VA Scandal

OK. We got rid of Shinseki. But we still have all those under him that did something that was illegal who will not be disciplined because we got rid of the top man. Does this make no sense to anyone here beside me?

You mean that ultraconservative guy who would like to end government and make the Koch brothers king of the U S of A.

I'm not sure Robert Gates qualifies to run the VA; his experience is much different than running a service program for 20 million vets vs running the defense department.

There are over 20 million vets. VA hospitals are a service industry; running the defense department is managing top echelon people who run the different services and budgets. No comparison.

Do you know who Robert Gates is, because you sure haven't described him.

I believe that my $6,700 is the correct result of a division action using a known dividend and a known divisor.

Rabel222, thank for the translation of hawkeye's cockamamie logic

Has someone advocated doing this or something similar? This appears to be a straw man argument - ascribing to people opinions that they don't have so that you can condemn them for them.

I made no argument, so there was no logic or lack of logic, just a fact. The VA spends $6.700 per person in their care, and many are only partly in their care. America spends on average $8.500 per person per year on healthcare. It is not for sure that the VA is not getting enough money, perhaps the problem is that they spend it poorly.

We need to see analysis and argument, the assertion that the VA does not have enough money is not good enough.

Try to keep up. I wasent refering to Gates.

You being ultraconservative I was sure you would disagree with me so this ends our conversation on this point.

If you would look at the disparity between veterans ages and the population in general than $8500 isent even in the ballpark for veterans who not only have physical problems but mental problems as well. I wonder how much a new arm or leg costs the VA. Do you think $6700 will pay for either. Like I said your spreading BS.

That's really not the issue; the main issue is that thousands of veterans did not get the help they needed. Many committed suicide after returning from the front of battle. That's been going on for a very long time - and the GOP cut veteran's benefits to boot!
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/veterans-benefits-senate-republicans-104060.html

Our politics stink in every way 24/7.

Did they vote to cut it or to not increase it?

When the number of vets continues to increase, not funding benefits for the vets is a cut. You can't keep adding vets into prior budget numbers; that's a cut!

No, it's not a cut. You said something that was factually incorrect. Republicans voted against a bill that would have added funds. They may have been wrong to do so, I haven't studied the bill, but at least tell the truth.

From Bill Prady: There's another part of the V.A. story that isn't being covered.
The number of vets waiting for medical care increased sharply under the Obama administration. Some of that can be attributed to casualties from our current wars, but the biggest cause of the increase was a change in policy.
Sufferers of PTSD, Gulf War Syndrome, Agent Orange Syndrome (Vietnam war vets) and a number of other conditions were welcomed into the V.A. system. The Obama administration reversed the long-standing policy of the V.A. that required these vets to meet a nearly insurmountable standard of proof of the causes of their diseases to get treatment.
Combine that with the Republican Party's refusal to fully fund the V.A. and you get long wait times. Very long wait times.

Really? If you click on the link to hawkeye's comment to which you were responding it take you to the one where he brought up Gates, Not sure how anyone "keeping up" would have realized you meant someone else, but that's OK.

Thanks, edgar. I read something similar a while ago; that there's a increase in vets seeking help from the VA while funding is being cut. I didn't know about the change in policy about the 'standard of proof' clause inserted by the Obama administration. Another good reason why I don't trust Obama.

It was also revealing that we kept hearing that vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan were committing more suicides because they lacked the proper care by the VA/our government.

All this shyt add up!

Shinseki was a scapegoat. This is an instiutioal failure caused by decades of budget cuts at exactly the time we are of fighting somewhere. The death rates were very low for Afghanistan and Iraq. Injuries that never made it off the battlefield twenty years ago now live for years and not without unbelievable cost and problems. We are now recognizing the significance of concussion caused brain and internal damages. But to ignore the real problem, politics, is counter productive.

When VA was ignoring or downplaying Agent Orange do you think it was a sole VA ignoring the rest of the nation or do you think it had to with conservatives claiming the taxpayers were being soaked by malingering vets?

Why did Bush shut VA hospitals in Texas? Because he didn't think there'd be any vets or even wounded vets coming back? Why does the GOP house cuts budgets? Why does the GOP House add amendments to vets bills like the one from last week regarding not putting war with Iran off the table?

Sorry I vented on you, one of the good guys.

It was my understanding from reading my post that Obama removed that tough standard of proof.