Uh, okay. My dad has been delighted with his VHA healthcare, if you demand anecdotal evidence. Statistically speaking, the Veterans' Health Administration routinely outscores private hospitals for satisfaction and is more cost-effective as well.
Certainly, the Department of Veterans Affairs itself is poor, and the facilities are dealing with a massive influx of new veterans, but the quality of healthcare in the VHA remains quite good.
My dad had the exact opposite experience. They were excruciatingly slow, quite literally almost causing him to die as a result of their bureaucracy. Private healthcare (Mayo, specifically) saved his life. Throughout my dad's final years I saw both kinds of healthcare at work, and there was a massive difference.
That's a good insight, thanks. The bureaucracy of providing care, especially where it involves the VA (which as mentioned is a different story than the VHA itself), can indeed screw up all the other benefits in the system. Definitely a cautionary tale to keep in mind.
By the way, as long as we're all here, this article by a fellow I used to work for is a remarkably insightful view of the problems involved with our current healthcare system:
http://www.biomoda.com/presidents-column/june-presidents-col...
Certainly, the Department of Veterans Affairs itself is poor, and the facilities are dealing with a massive influx of new veterans, but the quality of healthcare in the VHA remains quite good.