Romney Floats Privatizing Veterans' Health Care

[SHRED]

Romney thinks there is a health insurance marketplace where competitive choices exist.

What a complete idiot.

--

Mitt Romney: Maybe Veterans' Health Care Should Be Privatized

WASHINGTON -- Mitt Romney floated an eyebrow-raising suggestion on Veterans Day: privatize veterans' health care.

Speaking with a dozen vets in an occasionally emotional roundtable discussion in South Carolina Friday, the GOP presidential contender sympathized with the service members' difficulties obtaining treatment from the Department of Veterans Affairs, which one vet described as "adversarial."

Romney, who has already proposed privatizing Medicare, suggested that maybe giving wounded warriors an outside option would force VA health bureaucrats to be a little more responsive.

"When you work in the private sector and you have a competitor, you know if I don't treat this customer right, they're going to leave me and go somewhere else, so I'd better treat them right," Romney said. "Whereas if you're the government, they know there's nowhere else you guys can go. You're stuck."

MORE http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/11/mitt-romney-veterans-health-care-privatization_n_1089061.html?ref=homepage

--

[RegieRocker]

1. Hup 1 2 3 on to a third world country we will be.

[beac]

2. Is he jealous of all the attention the others are getting

for their performances in the Gaffelympics??

[Skidmore]

3. Trial lead balloons sink fast.

[pinboy3niner]

4. VA health care is top-rated

It's a huge system, so there are horror stories. But overall, VA health care is excellent.

"Difficulties in obtaining treatment" occur on the administrative side--in the claims process and health administration--not in health care itself. Vets know that and are very protective of VA health care for veterans (and ALL of the major vets' orgs have testified AGAINST privatization).

Romney's 'solution' would benefit the 1% at the expense of vets. I'd love to tell him where he can 'stuck' it.

[newfie11]

5. Are they all insane?

What, do they just sit around trying to see who can come up with the stupidest/craziest ideas.

[pinboy3niner]

9. It's a reiteration of an old idea

The Right has been trying to privatize the VA for a long time. Even McCain has pushed it.

[kenny blankenship]

13. Just evil.

And they have pushed their rapacious evil on the world under the guise of a religion for 30 years.

[JoePhilly]

6. So Mitt thinks you should let a doc screw you up ...and then you'll

leave that doc and go to a new one to fix you up again??

Is he really that stupid?

Apparently, yes.

[Old and In the Way]

7. So why no bill from Congressional Republicans to eliminate their public health plan?

It's so awful, I'm surprised they'd accept such a benefit and would be happy to show us all how they'd prefer to have private insurance solutions for their coverage.

[marmar]

8. "When you work in the private sector and you have a competitor"

His cheesy, game show-host jaw ought to be tired from uttering that phrase so much.

[demmiblue]

10. Ughh!

[kenny blankenship]

11. Privatization is the filthiest word in the language after child molestor.

"Market-" speak is a con man's patter.

[Ezlivin]

12. I get ALL my care through the VA and have for the past 30 years

Just this past June I had surgery to reattach my right distal biceps tendon.

Excellent care. Excellent results.

My surgeon knew I was a paraplegic and extremely dependent upon both of my functioning arms. They took great care and I followed all of their post-op instructions. Results: I'm weight training again and fully independent.

I have never had nothing but excellent health care through the VAMCs I've used.

Private care facilities are NOT the answer; adequate VA funding is.