Trumps VA Fix, More of the Same

Let's take a look back considering Trump must not have, much like members of Congress.

Working with the Veterans Health Administration Guide for Providers Primarily, Veterans seeking VA health care should be seen and treated at VA medical facilities. NonVA medical care, also known as Purchased Care, is only authorized under specific circumstances such as geographic inaccessibility, when VA facilities/services are not feasibly available or cannot be economically provided to the Veteran. VA may purchase care outside of VA for many forms of care a Veteran may need, including inpatient, outpatient, emergent medication prescriptions and long-term care, as long as it is related to a service-connected condition.
Once non-VA medical care is authorized by a VA provider, Veterans may receive treatment from a registered non-VA medical care provider in their community. This guide details what non-VA medical care providers should expect in terms of authorizations and referrals, claims payment, and the return of medical documentation of provided non-VA medical care treatment/services back to the authorizing VA medical facility.

That was from 2010 but since most of us have been dealing with the VA for decades, we are well aware that this has been going on for decades.

Then there is the issue of VA budgets, backlog of claims and long wait times. Been there and done that for decades as well. Each and every time, Congress has assured veterans they would fix it at the same time they were apparently trying to kill it so they could hand it over to for profit folks.

It looks like Trump is ready to rinse and repeat what Congress did since 1946 when they were handed jurisdiction over the way veterans are treated.

Trump's Focuses on Changes in Programs for Military Veterans
ASSOCIATED PRESS
By JILL COLVIN
JERSEY CITY, N.J.
Jul 11, 2016,

Republican Donald Trump will deliver a speech on veterans' issues Monday, his latest in a series of prepared remarks aimed at articulating his policy agenda and convincing still-reticent Republicans that he has the discipline and control to mount a credible general election bid against likely rival Hillary Clinton.

Trump's 10-point plan, aimed at improving veterans' care, will include allowing veterans to seek government-funded private medical care.

"We made a promise to these heroes. You defend America, and America will defend you," Trump is expected to say in the speech, according to excerpts provided by his campaign.

Trump is also expected to hammer the Obama administration for the 2014 Veterans Affairs scandal over long wait times for veterans seeking medical care and falsified records by VA employees to cover up the delays.

"The VA scandals that have occurred on this Administration's watch are widespread and inexcusable," he is expected to say. "Fixing this corruption will be one of my highest priorities - and it will happen. It will be fixed."

The presumptive GOP nominee will be speaking in Virginia Beach, Virginia, not far from the USS Wisconsin in Norfolk, where he first unveiled his plan to reform the Department of Veterans Affairs last October, promising to modernize the system, while minimizing wait times for patients and improving care.

"The current state of the Department of Veterans Affairs is absolutely unacceptable," read the plan that Trump unveiled last fall. "The guiding principle of the Trump plan is ensuring veterans have convenient access to the best quality care."
read more here

The "current state" is unacceptable? 

Seriously?