Any person with even a shred of critical thinking skills should have realized the VA program is the model for what Obamacare wil eventually become.

I do not understand the animosity toward the VA system. I have been under their care for over ten years, including getting medication and annual physicals, glasses and whatever. I use both the Dallas and Bonham VA and was accepted [with DD Form 214] the first day that I showed up and went through their sign up process.

I´ve had to use their emergency room when scolded with superheated water and have had major surgery there. Other than maybe sending me, a single guy home sooner to recuperate than I´d like, they have been the best to me. I use to work in the medical field, traveling to hospitals all around the country, major and small and know good health care.

The real problem is not the VA, other than it is used as a bargaining chip by Washington when military budgets are done. The real problem is that vets, injured or "mental," should be able to go to the hospital of their choice. Isn´t that what our Congressmen and illegal aliens do? Which do you think have earned THAT right?

If they would only ask for an interpreter, or speak ebonics, they could get SS disability in a heartbeat.

Why is it we have money for every stupid social program the left wants to enact but we don´t have money to treat our wounded vets?

#2, you are confusing V.A. medical care with the V.A. paper bureaucracy; two different entities within V.A. I know of veterans who have waited over 2 years and was told they would have to wait approximately 2 more years to adjudicate their claims.

I too like the medical care I receive from V.A. but I know there is a severe problem on the C&P side of V.A.

Demonrats hate the military as evidenced by the willful murder of 4 Americans in Benghazi. They could care less about wounded military. After all, didn´t Barry want them to pay for their own care?

If you want to fast forward into what Obamacare is going to transform into,just look at the inept and incompetent VA for a clue.This has always been one of the government´s biggest dysfunctional depts.which pays through the nose for bureaucracy but shorts the vets.Of course this is a national disgrace but reforming the VA is a near impossibility.

Of course no level of dysfunctionality gets in the way of VA bureaucrats getting their hefty "performance" bonuses once a year.

"We have to pay these bonuses or risk losing these people to the private sector." What a joke.

I recently retired from the Army and my case was processed in a reasonable amount of time. When I was beginning to get worried about my case not getting processed in a timely manner and went to a local office, I was told of all of the old vets who were coming out of the woodwork to file a claim 30 or 40 years after discharge. While in the office for 15 minutes, 2 new guys like the ones just described came in. The war-wounded are getting processed, but there are new challenges being faced by the VA now that the economy is continuing to shrink ... yes, shrink. I don´t give a damn what the economists and pundits say, I have eyeballs and they see things getting worse.

Unfortunately, cynical and skeptical are my default settings these days. Saying "it´s for the vets" sounds a lot like "it´s for the children". Disability claims have become the way to go for an increasing chunk of the population. I don´t think the vet community is immune. I´m not saying all claims are bogus, but it´s certainly probable that some are. The question is how many?

In the Chicago area disability/compensation claims take 2-4 years. I almost died in 07 from Agent Orange and my claim is now 6 years old. The VA mantra is "DELAY, DENY, DIE". The healthcare is fine it is the claims that are taking so long.

#10. My spouse filed in 2006 re: agent orange. His claims were finally decided in Feb., 2012, 4 months after he died.
Now as his widow, I wait for the DIC claim to be decided, and reimbursment of his final expenses and hope I live long enough.

Yes, it needs to be clear that there is a difference between the care at the VA hospital and the claims processing. I was astounded to learn from a veteran friend that the claims are still processed through a PAPER SYSTEM. That´s right! Not a computer system, a paper system. This problem is briefly mentioned in this article, buried deep:

A new electronic benefits management system, which will replace the paper system, will speed claims processing ...

And there are 800 bureaucrats processing the claims. It is unclear from the article if those 800 all work in the Waco office or if that covers more locations, but it sounds like 800 claims workers just in Waco.

While one can understand that time would be required to locate 40 year-old records for the old-timers, this guy is young, was just discharged from an Army hospital and his records were readily available.

Okay folks who are so negative about the VA. Would you agree that any veteran who filed a claim for disability automatically be granted that disability rating; i.e., life long monthly payments without any review of the validity of the claim? So every Vietnam Veteran should be awarded disability because of Agent Orange even if never exposed to it? That would certainly simplify the process.

On the other hand, I read statements here everyday about all the fraud, waste and abuse within the federal government but then all this anger that these claims take so long to resolve because of the necessary review of the claim and its validity or lack thereof.

Any time an Obama drone tells me how "wonderful" Obamacare will be, I ask them if they´re aware of the horrible state of the Federally run VA healthcare, or the waste and abuse rampant in Medicare?
I then follow up with, "So how do you think enlarging a failed system can possibly improve it?"

But the checks to Hamas go out on time!