The VA Mess: Is This What the Future of US Medicine Looks Like?

[Valandil]

I'm somewhat following all this mess with the VA (Veterans' Administration) Hospitals in the US. It seems to be a system-wide, endemic problem that has been with us for years.

When the Affordable Healthcare Act (informally: "Obamacare") was first discussed, my take all along was that if people wanted to see how government controlled medicine in the US would be - all they had to do was look at the VA. And the VA was a joke already, and has been for some time. It's the last resort for most veterans. So - I wondered if this was what we were ALL heading for, if the government would take a greater role in administering our health care.

I don't get just what it is - but somehow many of these programs that work so well in other parts of the world - I'm thinking especially Europe and maybe Canada - and I've gathered that most of our European Mooters are happy with the programs they have - anyway, they just don't seem to work here in the US. Somehow our people - when they get guaranteed, safe, jobs - become poor workers and do a bad job.

I really think - government-wide, federal and state - we in the US need to make it much easier for government employees to be fired or laid off. It should not be the case where those who get a job like this - or even a job of any kind - are set for life, whether they work hard or not. It basically just robs the rest of us - in one way or the other.

Well - I've about managed to go two different directions with the opening post of this thread. Maybe we'll have to split it up. But what do the rest of you think?