg Brown & Root. Al Neffgen, IAP's chief executive, was chief operating officer for a KBR division before joining IAP in 2004. IAP's president, Dave Swindle, is a former KBR vice president.

KBR -- now where have I heard that name before? Oh, wait...