Remember Ben Carson's comment on closing the VA? Would you believe he just doubled down?

2015-09-15T09:07:03-04:00

"Carson: Shutter VA healthcare system"

Think it is a re-post?
This is from Mr. Carson's Monday comment!

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GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson said on Monday that military veteran care requires such a drastic overhaul, he’ll end the Veterans Health Administration if he wins the White House.

“When it comes to veterans’ care, Americans are rightfully outraged, and can no longer be content with business as usual,” Carson wrote in a USA Today op-ed.

“The VA is like the federal version of the Department of Motor Vehicles: inefficient, incompetent and infuriating,” he said. “Except the VA is much worse: at least the DMV’s long wait times do not kill its applicants.”

Carson said his background as a neurosurgeon makes him skeptical that Veteran Affairs can rehabilitate its ailing healthcare system.

“These failures cannot stand,” Carson added. “At a minimum, the Veterans Health Administration should be eliminated to forge a 21st Century veterans health care solution.”

Carson said he is outraged by the agency’s delays, corruption and poor service for former military personnel.

“The astonishing findings of public and private audits have turned out to be much worse than anyone suspected,” Carson wrote.

“Decades of effort and billions of taxpayer dollars have been thrown at ‘fixing’ the VA, and the results have been abysmal,” he said. “The backlog of veterans waiting for treatment or even disability classification is stupendous, and drives them to frustration and even desperation.”

Carson argued on Monday that the VA must increase its speed and efficiency in dealing with veterans’ medical needs.

It must also improve its programs for helping veterans re-enter civilian life, he said.

Carson’s remarks come amid surging enthusiasm for the retired doctor across multiple national polls.

He currently ranks second in the race for next year’s GOP presidential nomination with 16.8 percent, according to the latest RealClearPolitics average of samplings.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/253615-carson-shutter-va-healthcare-system

Carson: Shutter VA healthcare system

"When it comes to veterans’ care, Americans are rightfully outraged," he says.

Response by SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL made Sep 15 at 2015 9:09 AM

2015-09-15T09:09:06-04:00

SPC Jan Allbright, M.Sc., R.S. that would be a travesty action for all whom served

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 15 at 2015 9:11 AM

2015-09-15T09:11:10-04:00

I honestly think he has a good idea. Letting the DOD handle all that, the transfer of paperwork could make our lives easier, without so much redundancy and red tape.

Response by SGT Ben Keen made Sep 15 at 2015 9:11 AM

2015-09-15T09:11:36-04:00

I think it's rather easy to sit there from the outside and make such comments. Does the VA need an overhaul, heck yeah it does but is shutting down the system the responsible action to take? Heck no. The problems within the VA start at the top. It's not necessarily the fault of the average VA Health Care employee that these shortcomings are happening. Most of the time, the average employee has only the best in mind for the Veteran but due to judgement calls made at the highest of levels, their hands are tied.

Do I know the best way to resolve the issue? No but I don't agree with shutting it all down and trying to rebuild a new system while thousands of men and women wait on the sidelines waiting to receive treatment.

Response by Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS made Sep 15 at 2015 9:21 AM

2015-09-15T09:21:39-04:00

To be fair, he is not saying "Don't take care of Veterans" he is saying "This organization is incapable of taking care of Veterans, we need a better solution."

I've alluded to to that with my rants on the Dept of Veterans Affairs.

I have not once seen him say Veterans should not be taken care of. I have not seen any candidate say that. What I have seen is debate on HOW it should be accomplished. Some say "fix" the system. Some say "revamp" the system. He is saying "scrap" the system, and put it back on the originating organization. Honestly that approach has some merit.

Response by PO3 Steven Sherrill made Sep 15 at 2015 10:15 AM

2015-09-15T10:15:05-04:00

Ok, so Dr. Carson has half the battle. He knows the problem. So does every Veteran who has dealt with, or knows someone who has dealt with the VA. What concerns me is that he made didn't cover the other w's and the H.
He has the who covered.

What is he going to replace the current VA with? Scrapping the VA is fine, provided that a clear replacement entity is going to be established without denying benefits to those who have earned them. Simply scrapping the VA, and not establishing a replacement is not acceptable.

Where would these new Veteran facilities be located? I.E. are all current VA locations going to be assimilated into this new system, are there going to be fewer facilities, or are there going to be expanded facilities? There are already veterans who have to travel several hours to get to a VA facility for necessary care. Contracting the number of facilities is going to cause issues for those veterans who need not additional stressors.

