I've Got Things to Say About the V.A.

     As an adult child of a parent who served in Korea and the relative of several other veterans alive and deceased, I certainly have things to say about the V.A. and the recent investigation. Yes I do. [Paragraph eight for those who want to skip the antipasto].

     I do not like the President. I refer to him as Obummer because he certainly has been a bummer. The government should be involved in as little as possible in my opinion. I think the government should get out of the marriage business, health care insurance, and the interwebz. And quit picking on responsible and sane and law-abiding citizens who like guns.

     I believe that folks who get married by any clergy should be referred to as married. Those who get married by a justice of the peace, that would be a secular ceremony and thus "partnered" with the same rights and responsibilities as those couples who opted for a religious sort of ceremony. This is a long-time opinion that I hold. Clergy and places of worship are already protected by law in that they are not required to solemnize any sort of coupling that they cannot agree with by reasons of faith or other. Civil rights for all civils [*civilians]. Thus two adults of the same gender can get hitched at city hall or by any clergy that will have them. End of problem. 

     I am furious about the Obummer Care fiasco. I am livid about forcing seniors and disabled into this "donut hole" where people are then required to beg for charity in order to pay for meds. [N.B. Any disabled person is not eligible for their state's pharmacy discount program unless they are age 62. And if they worked long enough not to be eligible for Medicaid, well, it's shit out of luck time for them]. To be fair, the whole donut hole crap was started during Bush 43. Obummer did not help matters. In a few years, there will be a new tax for anyone who has signed up for expensive "better than the usual" health insurance. It's in there. I read the manuscript. Fasten your seatbelts folks. This healthcare crapola is scheduled to get worse and worse.

     Obummer and the N.S.A. versus the Interwebz: G.T.F.O., period. Leave the internet alone for crying out loud. Parents bear the responsibility for what their kids view on the web and on television and every other thing. If I wanted a set of rug rats, I would have had them. We don't want any stinking national I.D. card with our very own government generated "password" on it in order to access the Interwebz. Hey, alternative satellite web to be started by the people for the people and screw the N.S.A. and national internet i.d. cards, I'm down with that. Screw you N.S.A. for doing what you are doing and screw the politicians too.

     And hey, don't like guns? Don't get one. I'd rather have my loaded gun when a serial killer or a rapist barges into my space than do what has been suggested by Paul Rosenthal, democrat politician. Women who are about to get raped should "pee their panties?" Or maybe upchuck on the bad guy. Uh, no. Blow the rapist away and apologize later. Hey. Those who have ever been suicidal ought to hook up with a crossbow or something else instead of a gun. Arrows are harder to aim at oneself than bullets are. Just saying. Anyway, guns or other weapons for safety for all civils [*civilians] who want them and don't have a mental hell history and stuff like that. A national registry-- hell no Jack. 

     Less government, more fun.


     Unfortunately, I have been exposed to the ways and means of the local Veteran's Administration as the relative of a veteran. First off, the wait for appointments. Yep, someone got that right. I swear, the system is hoping that veterans [and old people and the disabled] will die rather than render aid in a timely manner. When the appointments to see the V.A. "primary care doc" must all get previewed by a nurse in that office first and said nurse never calls back, even after being called repeatedly, there might be a problem. My solution was simple. Take Dad to our family doc for all care and concerns. Visit the V.A. primary care doc when forced to-- which is currently once or twice a year.

     Getting Dad to the V.A. emergency room during a severe illness is impossible. The local ambulance will not deliver any vet to the V.A. hospital without a hefty charge of over a thousand bucks. So Dad goes to the local hospital's E.R. No matter how incompetent the medical staff there might be, he does not have any other choice. The local ambulance service will only deliver to one hospital. You know why??? Because Medicare balks at paying ambulance services for deliver to anywhere but the local hospital. Thanks for nothing, inefficient Medicare system. The V.A. medical staff all want the families to get their loved one to the V.A. E.R. during a crisis. Hey, not possible.

     Appointments at the V.A. next. These would be the specialty clinics-- eye appointments, neurology, urology and all the other ologies that are at the V.A. and not at the local V.A. "primary care physician's" office. Count on spending most of the day there for one appointment. Taking a demented and incontinent and very tired vet to a crowded waiting room for several hours at a clip just does not work out well for anyone except the V.A.'s way of doing things. Which is to say, inefficient way of doing things.

     If Dad had bloods or tests done at the local hospital E.R. or via the family doc, that doesn't matter. The V.A. wants their own tests. Go ahead, give the old man yet another swallowing eval or head scan or bloods or urine tests. It's only money. It's wasteful. And stressful for the already stressed out patient.

     I pause here to say yes, there are many dedicated staff people at the V.A. [the V.A. primary care doc and nurse excluded]. Even so, the system is stifling.

     Do I think Obummer should screw around with the V.A. system?, having said all of that. Hell no. Obummer should not be engaging in healthcare policies. The V.A. system is inefficient yes. We don't need the president to step in. Step out Obummer and go away. Privatization does not benefit the patient. We can create change without the latest dictator in D.C. And we can do it faster and better than Obummer can. 

radical sapphoq says: The above is a rant and includes my opinions. My opinions aren't necessarily fact but neither are they necessarily fiction. I said it once and I'm about to say it again. Less government, more fun. I'm out.