The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has made some improvements in services. Still, there are things that need to be fixed. For example, staffing issues and ongoing continued with the American Federation of Government Employees (the labor union that represents government workers, including those who staff the VA).
The VA has some of the best doctors, nurses and support staff of any hospital, but the bureaucracy that veterans must navigate in order to receive care is just too much to be expected. We need to privatize a lot of the system, which would minimize the bureaucracy.
At the same time, the VA believes, and rightfully so, that it has the unique experience to successfully deal with certain special and critical areas of care, such as that required for veterans’ who have lost limbs. Still, even in situations like this, the VA will often go to the private sector to get products made and to get proper support for patients.
We should ultimately privatize the VA entirely. It’s not going to happen overnight, but let’s start by considering the privatization of 25 percent of the hospitals. This might include leasing hospitals to the private sector and getting some employees off the government payroll. Any hospital that caters to veterans could also have a section devoted to the VA.
This public/private arrangement would also help provide additional resources to deal with other issues faced by many veterans, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and to allow a healing space for those veterans dealing with suicidal thoughts. Veterans dealing with these issues could be treated in the hospital and also have the opportunity to attend meetings and talk to other veterans about their problems. As it stands now, many veterans are getting better treatment outside the VA than within it.
The VA should re-examine how it treats those with PTSD. What does the latest scientific research tell us about this issue? Many veterans are given medication, but perhaps the VA’s job should be to treat veterans without necessarily relying on that. Medication doesn’t work for everybody; sometimes it kills them or they take too much and it simply masks their conditions or makes them worse. (I am not a doctor and I don’t have the answers. This is just a layman’s opinion about what might be done to help veterans.)
If we privatized the VA we probably wouldn’t have nearly the same amount of problems we have now. This may just be the solution we are looking for to ensure all veterans are getting the treatment they need and in some cases are dying for because they are not getting the care they deserve because the hospitals couldn’t or didn’t provide the patient.
How might we get this done? Just issue veterans an insurance card. They won’t have to pay for any services; they can just go to the hospital and receive the treatment and care that they need. As long as a person qualifies for VA benefits, they should be able to use the card anywhere.
The VA also needs an influx of new caregivers – staff members who love their jobs and are willing to work the grueling 10- to 12-hour days. Many VA doctors I know would like to work longer hours, but they can’t, because of the way in which the system organizes labor. That needs to change.
Another approach would be to militarize operations at the VA: Make VA employees a part of the military. This would definitely help things get done faster and more efficiently because of the demands made by the chain of command. I don’t know that we necessarily need or want to go that route, but it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. Especially if more of the doctors and nurses and support staff were officers; many of them will have been through what struggling veterans are dealing with. The United States has military hospitals that are very well run because they don’t have such a burdensome bureaucracy. Furthermore, hiring veterans is a good business decision. People who enlist are given educations equal to or greater than two years of college. They may not receive an education that exactly mirrors what they would get in college. If I have the chance to hire somebody who pledged to die for their country, I want them to work for my company because they will bring insights and perceptions to my company that no one else can bring. They’re team players and take instruction well.
What do you think can be done to make the VA better? Should we privatize all or parts of it?