When would a replacement entity be in place? Washington is notorious for moving at the pace of a dead garden slug. So if the decision was made to mothball the VA, how long will it take Washington to establish a new entity, capable of providing all necessary services, with the necessary improved efficiency? My biggest issue with this is that Washington would very likely kill the VA, then start the debate on what to replace it with. While they are debating, there would be nothing in the way of services for Veterans. So we would end up with nothing replacing bad until new.

Why mothball the VA instead of cleaning house? The VA is broken. The VA needs a complete overhaul. The VA needs to be reborn from the rotting carcass that it has become. I do not argue these points. Dr. Carson made good points in his piece. I will re-iterate that I fear mothballing the current system will lead to a void in Veteran Services. The only way that Dr. Carson's position is attainable, is if he has a clear and concise plan of action for replacing the VA. A plan of action that is going to resolve the problems facing the current VA. It does no good to get rid of the VA if there is nothing in place to provide the necessary Veteran Services.

How much is it going to cost? The Federal Government has a bad habit of spending money it doesn't have. Mothballing the current VA system is going to be expensive. Creating a new system to replace the VA is going to be expensive. Implementing the new system is going to be expensive. There are so many issues facing our nation right now, I worry that an effort to replace the VA is going to end up unfunded leading back to Veterans with no services instead of the poor services that we have now.

So I will close with these questions. Dr. Carson, what is your plan of action to resolve the issue? Can we see your plan put into writing?

I apologize for the long rant.

Response by SGM Steve Wettstein made Sep 15 at 2015 10:39 AM

2015-09-15T10:39:46-04:00

SPC Jan Allbright, M.Sc., R.S. I agree with him but it is another campaign promise. Don't forget that President Obama promised to close Gitmo. That isn't going to happen any time soon.

Response by Capt Seid Waddell made Sep 15 at 2015 10:54 AM

2015-09-15T10:54:49-04:00

I think Dr. Carson is right; the bureaucracy is strangling the VA. If veterans had a government card that they could take to any civilian hospital or doctor there would be no lengthy delays to contend with and veterans would get better service more conveniently than they get now.

Response by SGT William Howell made Sep 15 at 2015 10:58 AM

2015-09-15T10:58:14-04:00

I don't think it is fair to compare Ben to Obama on campaign promises. Obama is a professional politician. He has never had a real job. Carson has seen a need for something other than lip service for America and I think he really wants to make a change to the way the government does business.

Response by MSG Brad Sand made Sep 15 at 2015 11:08 AM

2015-09-15T11:08:33-04:00

I think he is right, we do need to increase the speed and efficiency in dealing with veteran's medical needs and the current system is BROKE. I think he is wrong on a couple things too, the American people are not sufficiently outraged and you cannot get rid of the V.A. but might be able to transition it into something more effective with proper leadership.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 15 at 2015 11:35 AM

2015-09-15T11:35:27-04:00

I listened to him last. He's too laid back for me. He doesn't know what he's talking about with the VA system. How could he know where the pitfalls are without being personally involved. All I got out of this ridiculous article is him telling us what's broken with the VA system. I didn't read anything about how to fix it. It is fixable but only through someone who knows how to fix it, not someone telling us something we already know.

Response by PO1 Glenn Boucher made Sep 15 at 2015 12:33 PM

2015-09-15T12:33:32-04:00

See when you see or hear this statement it makes some sense.
We all know that the VA is broken and needs serious reform to be more effective. But moving the VA to fall under a different department in the government is only moving the slackers and overpaid bureaucrats to a new department head where business will be conducted as usual and instead of the VA being the target, it will be some other department.
I fail to see why so many politicians think that reorganizing a failing department under a new one and renaming it makes it any better.
I know some will take offense to what I say next but its a good image to think of.
If you take a homeless person off the street, clean them up and put them in a $1000 dollar outfit but don't offer anything else in the way of change what do you have? You have an extremely well dressed homeless person that is not going to change because all that was done is to clean them up and put them in nice clothes.
The VA and the rest of our government needs to be overhauled, get rid of career politicians, stop duplicating work in several departments, get rid of contractors who cannot do a job within budget. I am certain there are many more changes that need to be done but lets fix things instead of trying to make new ones that will only add more confusion to an already confused system.

Response by CW3 Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 15 at 2015 12:54 PM

2015-09-15T12:54:59-04:00

Yes, dump it and go to a single payer system for veterans. The money saved would be better put to use in education, energy, etc. Rather than government provided AND paid, let's just go to paid.

