Anybody with family members who have had to avail themselves of help from the VA know of what I speak.  IF and when you get care, it is generally the objective of the hospitals to get you in and out of there as quickly as possible, doing as little as possible.  This is because it is a very costly and over-worked program.  This is true of ANY government-funded healthcare facility in the world.  IF you provide anything for free, even a useless commodity, people come out of the woodwork to obtain it.  That is human nature.  Once healthcare is provided gratis, people who have formerly taken care of minor niggles and ailments themselves, will look to the government to pay for a quick cure or comfort.  Therefore, a great strain will be placed on a system geared to provide care to those with more serious ailments.

My father-in-law paid a visit to us in the UK a few months ago.  He is a Vietnam veteran and has been getting care from the VA for many years.  While here, he required a late-night visit to the National Health Service (oh yes, it does not matter where you are from, it is THE HOSPITAL SERVICE, and therefore ALL people in the US, illegal or legal, permanent or visiting, or there simply to get healthcare, will be MANDATED to receive healthcare from our system).  It was not the best experience of his life.  Although believing his condition quite severe and possibly life-threatening, we were forced to wait hours to actually see a physician, who, of course, barely spoke English.  He was admitted to the hospital for observation (although he was rarely seen) for a couple of days.

My simple question to him was this:  how do you think the National Health Service compares to the VA?  I expected him to say the NHS was far superior, as I have heard the many horror stories from the VA.  He said he preferred the VA.  Wow.

I don’t think most Americans realize what a universal healthcare system would look like.  You canNOT expect the same level of care you receive from a private hospital.  You canNOT expect special treatment.  You canNOT expect operations and especially selective surgery ON DEMAND.  You will get it, IF you get it, when your number comes up, although that could be many months or years in the future.  You CAN expect the government to make decisions whether or not you will be eligible to receive surgery, even though it is available now.  For example, if you are older, they will make a decision whether or not it is WORTH spending tens of thousands of dollars on a person who will only live a few more years in decrepitude anyway.  I kid you not.  My next door neighbor, a very vibrant and active man in his mid-70s was TURNED DOWN for a necessary heart operation because he was too old!!!!!  Does this sound like science fiction horror?  Well, get used to it, Comrade, Barak Obama has promised your turn at the future.

Please visit a VA hospital before you accept the idea of universal health care.

JB