I’m cautiously optimistic about Shinseki. VA will begin to function at a higher level only when it gets rid of the HMO business model. I worked at VA when they made the change and the differences were immediately noticeable. VA’s priority changed from patient care to bean counting and affected every aspect of VA’s operations.

where have i heard of General Shinseki? didn’t the shrub fire this guy?

Twelve years of seizing last-month benefits from surviving widows and orphans, contra the law. What a racket. You really can’t blame that on “computer glitches” — it’s simple laziness, corruption, and greed.

He’s the one who said Rumsfeld would need two or three hundred thousand troops to secure Iraq, who Wolfowitz mocked.

And who the two of them “encouraged” to retire.

Yep, and many consider Obama’s selection of Shinseki was one large ‘FU’ to Shrub…! ;-)

i like the guy already. :)

Ha, beat ya Nahant.

maybe now we can fund the va.

Shinseki & Brzezinski are two of the many smart advisers to Obama.

It’s never been a question of “can.” I don’t doubt for a nanosecond that the administration has racked their brains trying to figure out a way to privatize VA. There has been little, if any, will in this administration to fully fund VA. I give the folks who work in the medical centers a lot of credit for not allowing the system to deteriorate to the point where the Rethugs could say privatization would be more economical and efficient. There has been a struggle within VA for many years between those involved in direct patient care and the bureaucrats.

Yet the Republicans, in order to attack the VA — because they rightly fear that its success would show Americans that “socialized medicine” when done right is a very good thing indeed — constantly pretend that Walter Reed is part of the VA system.)

PW I am hoping that Obama will reverse all the crap he has put in the way for our Veterans to get the care they have earned, now many are denied their coverage just because of their income through a “Means Test” more like a MEAN Test if you ask me. It is the Republican mantra that the private companies can do a better job FOR A PROFIT! But just look at the state of Medicine in our country for both civilians and the Veterans… It is a national shame that anyone let alone 43+ Million are denied the medical coverage they need just to stay alive and healthy!

I can attest to just how good the VA system is. There could be some improvements but overall the system provides quality care. The Doctors also pratice preventative Medicine and catch many problems early when they can be easily treated and for a lot less money if left to wait for major symptoms to Appear!
National Health Care would do good using the VA as a starting point, one of the other benefits would be that genetic testing would no longer be used against someone who is predisposed to an ailment. It would be investigated early when the intervention can do the most good for the patient. Instead of the way it can and is used now to deny coverage to those who need it and can least afford all the extra premiums or the denials for coverage!
Thanks for the great POST!
Oh and I did Digg IT!

Thats Fine SD(:>)) As long as someone opens the Digg so we all can Digg it is great!!

The care I have received from the VA has been excellent, I know many of the Doctors from the civilian medical system from the time when my financial situation allowed me to participate in it. Why they have migrated to the VA I am don’t know, but there are a substantial number of them from a big medical concern here in Austin. But sadly, it is actually true, you can have decent employment, a good health care program and find yourself destitute in short order should a major health issue arise. Do not count on your Disability Insurance to pay you promptly (if at all)!! I count myself extremely fortunate to have VA benefits, an unintended perq of my military service. The system is efficient, the people I have dealt with there are always professional, the record keeping is twentyfirst century and it is a terrific standard for any Universal Health Care System!

Nicholson in particular was a swine, he was ruthless always accepting less than the administrators told him was required for bare bones operation. These funding variations can really be felt at the local level, too. It is a big deal now, with all the young people coming back from the Mid East. This is the first time the Government is making a serious attempt to help veterans with the psychological issues engendered by war.

Brzezinski not so much. He’s start war with Russia on the slighest provocation.

VA is like any private enterprise. The results depend on the quality of management. The only diff between public & private enterprise is that the former has a slightly more difficult time firing incompetent workers, and, if politically motivated, a much greater ability to hire incompetent workers.

This is the first time the Government is making a serious attempt to help veterans with the psychological issues engendered by war.

Actually, the treatment of PTSD started at VA Denver in the late 70’s, early 80’s and it started with a small pamphlet written by a vet named Tom Scanlon. VA Denver was in a good position to follow through because it was affiliated with the U of Colorado Medical School, located just across the street. It was a very exciting time for VN vets who worked in the mental health field at VA. It did take a few years to get programs in most medical centers but when I left VA Bay Pines in 96 we had a full-blown, fully staffed program.

How is PTSD treated?

I would disagree here. Good medicine at VA often occurs in spite of bad management. The doctor’s don’t take kindly to being interfered with by bureaucrats and can be very creative.

I don’t envy Zbigniew … he has to look at Mika every morning and wonder where he went wrong … *g*

But that also occurs frequently in private enterprise. In my experience in Wall St., the only way the company functioned was despite management. I didn’t think of that when I was posting my comment, but it is directly relevant to my main point, which is there is little difference between a large organization run by govt vs. a large organization run by allegedly profit making corp.

Hmm..yeah, and interesting that his daughter is a talking head on MSNBC, Mika…on Morning Joe…wake up and that is the news you get…

In a variety of ways. Some things, e.g., nightmares, intrusive memories, can never be adequately treated. Counseling and medication are the norms, although I’m not comfortable with some of the medicating that’s going on. Masking symptoms with meds is not treatment. At times it’s necessary to get the patient to a point where they can work with a counselor. Getting the patient to deal with the anger is the hardest part.

His children are certainly a mixed bag. But as the mother of a wingnut, I would hesitate to judge someone by that. *g*

I see him as an old Cold War warrior lookin’ for another war.

LOL … I think Mika could be paid to be on any side of an argument, she does not appear to believe what she reads most of the time.

That’s about what I thougt. Interesting point about anger. Personally, the older I get, the less I can cope with it.

My in-laws are German Jews who left in 1938. My late husband was 13, his sister, 15. She tells me that there is a higher than average suicide rate among her cohort, but only when they get old. Old age is a shipwreck.

I too can attest to the great care that I have in the past received through the VA. They have a great potential to be the model for a universal health care system. I haven’t utilized it for five or so years but back several years all of the records were completely computerized. You could go for some tests in another part of the hospital and by the time you made it back to the doctor the test results (those that could be run Quickly) would be available to the Dr. As in any system a lot depends on the dedication of the service providers but those that I came in contact with were A+

He’s Polish & hates Russia. Any war can be interpreted as a proxy war against Russia by him.

I’ve been out of the biz for over 12 years and don’t know if they’ve figured out exactly what causes the rage. My nightmares occur less frequently as I’ve gotten older but I find that little flashes of anger pop up that I have to control right then and there.

Yeah, he’s definitely got a hard on for Russia.

My housecleaner is also a VA nurse. (She is a welfare reform success story. Once she understood her welfare benefits were going away, she educated herself and became a LPN. I’m the only one of her old clients she still cleans for.) She gives VA high marks, subject to the usual complaints about bureaucracy and bosses.

My old tsoris gets more burdensome the older I get. It’s not epidodal, it’s chronic.

teddy upstairs

Time for me to climb into my tree.

Be good to yourselves, and all other living things.

Namaste