Will Soldiers Have to Use Private Ins?
 

Maybe someone else has posted this, but it was news to us here at the hospital. Ya'll, this is just wrong.

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration is considering making veterans use private insurance to pay for treatment of combat and service-related injuries.

The plan would be an about-face on what veterans believe is a longstanding pledge to pay for health care costs that result from their military service.

But in a White House meeting Monday, veterans groups apparently failed to persuade President Barack Obama to take the plan off the table.

Link perhaps?

I saw a long story about it somewhere yesterday and then an interview on, I believe CNN. Obama met with 11 guys from a bunch of different Veterans groups. There was some privatized 3rd party plan he ad that would save 500 million .... It looks like Obama is gonna drop this idea pretty quick. He got slammed by all 11 groups and apparently the D's he floated it to as well.
We'll see.

Yeah. That's just wrong. Whether or not you agree with whatever war we're in at the time, the men and women who give their all should have war injuries etc. taken care of. It's part of the cost of making war.

I could see it as part of a plan to have everyone in the country covered by medical insurance, with the advantage that vets would have a choice to go somewhere besides the VA hospital. Other than that, no.

I don't know any of the details of this, so am just commenting with no facts, but if he was floating a plan to privatize the medical care, but still pay for it with taxpayer money, then I don't see any problem with that. If you can keep or improve the care, and save money, it's all good.

The American Legion is pissed.

EVERY veterans organization is pissed.

All the same organizations that were previoulsy bitching about the current system are now bitching that it's being changed. Right?

right!

Looking at Jinx's link, it looks like it would actually be the worst of both worlds: the soldiers would still get treated at the VA, but then their insurance would be required to reimburse the VA for any services. On the one hand, I guess I can understand the idea that these people have private insurance anyway, so why not save some taxpayer money... but it certainly shouldn't operate under the same rules for deductibles, maximum benefit limits, etc.

LEAD BALLOON ALERT

This will not fly.


Only until he is promoted. After that, I guess they will have to use Private Parts.

Yes, or I could see it as soldiers needing care, and being refused because of some reason the insurer pulls out of their ass.

Vets, and everyone, should be allowed to go to whatever doctor they want, and get the care they need. We reeeeally need to get rid of insurance companies and have a single-payer system like most other countries. Insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies just make costs higher and they really don't provide the coverage a lot of people think they do. Let doctors get back to caring for people, like they want to and like they should. There are too many rules with insurance companies. They are too corrupt and only care about making money. Frankly, I was disturbed when I heard Obama was meeting with all those indusrty people to help reform health care. Why let the foxes gaurd the henhouse?

In addition, I think we need to something about frivolous lawsuits without hindering the need to hold people accountable when they really do harm. I think they should put cameras in all operating rooms, for the purpose of determining if there is fault when people try to sue surgeons. Sometimes shit just happens and people die. Sometimes, a doctor makes a serious mistake. If there were cameras, the hospital could make a generous offer to the patient and maybe deter a lawsuit, and bad doctors could be stopped from practicing medicine and fucking it up for good doctors.

I remember Mike Yon saying the Brits in Iraq hoped for a head wound, if they were wounded. I seems wounded Brits were evacuated home and put into the national health system, but if it was a head wound they were sent to the American hospital in Germany.

I think its great that he TALKED to them. Who the heck else is he supposed to talk to about it? He is relatively inexperienced - remember. I applaud that he is trying to learn first and then act.

Who would you like him to speak with, sugarpop?