Honestly -

[kyburg]

March 5 (Bloomberg) -- The shortcomings in outpatient treatment that were exposed at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington exist throughout the military health-care system, Representative John Tierney said today during a hearing at the center.

Shame on me for quoting Bloomberg. But honestly.

What was your first clue?

What makes you think care under the VA system - which is a 'benefit', not insurance and they'll be very quick to tell you that at the door - would be much better than the care anyone gets walking into a facility today?

You've been the ER lately - within two years or less. Everyone does - tell me.

How long did you have to wait? Six hours? Longer?

Left AMA before you got care? Sure you did. You probably went home, treated it yourself and scheduled an office visit. You could. Faster.

Get hit with a huge bill, even if you did get seen? Sure you did. Particularly if you did not have insurance, and were you referred out perhaps at the same time to the county facility? Oh, and if you think the VA is short on funds and staff, you ought to try the tax-paid-for facilities that are there to act as the safety net.

We're back to the days before hospitals were considered the place one went by choice to get well.

MRSA? Ever heard of it? No? Go google it. Scared now? Entirely facility born, bred and maintained.

Talk about your elephant in the living room.

Hey. Remember all those wonderful trauma centers? Know where your nearest one is? Or if you even HAVE one? (You in Florida? No. You don't have one. Anywhere. Disney World and everything, and not ONE trauma center in the whole state.)

You get hit on the I15 on the California side of the border between Nevada and California, on your way to Las Vegas. You'll be airlifted to Loma Linda...that's just South and East of San Bernardino.

Hope the helicopter don't crash. Of course, that's after a unit finds you, which could be up to two hours.

Pro-life, my butt.

You know, I think all of this brougha is very nice, but you know something? This isn't symptomatic of the military insofar as our whole healthcare system has been underfunded to the point of failure for decades.

I doubt Walter Reed has to meet JCAHO requirements, being a military facility - that whole 'benefit' thing again, they don't bill Medicare.

This isn't even as easy as taking candy from babies. You're sick and disabled? You're invisible. Oh, until someone makes a news story over it - everyone clucks a bit, people get fired and maybe...maybe someone gets their wrists slapped.

When...WHEN...are we going to ever ACKNOWLEDGE THIS IS A PROBLEM? Change? Oh, that's what you need for the soda machine downstairs.

rrrrr.

Comments

[feyandstrange.livejournal.com]

And the sad thing is that in some ways, VA care is a lot better than what I get via Medicare and Medicaid. Walter Reed and the combat-vet dumping grounds are hellholes, but the VA did manage to computerize all their records not too long ago; when NOLA was evacuated, the only people who could get immediate care in other states were VA patients, because their records were in the national computer database.

Good thing I live in CA; our state system is so much better than most others.

Although I think people are starting to notice; recent headlines/surveys said that health care was #1 voter priority this election season, and that a majority support a socialized medicine system AND are willing to pay more in taxes for it.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

California is also the state that takes the federal funds for Medicaid and in turn, provides Medi-Cal and bills us residents for what Medicaid doesn't come across for.

More babies born in CA are born with Medi-Cal insurance than any other provider, including private pay.

Surely someone notices, right?

[feyandstrange.livejournal.com]

Well, I noticed, but I'm still trying to figure out why being fifty bucks over the monthly income limit - my whopping disability check - means I am supposed to be able to pay four hundred every month towards my medical expenses.

And come on, it's not like poor and uninsured people vote. Half of them are illegals anyways, and you don't think we let cripples vote here, do you?

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

I'm sure it's been suggested to you, but if not, let me pass this bit of advice on to you.

Go spend the fifty bucks on health insurance of some kind. Dental. Long-term care. Prescription discount cards. Whatever will bring you under - just under, mind.

What a racket.

[feyandstrange.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's what I did for last year, but then they tried to run every single claim through my "other insurance" (vision only) first, and things got hairy. ALso, my social worker is out recovering from surgery, Medicaid lady #1 quit, and as of Jan 15 they still couldn't give me the new Medicaid numbers for this year over the phone, because Plan D confused everyone.

But hey, they gave me the wheelchair at last.