[snakeoil]

There are rumblings in Swampville (D.C.) by the GOP about privatizing Social Security, Medicare and the VA Medical System. Wall Street has been chumping at the bit to get their hands on that money. Paul Ryan has made it his life's work to either get rid of SS and Medicare or to privatize it. I think that the driving force behind this idea is simple. Congress borrowed $1 Trillion from the SS and has to pay interest on it every year. Watch what happens if privatization happens; that loan will suddenly become a non-issue or the interest on the loan will be paid to Wall Street.

Maryland has a law about privatization of Maryland Government services. The company must prove in writing that the privatization with save the state money and the contract with the company must contain guarantees. Maryland reserves the right to terminate the contract at any time. Not surprisingly, very few proposals to privatize government services ever come before the Maryland legislature.

A great read on government privatization is David Cay Johnson's book "Free Lunch." available on Kindle.com.

[johnforbes]

There are many reasons to keep SS public, but I've never understood why anybody would object to allowing younger folks an opportunity to invest part of their SS (say 30 percent of it) in stocks.

Chile is not the U.S., but look at how pensions were reformed there.

As to the VA, I've thought all along that the enormous VA hospitals were dinosaurs. If I went to one, I'd have to wait in line for hours behind disabled WW II vets. Yes, I SHOULD have to wait in line behind them because I'm very healthy, but the point is that these large VA hospitals really don't work. Why not just give vets a card allowing them to get treatment anywhere convenient to them?

[RealJustme]

Why not just give vets a card allowing them to get treatment anywhere convenient to them?

Bingo! It would result in a fraction of the cost of keeping the massive, ineffective, ineffectual, unproductive, incompetent, inept, incapable government VA system. Plus easy access to needed treatment. I'm betting Trump blows his top when he really learns of all the VA blood suckers drawing salaries while basically doing nothing to help Vets.

[RealJustme]

Another example of why the VA needs to under adult leadership with accountability. When a country is run by a leader more concerned about gay rights and defending black criminals than or Vets....this is the result.

TALIHINA, Okla. –  Four staff members have resigned from a southeastern Oklahoma veterans facility rather than face the possibility of getting fired, after a resident died with maggots in a wound.Raymie Parker identified the late veteran as his father, Owen Reese Peterson. He died Oct. "During the 21 days I was there ... I pled with the medical staff, the senior medical staff, to change his bandages," Parker said. "I was met with a stonewall."

The agency said a physician's assistant and three nurses, including the director of nursing, resigned after an investigation was conducted. Spokesman Shane Faulkner said all four chose to resign before the termination process began, with avoids a record of termination, from being placed in their official files.

[Clownkicker]

john, the VA has expertise in illness and injuries most often found in veterans. The large VA hospitals have people with specific knowledge of treat these conditions all focused in a single location. 'One stop shopping'

The military system has the best limb-rebuild surgeons and expertise in dealing with traumatic injury issues, they are cutting edge in prosthetics and traumatic brain injury, the best programs for rehabilitation, the camaraderie of shared experience that does wonders for recovery, and it may even make the difference between a veteran going to the hospital at all when they need one.
Regular hospitals can't (and wouldn't anyway because it would cut into profits) have all these people on hand.

Why not just ask veterans if they want to attend just anywhere? If they say "yes" then the whole thing could be done away with.
I suspect they would scream "NO" with a deafening roar.
And if they still want it, they should have it, no questions asked.

[Intrepid]

If you charged off a landing craft, parachuted into Normandy, froze in the Chosin Reservoir, or humped a ruck through the jungles of Southeast Asia, you deserve the best care in the quickest way. You've paid your premium up front. The idea of a card that can be presented anywhere with a priority status should be implemented ASAP.

However, DonkeyRats feel the need to control everyone's lives in every way possible so they will fight tooth and nail to prevent it.

[johnforbes]

Give the choice and see what vets want.

Just say to vets, here is a card you can use to get treatment anywhere, and we'll keep the VA hospitals intact for a few years and see if there is some intrinsic demand for them in terms of limb loss expertise.

For decades, though, I've wondered whether groups which meet to discuss their PTSD don't actually increase or continue PTSD when the real solutions (no drinking, no smoking, no illegal drugs, daily exercise if function permits, constructive thoughts about the future as opposed to dwelling on the past, etc) are already known.

I also favor voucher programs giving parents the choice of private school.

[RealJustme]

the VA has expertise in illness and injuries most often found in veterans.

The VA has experience in collecting bonuses by denying and delaying treatment to demonstrate how they saved money. What do libtards have against simply allowing Vets to get treatment from local medical sources?

[tvd]

I have been asking around here locally (Orlando, Melbourne, Titusville, Daytona), and I am finding general overall satisfaction with vets that use the V.A. medical facilities.

It must be somehow related to individual states' problems managing the system. But then the government is involved, and they can't manage to wipe their asses right.

[snakeoil]

John...In regards to your post I have only one comment REMEMBER 2008. I'm sure you will admit that Wall Street is up to the same nasty tricks that brought on 2008. Hell, they're still selling the CDO's (Colateralized Debt Obligations( that sunk the World.s economy, only under another name.