There is absolutely no reason why the VA model cannot be expanded nationwide, to cover all citizens of this country. It saves money. It's better medicine. What else do you want?
The Republicans will fight it tooth and nail. Why? Big pharma.. and no I'm not referring to Rush Limbaugh. The drug cartels in the U.S. are very similar to the oil cartels. They soak profits on the backs of the working class, and deprive the poor of basic medical decency.
CBS News recently did a story about the VA
"Why VA Health Care Gets an A+." CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews spent a day at the Baltimore VA Medical Center in September interviewing VA patients and staff about the transformation of the VA health care system and how it is now recognized as a national model for quality service and customer satisfaction.
(CBS) Eighty-eight-year-old George Sack can go anywhere he wants for health care, but he chooses to go to the VA, CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews reports. That's right, the Veterans Administration.It's not perfect, but it's better than private healthcare and it's getting better. My guess is that it's running at about a 50% non-dumbass factor. If the management can ramp up to about 75% non-dumbass, then you'd see some amazing healthcare for the entire nation.
If his choice surprises you, it doesn't surprise health care experts. In studies, including one by Harvard, and in six straight years of patient satisfaction surveys, the VA earned the highest health care quality rating in the country. It's also the least expensive.
It's a remarkable turnaround from the old VA, the uncaring place once derided in movies like "Born on the Fourth of July."
Today's VA looks like the future. It has thrown out the medical paperwork and put everything about its patients in the computer.
During Sack's exam, his medications, his diabetes and blood tests are all electronic records. In the radiology lab, there's no more x-ray film. Futuristic 3-D scans of patients are simply entered electronically. Sack can go to any VA clinic in the country and a computer will tell his doctor everything - from when his shots are due to when he hasn't taken his medicine.
"This computer keeps me honest," Sack says.
The VA is also a bargain for taxpayers, and not just because of the computers. Doctors are salaried employees, which saves on labor. Drugs are cheaper because of negotiated discounts. Even with its older population, VA care overall costs 30 percent less than the national average.
Dr. Ken Kizer, the former VA official who spearheaded the turnaround, says the rest of the health care system should be taking notes.
"What was done there works. Much of it is transferable to the private sector," Kizer says.
This doesn't that mean VA care is perfect. There are often long waits to see specialists, and some veterans just back from Iraq complain of inadequate counseling for war-related stress.
"I've come to grips with the fact that the system has failed me," says Chad Best, an Iraq war veteran. "And either I put up with it, or I shut up."
Still, Sack is pleased. Sixty-two years ago, then-Sgt. Sack risked everything to storm the beach at Normandy. Today, by delivering the most high-tech medical care anywhere, his country is paying him back.
When you consider government projects, most of them are bloated wastes of money. When you get quality management that focuses on the product and not the process, you'll see huge increases in performance. But, because it makes so much sense, we probably won't see it in our lifetimes.
Oh.. and you're less likely to die from a blunder in a VA hospital. You can thank geeks like me for that. In the private sector, their focus is money first. Our's is always patient safety first.
Is it suprising that the Republican controlled Congress hasn't provided for returning vets from Iraq? Survey says - no!
1 comment:
I really wish we would go to socialized medicine. It works well for Canada. From what you wrote, the VA has an excellent system already in place.
As a self employed professional, I don't have a lot of good choices for health insurance like people that work for large companies. But the insurance for people that work at large companies sucks too!
I am tired of paying huge amounts of money for lousy health insurance that requires you to go to a doctor in their network (usually a crappy doctor), and then they won't pay half the time.
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