Hundreds Died Under VA Care

by JASmius

Y'know that Obama Regime body count I mentioned last night?  Guess what?  It isn't shrinking:

As the Department of Veterans Affairs faces an increasing amount of scrutiny over allegations of "secret" waiting lists that left veterans at VA hospitals untreated for months, a new report shows that the VA settled several claims that appear related to treatment delays.

The Dayton Daily News, in a story published Sunday, says its investigation of a database of paid claims shows that since 2001 the words "delay in treatment" were used 167 times. The VA paid out $36.4 million to settle the claims, the Daily News reported. [emphasis added]

Stop the tape.  Why did the Dayton Daily News report this?  Why, to bolster the Regime's inevitable attempt to blame the VA's mausoleum of neglect on George W. Bush, of course.

In fact, why go any further with this story?  You can see how the "I inherited yet another crisis from Bush" narrative is already unfolding:

Also, the White House chief of staff said that President Barack Obama is "madder than hell" about the reports of treatment delays at veterans' hospitals around the nation.

Denis McDonough told CBS' "Face the Nation" that Obama is demanding that Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki and others in the administration "continue to fix these things until they're functioning the way that our veterans believe they should."

"Bush FUBAR'd the VA and massacred the veterans he claimed and still claims to venerate and support, and I won't rest until every veteran gets the timely, quality health care they deserve."  Because, of course, Generalissimo Tough Call has already had five and a half years of rest on this matter, so he should be more than refreshed.

Meanwhile, remember what I said last week about why the VA is systemically dysfunctional:

Republican Representative Brad Wenstrup of Ohio-2, who is both a veteran and a doctor, told the paper that the VA has a different mindset than private hospitals. Private hospitals can do ten colonoscopies in the time a VA hospital does three, he said.

Retired Air Force Reserve Colonel Shirley Ribak, told the paper that top administrators set up well-intended goals, then offer incentives to meet those goals that encourage gaming of the system.

The VA is single-payer socialized medicine for veterans.  Consequently, it's like every other government-run endeavor: It runs like crap but we're only supposed to care about its "good intentions" - no matter how many vets it kills, or how much worse it's gotten under O, or how little he's done to fix a problem he once claimed to care about before he attained the power he's now merrily abusing.

I'll say it again: if Da Peepul want quality care for veterans, privatize the VA.  Otherwise it will ever be a question of benign neglect versus malign neglect.  Seems to me our men & women in uniform who have laid it all on the line and not brought all of it back deserve better than both.