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Ben Carson: ‘We Don’t Need a Department of Veterans Affairs’
CNS ^ | August 28, 2015 | Melanie Hunter

Posted on 08/31/2015 8:25:07 AM PDT by xzins

Retired neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson told the Dave Ramsey show on Wednesday that the Department of Veterans Affairs should be folded into the Department of Defense and VA facilities should only be used for specialized care like traumatic brain injuries and limb replacement procedures.

“The size of government has to be reduced significantly. There’s a lot of stuff that we’re doing that doesn’t make any sense. We have a Department of Veterans Affairs. We don’t need a Department of Veterans Affairs. Veterans Affairs should be in under the Department of Defense, and it should be smooth transition,” said Carson.

The Republican presidential candidate said the U.S. should also examine how it cares for soldiers and that they should be in a support system immediately when they enlist, especially when they go into combat.

“We need to be looking at the way that we take care of soldiers. You know 14 percent down recruitment for our voluntary Army right now. Why? Because they’re looking at what we’re doing to our veterans,” he said.

“When a person applies to the military, they should be in a support system immediately from day one, particularly when they go through combat, because that’s when all the trauma is occurring, and we should have people in place a year before their time of discharge to be working on their integration back into society,” Carson added.

“There shouldn’t be a period of unemployment when they come out of the military, and they should have a health savings account, which allows them to go to any medical facility in the country, and we should be delighted to take care of them,” he said.

“We should use the VA facilities for specialized care for traumatic brain injury, limb replacements, and research,” Carson added.


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: carson; dod; prochoice; va
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To: Gaffer

I was in the same time you were... and you don’t have a pea brain, thank you.


21 posted on 08/31/2015 8:40:31 AM PDT by brivette
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To: xzins
There's a whole lotta govmnt departments we don't need. EPA, should be the first to be knocked down to bare bones and Education done away with. Then tackle the VA issues.

Here's the list....

22 posted on 08/31/2015 8:41:13 AM PDT by b4its2late (A Liberal is a person who will give away everything he doesn't own.)
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To: xzins

Like Rush always says:

The purpose of the military is the kill people and break things.

I agree with you. Leave the DOD to its mission of winning wars.

Keep the VA separate from them AND keep the promises to the vets!


23 posted on 08/31/2015 8:41:53 AM PDT by Sister_T (Atttaaaaccckkkkkk Waaaattttcccchhhhh! https://youtu.be/-XYKRokgX00)
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To: Gaffer

The doctors and staff at VA have done excellent jobs with everything from cancer care to heart surgery to colonectomies in my family.

They’ve got some fine medical care. They need more of it, and they need less bureaucracy on the actual health care side of their mission. The bureaucracy consumes tons of money that could be spent on more actual care and the doctors and staff to provide it.


24 posted on 08/31/2015 8:42:22 AM PDT by xzins (Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It! True Supporters of our Troops PRAY for their Victory!)
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To: xzins

The only way to government waste, fraud and abuse is to reduce the size of government.


25 posted on 08/31/2015 8:42:52 AM PDT by joshua c (Please dont feed the liberals)
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To: xzins

-— Veterans, of all groups in the USA, should have their own special advocates, their own special budgets, and access to specialized health care. -—

Let them compete with private hospitals and then —and only then— will they finally improve.

The VA should simply be a board with a budget, giving health insurance vouchers to servicemen, and extra money to wounded vets to spend at the hospital of their choice.


26 posted on 08/31/2015 8:44:46 AM PDT by St_Thomas_Aquinas ( Isaiah 22:22, Matthew 16:19, Revelation 3:7)
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To: xzins
DOD is about winning wars.

You mean it is not about integrating transsexuals, suppressing religious freedom it fighters???

27 posted on 08/31/2015 8:44:47 AM PDT by 11th Commandment ("THOSE WHO TIRE LOSE")
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To: b4its2late; brivette; Gaffer
There's a whole lotta govmnt departments we don't need. EPA, should be the first to be knocked down to bare bones and Education done away with.

Excellent. That's part of my complaint, too. Why do these politicians always ignore the Education department, the EPA, Endowment for the Arts, the IRS, etc., and go straight after (1) veterans and (2) soldier salaries and benefits?

I think they're sick SOBs to even think of veterans and troops in their first sentence.

28 posted on 08/31/2015 8:45:55 AM PDT by xzins (Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It! True Supporters of our Troops PRAY for their Victory!)
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To: xzins

I think Carson is a decent man with some decent views.

