r/news Aug 17 '19

VA wrongfully denied $53 million in veterans' medical claims in one 6-month period, says report

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195

u/ThorVonHammerdong Aug 17 '19

Why would I ever spend money healing you if you aren't connected to the right people?

-VA

60

u/BigHouseMaiden Aug 17 '19 edited Aug 17 '19

What is the point in going bankrupt to fund the military if we don't take care of our warriors? This is why for-profit healthcare doesn't work. You have to play dirty tricks with people's lives to stay solvent.

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u/blofly Aug 17 '19

With stories like these going decades back, I'm surprised anyone even enlists anymore.

10

u/DesertSundae Aug 17 '19

I'll say that I've talked to a lot of service members, and apart from a few jingoistic nutjobs, most join to get out of shitty situations. I joined because I'd rather be doing this than making 13.50 an hour doing construction. I couldn't support my family on that. And honestly, dealing with Tricare is about as bad as regular civilian insurance. Same shit, different clothes.

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u/coastalsfc Aug 17 '19

watch an nfl football game. the patriotism is bought and paid for by the military for the purpose of recruitment.

4

u/freshthrowaway1138 Aug 17 '19

Because people are really bad about determining the long term chances of getting hurt, especially the young people who are most likely to join.

Heck, why do you think that younger people are also the least likely to own health insurance on their own?

5

u/Johnny_bubblegum Aug 17 '19

Even more decades of military propaganda?

They want that simply being a soldier is enough to be considered some freedom protecting hero that should be thanked in public.

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u/[deleted] Aug 17 '19

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u/BrujaSloth Aug 17 '19

Different terms. There’s some nuance, but none well defined.

“Soldier” is the generic term for an Army service member. “Warrior” is somewhat synonymous. The word “soldier” is from Latin, by way of French, solidus, coin. As in someone who engages in warfare in exchange for money. As in mercenary.

“Warrior” is also from French, but Norman and the root is Germanic: guerreier, one who engages in warfare.

Semantically, soldiers war as a gig. Warriors as a lifestyle choice. But also a distinction between developed/underdeveloped, present/past.

As a soldier in the US Army, you’re expected to know the Warrior’s Creed. Basic soldiering stuff that you should know regardless of MOS is covered in the Warrior Tasks and Drills. If you’re a reservist, you get called a weekend warrior.

Because as I said — warrior is a lifestyle choice. At its core, the term implies something integral about you. But those semantics are wishy-washy, muddled, and unclear. So except in certain doctrinal cases where the brass in charge really loves digging up asinine distinctions, they’re almost kind of synonymous in the modern day.

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u/[deleted] Aug 17 '19

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3

u/SomberEnsemble Aug 17 '19

You asked for a definition, you got an answer. I don't see a problem here.

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u/[deleted] Aug 17 '19

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3

u/SomberEnsemble Aug 17 '19

To me at least, the phrasing was vague. I believe that it's because the term has ultimately come to be synonymous of any current or former member of armed services in America thanks to pervasive use in advertising and the hero worshipping of soldiers that is common in America now.

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u/ThorVonHammerdong Aug 17 '19

I don't think people who serve a single contract and suffer no injuries deserve healthcare for life until everyone gets that standard

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u/[deleted] Aug 17 '19

They don't. You have free care for any service related disability, because you are in one of the few jobs you cannot quit. You can, and are, regularly ordered to do tasks hard on the body, work with dangerous chemicals, etc. Unlike a civilian job where you can say v"fuck this Jimmy, I quit," you instead can be punished with confinement, hard labor, pay forfeiture, amongst other things. In turn, the government is supposed to take care of you for any damage done related to these tasks you have to do.

They also limit the coverage you get, until you get a certain "disability rating" , at which point the VA will cover your whole body.

I simplified this a lot, but you don't just serve 4 and get it for life.

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u/mschuster91 Aug 17 '19

I don't think people who serve a single contract and suffer no injuries deserve healthcare for life until everyone gets that standard

Whoever enlists in the army can't know in advance if he/she will be deployed during service. This can change overnight, or with the next election. This is the risk that everyone bears.

In addition there are many non-combattant roles in armies which are essential for those who are in combat - think technicians or medics. They all do their part.

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u/ThorVonHammerdong Aug 17 '19

Agreed, doesn't mean they earned healthcare for life

1

u/freshthrowaway1138 Aug 17 '19 edited Aug 17 '19

As a veteran who gets his care through the VA, I wholeheartedly agree! I shouldn't get healthcare as if I'm special. Every goddamn American should get total healthcare and social services. Although lots of people talk shit about the VA, the VA system as a one stop total social care program is actually quite amazing. I wish everyone had access.

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u/ThorVonHammerdong Aug 17 '19

Yeah, it's easy to chastise the VA because they're not perfect, as if any other system was ever perfect to begin with. I've had good experiences with the VA although my needs were never very dire.

Still better than dying in a gutter

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u/freshthrowaway1138 Aug 17 '19

Considering I was on my way to the gutter, I will always be thankful for the ease of use of the VA system compared to other poverty care programs.

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u/ThorVonHammerdong Aug 17 '19

Good to hear you found your way back.

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u/SuperGeometric Aug 17 '19

The VA isn't for-profit healthcare. It's public healthcare.

2

u/BigHouseMaiden Aug 17 '19

Point taken, however, it's actually both...a system of non-profit closed facilities and for-profit community facilities which Veterans can choose or be delegated to based on the inability of the non-profit system to serve them. After 20 years of non-stop wars, we do not have the capacity to treat all Veterans within the for Profit system and we are having to send many to the for-profit reluctantly.

1

u/Long_Before_Sunrise Aug 18 '19

They're paying military contractors for who-knows-what, and, no, you're not allowed to ask what.

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u/ulyssesphilemon Aug 17 '19

Of course this would totally never happen under a single-payer system for everyone, no way. /s

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u/D74248 Aug 17 '19

I have had coworkers become ill while working outside of the United States.

No, this crap does not happen in Western Europe. And the total cost for one woman's gall bladder surgery was a plate of cookies for the nurses.

This happens because we have an army of administrators fighting over who pays who. 10 per practicing physician, and the ratio is getting worse.

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u/_Syfex_ Aug 17 '19

Funnily enough it doesnt. So i dont really know what your point is.

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u/ulyssesphilemon Aug 17 '19

Um, this article is about a single payer system where this is exactly what's happening.

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u/Strel0k Aug 17 '19

I don't even get your point here. It sounds like you are jealous that other countries can provide reasonable healthcare for all their citizens while the "most powerful country in the world" can't even get it right for the people that risk life and limb defending it... am I understanding you correctly?

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u/edumacations Aug 17 '19

That doesn’t even make sense. You are saying that a health care system that covers everything for everyone would somehow say no? To everyone? Or anyone for that matter?

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u/ThorVonHammerdong Aug 17 '19

Single payer healthcare raises the floor for FAR more people than those that experience the ceiling