V.A.: TOO BIG TO FIX?

SPECIAL POST

It oozed out like a bad case of E.P.A. prohibited cow flatulence yesterday that the problems at the V.A. Hospitals have been ongoing since at least 2001.  Some pundits, sympathetic to the Obama Administration, tried to say the problem was therefore not Obama's, but that it was Bush's.  Well, it may have originated during the Bush Administration, or even the Clinton Administration, but here's another fact that "oozed out" yesterday: Bush Administration officials warned Obama Administration officials that the problem existed during the transition back in 2008/2009 and the Obama Administration chose to ignore it.  That, my friends, is a deliberate dereliction of duty to American vets.  

You can measure the costs in tens of millions of dollars in V.A. settlements, but here are the real costs:

• 1,100 deaths due to delayed treatment since 2001

• 867 documented malpractice settlements

In the face of these facts, the new story coming out of the Administration is that yes, they did know about the problem, but that it was "too big to fix."  How do you reconcile that statement with the "too big to fail" excuse for bank bailouts in 2009?  How can the V.A. problem be "too big to fix?"  

WHAT ARROGANCE!!!  1,100 deaths of American vets?  This is beyond the pale.  It is criminal negligence resulting in death. 


I vote with California Representative Doug LaMalfa on this, even more so.  I say we should close V.A. hospitals... get rid of them completely.  Give every qualified vet a special health identification card and allow the vet to go to a doctor and hospital of his choice; let the V.A. then pay the bill.  Not only will that fix the problem, but it will save millions of dollars in administrative and operating costs as well as saving lives of our American vets. 

No, the problem is not too big to fix and I don't want to hear this frickin' excuse when ObamaCare resorts to the same delaying tactics, deaths and malpractice lawsuits. As much as I hate to say it, I do agree with Senator John McCain in this instance: Someone needs to go to jail... someone in the White House. 

I'm madder than hell.  It's now time to get even.  

That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.