V.A Healthcare...am I special or what?

First of all, let me say that I'm glad you had a good experience. Yes, the VA can work well at times. However, the VA has more than its share of horror stories also. The VA can be used as an example of government run healthcare, on both the pro and con sides. Why? Because all anyone has to do to make it work for their side is pick and choose what kind of examples they want. I know I use the VA as a negative example, even though I have had both possitive and negative experiences with the VA. The same goes when people use other nation's health care systems as examples. The fact is, all the cited systems have as many horror stories as our current system does. My biggest question in the whole debate in general is, why should we trade one horror filled system for another? It doesn't make sense. What we should be doing is looking at the system we have now. Identifying both what is and isn't working about it, and come up with solutions for the actual problems found. So far, no government officials seem to want to do this. They either want to defend the current system, or throw it out in favor of some system that can't claim to fix any of the real problems without replacing them with more, sometimes more destructive, problems. I have literally been sent on an over 200 mile round trip to get my wrists x-rayed. When I had kidney stones, I was sent to a hospital in another state, where I had to find my own housing, for the 2 weeks it took me to pass the stone. Mind you, I was an OUT patient, but they required me to stay within an hour of the VA hospital in Salt Lake City. I had to check in every other day, and "report" on the progress of passing the stone. That was after being admitted to the hospital for the first 48 hours for "observation" and IV fluids. In the entire 48 hours, the only time anyone came in to "observe" me was when the IV bag needed changing and meal times. I never once saw a doctor while I was there. I was a college student at the time, so I missed two weeks of school for something that shouldn't have interrupted my schooling in the least. On the other hand, I have also gone to VA facilities and been treated to exactly the same kind of professional care that you cite here. I have worked in a VA clinic where most of the people were great! On the other hand, I was also fired from that clinic because my disability got worse while I was working there. If it were a civilian company who did that, heads would have rolled. As it was, not only couldn't I do anything about it, I couldn't sue either.. even if I wanted to. I was simply fired. End of sentence.

Spalladino, I do not understand where people come up with the idea that everything takes forever, Now if you see specialist that might be an issue but it is not because of the insurance but because of the lack of specialist in that certain field. My husband is also a vet, they have always made appointments for him in a timely fashion and they have gone up and beyond to make sure he gets screenings for his age group. They send his meds on time and they get delivered right to the front door. Our VA here in Mass is very organized! There is this thing in life and that is you get back what you give. Be nasty to the person behind the desk and you will wait forever, respect and smile and waalaa you are in like flynn. I do have a question for you though, hubby just put in a claim because the VA diagnosed him with PTSD. The question I have does he have to be 100 percent for us to be able to get CHAMPVA?

My father was retired Airforce, so we had TRICARE. OMG, it was the worst thing as a child finding out you had to be seen by a doctor because we ONLY went on base for appointments and it was a GUARANTEED hour wait just to SEE your doctor regardless of your appointment and an hour if you were lucky!! Can you imagine waiting this long AND THEN getting prescription from the doctor and having to go to another wing to the pharmacy and waiting another 1/2 hour for your medicine, it was just always in slow motion to me as a child. I'm amazed how patient my parents were over and over with these visits (i have two brothers, two sisters) and THANK GOD I never knew the difference and just accepted that this is how things were. Keep in mind I lived in a very small rural town that you had to drive 40 minutes back and forth to the airforce base. I experienced headaches with TRICARE when I moved out on my own and I could never stand the long wait times just to get a representative on the phone about my insurance--you'd be waiting for 3 hours! I had so much hospital debt as a teen from going to emergency rooms because I had no clue about Medicaid and it just seemed impossible to get a hold of TRICARE (my parents just said call them). I eventually got a roommate who schooled me in how to get insurance through the state but by that time my bill was 5,000 (age 17-19). Is that going me convince me of supporting this HealthCARE Reform bill, no.

my best friend Nelda has that same insurance through her husband 'and she swears by it.it has paid where other insurances wou ldnt and she said its so dependable and she feels special too. I now think it must be a very good reliable insurance.she said its the best she has ever had and the waiting time is really great.so she is also a satisfied user.

Well I think you're pretty special, you have the ability to think for yourself and you were or are a conservative LOL Just kidding, you are much more conservative than I, how's that? That's great about your appointment! When I had to see a rheumatologist for my RA I had to wait 9 months. There were 2 practices in my city one that took my insurance and one that didn't, mine has since gone out of business. I couldn't believe that they were booked for that long, I mean my son goes to an asthma doctor and he is normally booked for about 4 months out but, he has 3 practices that are pretty far apart.

sounds like that one is well-organised

I'm so glad you found a wonderful facility where you can get good health care. Of course you're special, but you're a special person in general too. I'm just so glad you got healthcare. My mom was on COBRA for two years after she lost her job, but that ran out several months ago. My dad works in non profit, so he doesn't have health insurance at all. He just got it through wherever my mom happened to work. They really weren't sure what they were going to do. They could get by with my dad because he rarely goes to the doctor, even when he needs to, the silly, stubborn boy! But my mom on the other hand needs health insurance. Her health problems are why she had to resign from her last job (six months later a whole bunch of people got laid off from her work, and she would have been laid off too if she were still there). So anyway, they checked into Insure Oklahoma. It's insurance they can get through the state, even though it won't be as good as the health insurance they had when my mom was working. They can't keep their same doctor, but they are thankful they are poor enough to qualify! LOL It kicks in on Septemeber 1st, and they are so grateful. My dad had to put off getting tubes in his ears, and my mom can't pay for one of her prescriptions until it kicks in next month. The co-pay is manageable for them, and I'm so thankful for Insure Oklahoma. God certainly answers prayers.

I'm glad you got such considerate people making your appointments and giving you such consideration! I hope all Vet's hospitals are like that but I've heard horrible stories about vets that don't get decent care. I think the hospital that you're going to thinks you're special because you're married to a vet and they think veterans are special. And they are. That's why we speak English instead of German, why we don't have to worry about our doors being kicked in at night while we're asleep. I think all veterans should be treated with reverence and dignity.

My dad had great service at his VA in Brooklyn, it is the management of any business that gives a good outcome. Look at all the long lasting franchises, some people buy one and mishandle it and it closes, yet the larger corporation thrives.