[News] VA's sleep apnea patients get top priority for care

[retired_guy]

I'm a service connected disabled vet priority group 2. I have been diagnosed with apnea but have not had a change in my status nor has my rating increased to 50%. I do have to say that I have been waiting for my cpap through the VA for 9 weeks now and every time I go over to the hospital I'm told there is a back log and be patient. It appears they have contracted with an outside provider Apnea Care out of Buffalo in my case and when I called there yesterday, the Va rep was right on the edge of rude, good thing he didn't step over the line because at this point I'm ready to call corporate to ask where my cpap is. Way too many hands in the pot here. Whenever I deal exclusively with the VA and not outside providers everything is smooth and efficient. It's when they involve outsiders as in "the private sector" that everything goes to crap. Can you tell I'm tired and cranky?

I believe I'm in "group 3." Yup, no changes because of my diagnosis. I have no idea where the author of that crap article got his/her information. But I agree with you that the only occasion I have ever had that something didn't flow perfectly smoothly, or as it should was when a "private sector" was involved.

The VA wanted to check to see how my gallstone is behaving, so they hired a local ultrasound bunch to do it so I wouldn't be inconvenienced by having to drive to the medical center. The local bunch did a 2 minute crappy job, sent the VA their bill, and we still have no idea if my gallstone is growing nicely or not.

On the apnea side, most of my supplies come direct from the sleep clinic and they've been absolutely great. But awhile back I got it into my head that I wanted to try a mask they did not have in stock so they ordered it for me from a private supplier. It took a month to show up.

2 options that may fix the VA problems:

1) Eliminate VA hospitals and have the VA system give vouchers for veterans to use in civilian facilities

OR

2) Pass a law that would provide all members of Congress (and their dependants) the ability to use the VA system for their medical care as their only sponsored program. If they wanted to get care elsewhere, it would be totally out of their own pockets.

Hmmm, sounds oddly like a refrain I've heard before... perhaps about Medicare? "Obamacare?"

What would help *a lot* is a little verification of the intake process. The VA has really great internal controls that would have spotted this problem in a heartbeat, if the troubled hospitals hadn't been keeping two sets of books.

Once someone is actually in the system, there are all sorts of checks and balances and auditing. The problem at the VA is like when the Burger King drive through cashier says "Pull up and wait." Once you leave the window, you're counted as served. The people who aren't in the system yet are invisible.

I think you're spot on tcarmen. If the intake operations could be addressed appropriately that would be of tremendous help. Again, the problem to me seems to be too many wars with too many survivors. The government was more than happy to come up with the wars but provide the funds necessary to care for the survivors? That's too much to expect.

It also seems to me that the biggest deriders of the VA system (or of any system for that matter) are those that know nothing about it and just find it a convenient mechanism to foster their own political agenda.

But it's ok. Already they're coming up with new and improved headlines to keep everyone all fired up about stuff. Stuff that the "experts" can complain, criticize, ..try to destroy.... All in the name of power and control, and "if I don't have it, you don't need it."

[jaycee]

Hmmm, sounds oddly like a refrain I've heard before... perhaps about Medicare? "Obamacare?"

If I had my way I would definitely phase out most of the VA, Medicare & Obamacare. The government isn't very good at most of the things they try and do.

The private sector provides better care for less money.

[retired_guy]

Hmmm, sounds oddly like a refrain I've heard before... perhaps about Medicare? "Obamacare?"

If I had my way I would definitely phase out most of the VA, Medicare & Obamacare. The government isn't very good at most of the things they try and do.

The private sector provides better care for less money.

Really... The same private sector that lags far behind the rest of the free world, and even some places that aren't so free, in care for their citizens? That private sector?

[Homerec130]

Let the VA do the paperwork (or contract it out) and let us pick the doctor we want or need to see. That is the way the it works for military retirees with the various flavors of TriCare. Been on TriCare for almost 20 years and it works like a champ.

[jaycee]

Let the VA do the paperwork (or contract it out) and let us pick the doctor we want or need to see. That is the way the it works for military retirees with the various flavors of TriCare. Been on TriCare for almost 20 years and it works like a champ.

I agree. Coming up on 9 years on Tricare for me. That is after 20 years in the Navy (most of which was spent in various hospitals around the country and world).

I've been in multiple hospitals in multiple countries (picking up service members/family members). It is easy to quote statistics on how great the medical care is in this country or that. It's another to actually be there in their hospitals and talk to patients about the care they receive.