Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Ideas to Improve the VA

I have an idea for General Shinseki as he takes over the Veterans Affairs Ministry. Reduce the department's dependency on the VA Hospitals in providing medical services. Instead, provide veterans with health care with providers of their choice by paying for that care in a manner similar to health insurance. Provide training and programs for local hospitals and physicians and nurses across the country in the kinds of medical problems that veterans present. This will make it more convenient for veterans who don't happen to live near a VA facility and will spread the know how for dealing with extreme trauma and other war related health problems throughout the medical professions. Also, it will make VA hospitals compete for veterans' custom, and this is bound to result in much needed improvements.

In terms of disabilty benefits, I reckon it's high time to revise the schedule for rating disabilities to eliminate the extremely subjective and arbitrary criteria for awarding benefits. Let's come up with objective criteria for as many disabilities as we can.

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