VA care for women too restrictive, group says

[unhappycamper]

VA care for women too restrictive, group says
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Aug 11, 2010 13:50:15 EDT

The creation of health clinics specifically for female veterans at Veterans Affairs Department hospitals may be having the unintended effect of limiting women’s access to routine medical care, according to a report being prepared as part of a AmVets-sponsored symposium about problems facing new veterans.

A working group of current and former service members looking at veterans health care issues raised concerns that women may have a harder time than men being seen by their primary care physicians because of a policy that restricts women to being seen only when those physicians rotate through the women’s health clinics, said Ryan Gallucci, an AmVets’ spokesman, said.

If a female veteran’s primary care physician sees patients in the women’s clinic only one afternoon a week, which seems to be a normal rotation, that veteran could see the physician only on that one afternoon. Male veterans, however, could see that physician on any day he takes appointments, Gallucci said.

“We think having women veterans’ health clinics is a good thing, and there is a need for them, but we do not think the result should be that women are more limited than men in getting primary care appointments,” Gallucci said.

AmVets working groups, which looked at a variety of veterans issues, created a list of items that need attention as part of the organization’s convention in Louisville, Ky., that ended Wednesday. AmVets officials plan to use the recommendations to prepare a formal presentation to be delivered to Congress and VA with specific proposals to change law or policy, Gallucci said. A report listing AmVets’ priorities could be completed as early as Oct. 1, he said.

[Lance_Boyle]

1. If you're going to advocate 'separate but equal' for women, it has to be equal.

Myself, I don't see why there should be "women's hospitals" in the first place. A human body is a human body and the repair shop for same need not be gender segregated. Nevermind that "separate but equal" was dismissed from the realm of legit policy decades ago - this time it's the "minority" (hint - actually a majority) advocating for it, so it must be OK. Craziness.