I speak of the current light being shed upon the bad living conditions of Walter Reed MH and that folks are starting to contrast that with the left’s demand for government run, socialized medicine.
At least, folks on the right side of the blogosphere and the media are doing that. The leftosphere has it’s maxi-blinders on, running stories about the situation WRMH and socialized medicine on the same webage, sometimes one story right on top of the other.
A link found at DANE’s place led me to Reynolds who posts an exceprt from David Bernstein at Volokh
If private companies had mismanaged outpatient care for veterans the way the V.A. system has, there would be strong calls from all the usual quarters for a government takeover, and proclamations of how we can’t trust “greedy” for-profit companies to take care of veterans. Funny how this thought process doesn’t seem to work in reverse, except among “free market ideologues,” who have been criticizing the V.A. for years.
Insty also has a link to the Q and O Blog who points to this Feb 2005 article in the Washington Monthly bragging about how the VA health system is a model for how a new, nationwide, single-payer, socialized medicine program should be run, just to drive the point home.
I know folks on the left read Reynolds. Maybe they just don’t click on the links?
One angle that’s not being examined is that Walter Reed came out on the BRAC closure list in 2005. As I understand it, once that happens there are restrictions on how much more money you can put into facilities. One guy in my office thinks it’s restricted to normal O&M funds only and that anything else requires congressional approval. In short, placement on the BRAC list may have affected decisions about facility investment.
The VA system is separate from the military system. But as a retired Army Sergeant and disabled vet, I can tell you that they both suck. The conditions at Walter Reed are only shocking to those who have no experience with the military health care system.
As I’ve always said, military healthcare is free, and worth every penny.