Ya'll are being distracted by the Bergdahl controversy. What about the VA scandal?

Everyone at ats. What happened to the VA scandal? It seems like Shinseki resigns and all of a sudden everyone forgets that it even occurred. Obama goes forwards with this prisoner transfer (which appears to be blowing up in his face, ironically) and all of a sudden we forget about the problems plaguing our REAL heroes who already finished their duty to the country. There isn't even a VA topic on the front page of the recent posts page here. For shame ATS. This is a real, ongoing controversy and you are letting the media direct your attention away from it.

This foxnews article sums up my sentiments rather nicely. It makes a reference to a WSJ article exposing a NEW controversy regarding the VA hospital and mortality rates through infections. That is concerning on its own, but the reason I made this thread is because of what the rest of the article speaks about.

The Other VA Scandal: Why most of the press has checked out of the story

Until now, the spotlight has been on veterans who grew sicker or died because of long waiting times that were, in some instances, covered up by government officials. But what about the care they receive in overtaxed hospitals?

The Journal reported: “The Phoenix facility at the heart of the crisis at the Department of Veterans Affairs is among a number of VA hospitals that show significantly higher rates of mortality and dangerous infections than the agency's top-tier hospitals, internal records show.”

I single this out as good example of investigative digging, but also because of the way the story is fading from the media radar, even more quickly than I feared.

Remember all the outrage that echoed across the media landscape in the last two weeks? After a slow start, the VA story reached white-hot intensity, with a broad consensus that this was a genuine scandal. Even liberal columnists and some Democrats criticized the Obama administration, giving the narrative a bipartisan flavor.

I certainly remember all the outrage. I'm a veteran and I am STILL outraged over this. I haven't forgotten anything about it. I am still waiting for answers. Am I the only one left though?

But then the Beltway press did what it always does, reducing a complicated story to a game of who’s up and who’s down. The media practically demanded Eric Shinseki’s head, to the point that President Obama had to oust his Cabinet officer simply to change the subject.

Since the resignation last Friday, we’ve seen the Incredible Shrinking VA Story, especially on television. Yes, it pops up now and then, but it’s no longer top-of-the-newscast stuff—as if the problems magically vanished with Shinseki’s departure.

The news cycle moves on, I get it. Everyone’s now obsessed with the strange tale of Bowe Bergdahl, the Taliban prisoner swap and whether he’s a deserter. Apple unveiled a new operating system. Rob Ford is out of rehab and going back to work. More GOP primaries. It’s always something.

This whole prisoner swap nonsense is a distraction guys! We had Obama's administration up against a wall with this controversy. Republicans AND Democrats were upset about this. Then Obama throws this sloppy prisoner transfer together and all of a sudden it's more important than REAL American heroes dying because the country is failing them.

But this is serious business. That Journal piece says the rate of potentially lethal infections from central-intravenous lines was 11 times as high among the Phoenix patients as at top VA hospitals. The Atlanta and Houston hospitals were also rated poorly. Did you see any TV networks following up on that?

I didn't even KNOW about this until I read this fox news article and the article is only referencing this story to make its point. The WSJ article should have been front page material on ATS as soon as it was posted yesterday. Come on ATS, forget about the traitor for a second. Let's focus on the heroes that truly ARE important. The VA needs to be overhauled, we had them where we needed them to accomplish that, and now you are letting them escape without making any real changes.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

it always has worked in the past. people are so drugged up today from pharma and tap water.

The VA needs to be abolished, and all veterans get congress's health care plan.

The VA needs to be overhauled, we had them where we needed them to accomplish that, and now you are letting them escape without making any real changes. - See more at: www.abovetopsecret.com...

ALL GOVERNMENT ran healthcare needs to be ABOLISHED.

That includes medicare,medicaid, and the VA.

Interesting that congressmans healthcare was mentioned.

They sure the EFF don't get treatment or care at the VA.

So why should vets ?

Vets should be able to walk in to any hospital in the country, and get the care they deserve.

The only thing the VA needs to do is EFFING pay the hospital bill.

I'm pretty sure it's y'all, but in any event, no we all are not.

a reply to: ~Lucidity

You are going to grammar police me on slang? But besides that, what do you think of this new controversy? Veterans are dying due to improper hygiene in these VA hospitals.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

This seems to be business as usual for the MSM. I was astonished at the absolute hypocrisy of the Obama administration claiming they had to act fast getting Bowe Bergdahl back because of his "health issues" while the VA is killing off our veterans at the same time. Pathetic doesn't begin to cover it.

a reply to: HanzHenry

I really don't think it would be that easy. I think if we were to just abolish the majority of the VA (leaving just the necessary people and departments to make sure hospital bills are paid), it would create a good deal of problems as many veterans have to now find new hospitals and coverage. Plus many veterans are satisfied with the care they receive at the VA. Why should we hinder them and throw the whole thing out the window? What about this bill letting the VA secretary fire people for screwing up? Couldn't we start with that?

