That is criminal. VA benefits

[LowBb]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/28/jon-stewart-obama-on-va-benefits_n_2970741.html

I'm not a veteran.
I damn sure know that one job the gov MUST get right is the care of our veterans. This is sickening. Edited March 28, 2013 by LowBb

[mikegideon]

Great Jon Stewart video. He's not always a douche.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

I don't know that his version is the truth, but the VA is broken and the veterans need to be better cared

for than they are now. At least he did say it wasn't the Republican's fault. Blaming it on a spreadsheet

is like blaming a shooting on a gun. Politics is probably the blame.

Edited March 28, 2013 by 6.8 AR

[MacGyver]

From experience, the VA cannot be fixed in it's current form.  In the private space, we sometimes find incompetence.  We sometimes find indifference.  We don't usually find both at the same time.  I would argue that this is the primary difference between the public space and private space in 2013.  Within the government, it doesn't really matter if you don't know what you're doing and you don't care.  Payday still comes on Friday.

 

If we're going to make meaningful change within the VA, we're going to have to tear it down and start over - whether metaphorically or literally.

[E4 No More]

This isn't exactly news. VA has historically sucked! Personally, I've been waiting over 2 years. VA claims are handled just like Social Security disability claims: deny them outright hoping that the claimant will drop it, and if not then they delay it as long as possible forcing the claimant to get lawyers involved. The whole system is shameful.

[LowBb]

This isn't exactly news. VA has historically sucked! Personally, I've been waiting over 2 years. VA claims are handled just like Social Security disability claims: deny them outright hoping that the claimant will drop it, and if not then they delay it as long as possible forcing the claimant to get lawyers involved. The whole system is shameful.

This is totally unacceptable.

[Bigiron]

I retired from the VA.  It is a very political agency.  Grossly mismanaged/overmanaged.  The number of veterans seeking disability is overwhelming.  Substance abuse is rampant, as is the number of those faking a disability in order to get a government check.. Having your medical needs handled by a Vanderbilt intern wanting only to get his "tour" completed is not my idea of premium health care.  While there are many good interns, and many Veterans being served, the system is in need of a serious revamping, from top to bottom.

[Links2k]

The VA sucked when my dad was a young mangled Marine. It sucked when I returned from Desert Storm, and it sucked a few years ago when I walked out of its doors and swore to never go back. It's criminal how they treat veterans. It's criminal how this country treats its veterans.

I agree that its a political problem, as both parties are the same in my eyes. The very people that happily vote to send young people off to war turn a blind eye to the small percentage of Americans who actually volunteer to serve this country.

This VA problem is one of the reasons why I hate foreign aid. This country will send billions of dollars in aid to other countries while denying benefits to veterans with war related issues. Its a f*^%#ing shame!

[E4 No More]

I retired from the VA.  It is a very political agency.  Grossly mismanaged/overmanaged.  The number of veterans seeking disability is overwhelming.  Substance abuse is rampant, as is the number of those faking a disability in order to get a government check.. Having your medical needs handled by a Vanderbilt intern wanting only to get his "tour" completed is not my idea of premium health care.  While there are many good interns, and many Veterans being served, the system is in need of a serious revamping, from top to bottom.

My best friend works there, and he tells me about how his work ethic makes others' pale in comparison, and doesn't win him any friends. It's a shame, really.

[RobertNashville]

Although this is going back quite a few years, I used to be good friends with the director of the VA hospital in Seattle.  I don't say this just because he was a friend (now passed on) but he was an extremely dedicated man and truly sought to do the best he and that hospital possibley could for the veterans who came there for care. However, he often related to me just how discouraged he was with their funding, burauracy and the level of care he was able to provide.

 

What is wrong with the VA has a lot more to do with systemic problems than anything else and I'm doubtful it can be fixed with the way it exists today...I think the only answer is to start over with a clean slate.

 

What is most sad is that we are failing many of our veterans TODAY and I see little hope that will change anytime soon even if they started trying to fix it today.  It's a badge of shame for our country that we have allowed this to happen for decades.

[MacGyver]

To be fair in my critique earlier, there are a lot of good, dedicated individuals working at the VA and in other government agencies.  The problem is that no matter how good their intentions, they can't really make a difference when they're swimming against a sea of incompetence/indifference.

 

I have several good friends who have gone to work in government after working in the private sector believing that they could make a difference.  They've all left frustrated.

 

Recently, a friend left a director's position in a national agency after about 18 months.  She came from the private sector after a career as very effective manager and leader without even considering her subject matter expertise.  In conversation with her upon her return to the private sector, she expressed that it didn't matter how good she was or how effective individual members of her team were, that she might as well be running uphill in sand up to her waist.  There were so many hurdles to actually doing productive work that she could no longer in good conscience participate in the charade.