Response by SSG Warren Swan made Sep 15 at 2015 12:57 PM

2015-09-15T12:57:41-04:00

What many of these candidates either refuse to acknowledge or care about is that just because you are the POTUS does not give you the ability to just up and abolish a secretary level shop. What would be prudent to any candidate would to have a possible solution that is feasible and long lasting; something I haven't heard from any other than "shut down the VA". I don't think for one second the American public doesn't already know of the issues plaguing us, but what we want/need to hear are solutions to these problems that will not break the bank, cost unessicary lives, provide actionable accountability, and can be adapted within short order. Shutting down the VA is NOT something any future president could do in one term. The study groups, the mando congressional hearings and investigations, the litigation both on actually shutting it down, and what to do with the workers would burn much needed time. I would recommend ANY candidate admit that VA needs an overhaul and admit that it won't be done "on my first day in office". And let's not forget that in order to take a dump, we have to ask our allies, so if Bibi, King of Saudi, PM of England, et al, don't approve it's not going to happen.

Response by LtCol Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 15 at 2015 4:45 PM

2015-09-15T16:45:19-04:00

The VA is as screwed up as Hogan's goat. The doctors, nurses and bureaucratic staff work incredibly hard. They are dedicated and caring people. There just aren't enough of them, and leadership doesn't care.
Eliminate the VA and send me to Kaiser!

Response by CW3 Kevin Storm made Sep 15 at 2015 5:39 PM

2015-09-15T17:39:59-04:00

If any of you think your service will take care of you, I got some swamp land to sell you. All of you are forgetting the VA normally does a better job than your service does when it comes for Comp and Pen. Take care of troops= x billions of dollars, screw them over and I get a shiny new XM57 Flying Tank Submarine Assault vehicle. Tough choice here...Let's look at history, 3 famous Generals: McArthur, Patton and Eisenhower were all involved in the 1932 bonus fiasco, and what happened to them? Nothing

Same DoD who told us no such thing as Agent Orange problems, no such thing as radiation problems from above ground nuclear testing, burn pit problems, PTSD is all in our minds, Gulf War Syndrome. Yeah I want these guys to take care of me, said no veteran ever.

Response by SSG Byron Napoleon made Sep 16 at 2015 12:45 AM

2015-09-16T00:45:03-04:00

Sounds like he wants improvements and without improvements, closing the VA down would be best for Vets. Nothing he said implies getting rid any VA programs. Diverting VA programs to people that can manage it effectively will be better than what is going on right now.

Response by SFC Joseph Weber made Sep 16 at 2015 12:51 AM

2015-09-16T00:51:12-04:00

I like the VA. Takes care of me pretty well. I understand the problems but if it was thrown into the private sector or big insurance, I think it would be worse.

Response by LCDR Rabbah Rona Matlow made Sep 16 at 2015 12:44 PM

2015-09-16T12:44:56-04:00

What does he know about the military?

Response by LCDR Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 16 at 2015 2:31 PM

2015-09-16T14:31:42-04:00

I actually think this could be a very viable option.

To be very clear, what he is stating is that we don't need a separate VA, NOT that we shouldn't take care of our veterans. I think the DoD could easily incorporate Veteran care and perhaps things would run more smoothly. At the very least, administrative costs would be saved by combination. Also access to specialists for both sides would increase as the providers were pooled.

Response by CPO Andy Carrillo, MS made Sep 17 at 2015 3:19 PM

2015-09-17T15:19:24-04:00

Totally agree with Dr. Carson who interned in and therefore personally experienced the VA healthcare system firsthand, unlike current administration bureaucrats. The turnovers are exceeded only by Pepperidge Farms.

Response by PO3 Laura Thompson made Sep 17 at 2015 4:23 PM

2015-09-17T16:23:59-04:00

Think about it. A private physican would love to see the VA shut down so that all his private physican pals can get that income from the government to provide services at ten times the cost. Of course he is doubling down.

Response by LTC Christopher Sands made Sep 17 at 2015 8:10 PM

2015-09-17T20:10:11-04:00

I thought Sec. Bob would clean house when he came in. Very disappointed. He is blaming the computers and software, ie "systems" over the people. The people were the ones who fixed the system to make it look like they had no one waiting over a month. All of them, management and personnel should have been FIRED.

Response by SCPO Penny Douphinett made Sep 17 at 2015 8:35 PM

2015-09-17T20:35:45-04:00

One of the most horrible ideas to fix the VA is to move it into the DOD. I agree with the other posters who say this will be the worst thing for veterans ever. I've heard more horror stories, including my own, of how whichever Service treated their folks once injured, ill, wounded, etc. than the VA. DOD would see this as a new piggy bank and would turn veterans away in record numbers.

Response by MSG Floyd Williams made Sep 18 at 2015 9:37 AM

2015-09-18T09:37:21-04:00

Maybe just maybe he have a better plan for medical treatment for military and veterans, he just not revealing yet. I can't see a doctor wanting to shutdown hospitals it don't make sense.