Retired neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson...

Folks, this guy was a good neurosurgeon. That ranks him on a scale of 1 to 10 in executive experience, a 3 or 4.

In general this means he had an office with five to ten employees. Even then he may have hired an office manager.

Is he truly qualified to be president?

Just holding decent idea does not make one presidential.


29 posted on 08/31/2015 8:46:06 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (It's beginning to look like "Morning in America" again. Comment on YouTube under Trump Free Ride.)
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To: xzins

agree...


30 posted on 08/31/2015 8:48:33 AM PDT by brivette
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To: xzins

Why, when people look at the size of government, do politicians always look at injuring veterans as one of their first and best options?

...

I read the article and I came away with a totally different impression. If the way we care for veterans is reformed for the better, I don’t think it would be a drag on the DOD at all.

The routine care would be done by vouchers or savings accounts at regular facilities.


31 posted on 08/31/2015 8:48:36 AM PDT by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
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To: St_Thomas_Aquinas

I have no problem with competition (although ObamaCare will make that virtually impossible even for the non-veteran).

I’m opposed to putting our warfighters in the bad position of having to choose between weapons and training on the one hand, and after-service care for the former military.

If I were a general and I didn’t worry FIRST about money for winning wars, I hope someone would fire me.


32 posted on 08/31/2015 8:49:14 AM PDT by xzins (Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It! True Supporters of our Troops PRAY for their Victory!)
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To: xzins

My mother, God rest her soul, was a very dedicated nurse in the VA for decades (through Vietnam and long afterwards). I cannot tell you how many times she came home dejected at the people that ran the hospital, even as my own father was relegated to being treated by them.

I am glad the experience you have with family members was excellent. That is not the case throughout that agency.


33 posted on 08/31/2015 8:49:54 AM PDT by Gaffer
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To: xzins

Carson is herded by the party insiders. Same with Walker etc. All prepaid.


34 posted on 08/31/2015 8:50:47 AM PDT by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
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To: Moonman62

It is not possible to have a laser focus on winning wars if you are required by law to focus elsewhere.


35 posted on 08/31/2015 8:52:23 AM PDT by xzins (Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It! True Supporters of our Troops PRAY for their Victory!)
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To: xzins
We Don’t Need a Department of Veterans Affairs
Yes we do. But what we need to do is eliminate the health care portion and go to a voucher system.
36 posted on 08/31/2015 8:52:45 AM PDT by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: Sister_T
The VA is in the business of making sure they don't have to pay claims out to sick veterans. They bend over backwards to lose records, not explore treatment options, sweep conditions under the rug, etc. I never know if they are being truthful or thorough.

Not sure anything would change under the DOD, but it would be cheaper to put them all on tri-care and let them go to whatever doc they choose.

37 posted on 08/31/2015 8:53:29 AM PDT by defconw (Fight all error, and do it with good humor, patience, kindness and love. -St. John Cantius)
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To: xzins

Veterans are not military ...theyre private citizens, unattached to the government as soldiers are..


38 posted on 08/31/2015 8:53:50 AM PDT by Tennessee Nana
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To: xzins; mkjessup; rockinqsranch
Here is where Carson has got it right and I think he hints of it here. We need to privatize the VA health system except for those highly specialize war injuries. Carson mentions brain trauma. I like the health saving accounts and I would add that the veteran should have a "gold card" insurance program.

Why do we need a VA hospital next to the Cleveland Clinic? In Columbia, Missouri there is an old VA hospital next to a state of the art MIZZOU hospital. All these hospital do is photo ops for politicians at grand opening ribbon cutting ceremonies. After that, they serve no purpose.

39 posted on 08/31/2015 8:53:53 AM PDT by 11th Commandment ("THOSE WHO TIRE LOSE")
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To: DoughtyOne
I think Carson is a decent man with some decent views.

I really like Ben Carson but (and that's a big BUT) I just don't think he's strong enough to be President. In some polls he's 2nd and I understand where people are coming from but to be President you have to be strong, fearless and able to twist arms to get what you want done. I don't see that, much as I like him I would liken his demeanor to be like Jimmy Carter. I don't see that ability to twist arms to get the job done. He's more of a "sit down and let's talk about it kind of guy".

40 posted on 08/31/2015 8:54:00 AM PDT by ozarkgirl
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