VA wait times mean some die before getting care

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

Here is your government run health care system. This is what many on the far left want for you and your family.

Internal Veterans Affairs Department documents show that at least two veterans died last year waiting to see a doctor while others couldn’t get primary care appointments for up to eight months, members of a House oversight and investigations panel said Thursday.

Addressing the ongoing problem of vets who suffer through long waits for appointments at VA hospitals and clinics, House lawmakers joined federal investigators and veterans service organizations in castigating VA on an issue that has endured for more than a decade.

“Evidence shows that many VA facilities, when faced with a backlog of thousands of outstanding or unresolved consultations, decided to administratively close out these requests. Some reasons given included that the request was years old, too much time had elapsed, or the veteran had died,” said Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., chairman of the House Veterans Oversight and Investigations panel.

“This is unacceptable,” said Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Ariz., the panel’s ranking Democrat. “Veterans deserve timely, accessible health care.”

According to VA, about 49 percent of new patients and 90 percent of established patients are able to see a primary care doctor or specialist within VA’s goal of 14 days, a metric established in 2011.

But the first-time patients who weren’t seen within 14 days waited an average 50 days to schedule initial appointments.

VA wait times mean some die before getting care - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

 

[editec]

No wait times here in Maine.

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

No wait times here in Maine.

Nobody lives in Maine.

I'm sure this problem isn't consistent across the board. I imagine geography is a factor.

 

[Dugdale_Jukes]

No idea what wait times are here in WV, but the VA system is very, very good. If it were open to everyone, few would miss the arrogant fucks in regular medical practices.

Who is holding up funding? It sure isn't Obama. He seems ready to tax the rich people American service men protect, if that would help serve more veterans.

Where is the nutball element on that solution?

 

[Connery]

No wait times here in Maine.

Nobody lives in Maine.

I'm sure this problem isn't consistent across the board. I imagine geography is a factor.

You have a good point, Florida has a large concentration of veterans so they fudge numbers to meet standards. "Tampa Bay's two veterans hospitals have changed a much-watched measure of their performance by increasing from 30 to 120 days the time a patient must go without an appointment before being placed on a waiting list, interviews and documents obtained by the Tampa Bay Times show. at James A. Haley VA Medical Center in Tampa, a switch from 30 to 120 days this month left the hospital's waiting list for outpatient appointments much improved. It dropped from March's 4,981 patients to 1,800 this month, Haley figures show."....
VA standard for veterans awaiting appointments hiked from 30 to 120 days | Tampa Bay Times

 

[hortysir]

Imagine the wait times for the rest of America when EVERYBODY has insurance coverage and the number of physicians and nurses haven't grown proportionately

 

[uscitizen]

Seems like I remember Madeline Albright and Bob dole being on a blue ribbon commission under Bush II on this and promising things would be fixed...

 

[waltky]

hortysir wrote: Imagine the wait times for the rest of America when EVERYBODY has insurance coverage and the number of physicians and nurses haven't grown proportionately

The AMA lobby in Washington sees to it that additional medical schools aren't built...

... so that the number of doctors and nurses graduating aren't increasing...

... thus keeping competition constrained so that those who do enter the professions...

... continue to make top money for their services - don't look for it to change anytime soon.