Q: How does your plan improve care for veterans?
"How does your plan improve care for veterans?" This question was asked by my Dad who is a Vietnam vet.
I appreciate the men and women of the military who take an oath to go out and fight for what we stand for. It's noble and wonderful, and I believe they should get the very best care. But I also believe that no person in the states is any better than any other person, uniform or not, and that all people deserve the best care in a timely fashion.
Our current veteran system is a hot mess. There's no other term for it than that. Between the paper charts, the bureaucracy, the lazy administrators who are trying to save their own butts, the lying supervisors who only want their bonuses – the list goes on and on. No, not every VA is like that, but I've seen first-hand what happens when you try to do government medicine.
The Military P.S.Y.C.H. plan is simple. Veterans get vouchers to cover most of their expenses for sick visits. Remember, well visits are already covered. Currently, there exists something called "service connection" where some arbitrary person within the VA system decides how much of a veteran's care is related to an injury sustained during their time in the military. While it's not the best way, I'm in favor of keeping that ratio system as part of P.S.Y.C.H. because it promotes personal responsibility of the veteran to keep themselves healthy.
Veterans don't have to wait to be seen at some ridiculously inconvenient VA; they can go down the street to the local clinic or drive to any specialist/doctor they want. Their records will be universal, a tenet of the P.S.Y.C.H. system, and they'll know the prices beforehand. They get care quickly, efficiently, and when they want it. No more wait lists.
And it'll save the system billions of dollars. Seriously, yes, it is that easy. To have a completely cordoned-off health care system that doesn't work and then force people who have made the ultimate sacrifice to wait on care is just insane.
And the greatest part of P.S.Y.C.H. for our veterans, in my opinion, is that ongoing psychotherapy (especially trauma-focused CBT) will be affordable and available for the young men and women who need it now; mental health parity is important, and P.S.Y.C.H. achieves that.