My son is a Marine who was critically injured in Afghanistan and medically separated from the Corp. Unfortunately, due to the extent and severity of his injuries, he has no option for the rest of his life than the VA. He is only 27. I worry about it a lot. Probably more than he does.
The care he got in the 14 months of his hospital stay was pretty good, but now that he is out....who knows?
Some VA Hospitals are apparently ok and some are death traps. It depends on the one in your area I guess.
There are a lot like your son and they should be at the top of the list with 100% priority.
There are a lot playing the system and eating up resources needlessly, including pill seekers, wear them out for disability, etc.
For many years the big VA hospitals sought out vets with Medicare, Medicaid, and Tricare eligibility because of the declining number of vets from WWII and Korea (they were dying off). These vets were encouraged to use the system because they would be re-reimbursed and could keep the budget and staff.
Additionally, periodically the services (depending who was in charge) would change large number of discharges from dishonorable, bad conduct, etc. to general/administrative which would make them possibly eligible. They encouraged, processed and approved a significant number of these claims in the 10 - 30% range which swelled the numbers of clients.
With the Mid-East wars and the explosion of real vets with real medical requirements the system was overburdened especially in the mental health area.
In many areas, VA is the only choice that is economically practical for many vets.
What should be frightening is that they used VA as an example of what they would like the nationalized health system to look like.
I was wounded in 71 and discharged early 72, while my wounds were serious at the time I made a 100% recovery. While I could go to the VA I’ve chosen not to. For me it just never felt right. The VA was put in place for Vet’s like your son not for the drunks and addicts that seem to swarm that place now. My brother in-law was the Director at the VA here my ex wife was a nurse so I get my information from some fairly reliable sources. The majority of the patients there now are there for non service related problems. It’s ripe with abuse by patients and by employee’s.
” Unfortunately, due to the extent and severity of his injuries, he has no option for the rest of his life than the VA. “
Why?