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: ~Lucidity

You are going to grammar police me on slang? But besides that, what do you think of this new controversy? Veterans are dying due to improper hygiene in these VA hospitals.

veterans are also killing themselves at about 25/day now. the VA does not provide adequate care, fast enough, and they dont make it easy for members to get fully compensated for injuries.

a reply to: HanzHenry

Believe me I know. I can't get the VA to admit that the knee injury I sustained while in Iraq is a service related disability. But let's go done your line of thought for a second. If we were to abolish the VA, how do you reckon the government hands out vouchers and assistance to pay these hospital bills? How does the government determine which veterans are eligible and which aren't? It seems to me that by abolishing the VA, you are reducing it to a straight up bureaucracy that only processes paperwork. Pretty much reducing it to another SSA. Why couldn't we just add this functionality to the VA for veterans who need specialized assistance, to handle overflow, or for veterans living far away from the nearest VA hospital (I know the VA provides transportation to the hospital if you live too far away, but if you live 4 hours away from the nearest hospital, that is an 8 hour trip regardless if you are paying for it or not).

the rate of potentially lethal infections from central-intravenous lines was 11 times as high among the Phoenix patients as at top VA hospitals. - See more at: www.abovetopsecret.com...

Presidents get treatment at Army hospitals, so of course the ones they use are going to be the best in the nation.
Infections 11 times higher than in the top VA hospitals is a bit misleading; most hospitals struggle with these same issues, and have even worse infection rates.

As soon as Bergdahl was released, I told my husband the VA scandal had just been swept under the rug. We all see it, but nobody has any valid idea of what to do about it.
Did I hear somebody say "You can vote!" ?

a reply to: Krazysh0t

There is no problem with the VA anymore.

Obama solved it.

He fired that guy.

(NEXT STORY!)

/sarc

Both stories deserve front burner attention.

- Veterans dying and not getting care.
- Obama breaking the law and thumbing his nose at America.

Both ... front burner.

a reply to: nugget1

But there is a bill with bipartisan support tailored to allow the VA secretary to fire people under him who are underachieving or screwing up. This is HUGE! Do you know how hard it is to get fired from a government job? Especially a high level one like the ones directly under the VA secretary. These guys are essentially the cause of the VA bloat. We should try to trim some fat here, maybe some of that HUGE budget that the VA has can finally go where it is supposed to go, towards helping veterans instead of lining some asshole government manager's bank account.

Golly, I didn't know we had to chose one or the other.

How do those history students do it? Tested for dozens of historical events spanning decades or centuries at a time? They must be superhuman to be able to keep track of so much at once!

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: ~Lucidity

You are going to grammar police me on slang? But besides that, what do you think of this new controversy? Veterans are dying due to improper hygiene in these VA hospitals.

Yes, I am going to "grammar police" you on slang.

Also, I told you what I thought. I am not distracted. Are you? Or are you trying to tell me that I am?

ETA: And the reason I am grammar policing you is because ATS used to have some pride about things like this. Sorry but I'm still cringing to see "Lybia" showing up in search results linked to ATS.

a reply to: Deny Arrogance

Oh. I didn't see you posting any new threads about the VA. As I pointed out in the OP, there was a brand spanking new controversy just waiting for us to talk about and no one posted anything about it. Technically, this thread isn't even ABOUT that controversy, so you could still post it.

a reply to: ~Lucidity

I'm just trying to get more out of you than the one line you originally provided in your first post.

ETA: The proper spelling of a slang word is unimportant to the context of my thread. As you can read, the rest of my thread is grammatically well put together, so one little mistake is pretty irrelevant to the whole scheme of it.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

The VA scandal is not going anywhere any time soon, Krazysh0t, you know that, more and more people in all areas of the nation are voicing their experiences right now, most veterans like my husband will never forget.

Nobody is forgetting, is just that While the VA scandal shows the incompetence of the agencies of the President, and this could have gone either way no matter what political party was in power, the Bergdahl controversy is directly link to the president itself that makes it more interesting.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

That is what happens with manufactured "scandals"...people have short attention spans....so Fox News needs to keep creating manufactured scandals to keep the hate up.

a reply to: marg6043

So answer me this, what do you think will be more likely to have changes implemented due to public discontent, the VA scandals or the Bergdahl controversy?

I mean I can tell you EXACTLY what will happen with the Bergdahl controversy. Everyone will yell and scream for a while. None of the Democrats will jump on board and no one will be held responsible for this. A few months later, we'll have moved onto whatever new blunder Obama and his administration gets themselves into.

The VA scandals on the other hand have bipartisan support already. This is BIG! When was the last time you heard our government having bipartisan support on, well, anything? If we keep pushing, we can get some real changes implemented. But how it stands, we are letting this Bergdahl thing wash the VA scandal out of the news. We need to speak up and voice that this is unacceptable.