Posted on 07/11/2016 3:28:35 PM PDT by mandaladon
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — Republican Donald Trump pledged Monday to expand programs that allow veterans to choose their doctor and clinics — regardless of whether they're affiliated with Department of Veterans Affairs — and still receive government-paid medical care.
In a policy speech announcing a 10-point plan for veterans, Trump said he "begins with a simple promise: Every veteran will get timely access to top-quality care."
His plan was not a way to privatize the VA, as some critics have charged, but instead was "a way of not allowing people to die waiting for doctors," Trump said.
In an interview Monday with The Associated Press, Trump said people are "are dying because they can't even get to see a doctor. This is a way that we're going to end that."
"Never again will we allow a veteran to suffer or die waiting for the care they so richly deserve," he said.
Trump was referring to a 2014 scandal in which as many as 40 veterans died while waiting for care at a Phoenix VA hospital. Similar problems were soon discovered nationwide amid revelations that veterans were waiting months for medical care even as VA employees created secret waiting lists and other falsehoods to cover up the delays.
Trump called problems at the VA under President Barack Obama "widespread and totally inexcusable" and said that under his leadership, "We are going to save money and we are going to save lives."
A spokesman for Democrat Hillary Clinton's campaign said Trump's plan would "irreversibly" lead to privatization of the VA.
Trump's plan "is not a fix at all; it's an ideological crusade" that "would gut the VA of the resources needed to provide high-quality, coordinated care," said Bishop Garrison, an Army veteran and Clinton adviser.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
I want most of the government agencies privatized!
“would gut the VA of the resources needed to provide high-quality, coordinated care,” said Bishop Garrison, an Army veteran and Clinton adviser.
Gut the resources? Who listens to this crap?
They need something. They’ve like to have killed my dad more than once. They put nose stents twice in him rather than cauterize him for non stop nose bleeds. They wrecked his kidneys because they wouldn’t do surgery on kidney stones too large for his kidneys. They just keep sending him home to die without fixing the problems.
The majority of these AFGE hacks at the damn VA here in Nashville sit on the duffs doing very little, I see on average 5 hour ER waits for non heart or life saving. Saint Thomas beats the hell out of the VA here and it beats Vanderbilt for most care. Vanderbilt is very good though. This VA has gone downhill since 89-2002 when it was perhaps in the top 5%.
The VA is a legitimate federal function.
The VA budget will be destroyed by all the trans sucking all the services for their body mutilation. If Trump wins and he doesn’t get rid of the Obamatons all the LGBTWTFs will be head of the line.
Watched the whole speech. Trump outlined a very specific 10-point plan, just like a mature businessman would.
If this is a sign of how he would approach other problems, it’ll be totally refreshing compared to the incompetent children in the Administration & Congress.
Trump is not going to make many friends who are in comfortable gov’t jobs. But screw them all. Need to start over.
TTTT!
Good for Trump. Now watch some veterans’ organization come out and endorse Hillary.
The problem is not just the VA though. My wife had United Healthcare and, like me at the VA, couldn’t find a Caucasian doctor who was taking new patients on Medicare. She switched to Kelsey Seybold and now has American trained doctors.
When I need emergency care and it’s approved by the VA the providers hate it when they see I’m “insured” by the VA. They complain that they seldom get paid and when they do it takes forever. I have a feeling if Trump is successful us vets are going to find it hard to find doctors who will accept VA “insured” patients.
Wouldn’t it be great if the VA started allowing Vets to be covered for treatment at any local or public facility instead of just VA facilities. This would definitely unburden the system.
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