Veterans Affairs Secretary Vows Not to Privatize Agency

[brooklynite]

Source: Bloomberg

Minneapolis (AP) -- The new secretary of veterans affairs pledged to the American Legion on Wednesday that he won't privatize his agency's health care services even as it increases options for veterans to seek care in the private sector.

Robert Wilkie, who was sworn in last month, also pledged better customer service as a result of the VA overhaul bill that President Donald Trump signed recently in response to the long waits for appointments and short-staffing that have plagued VA hospitals across the country.

"It is our job is to serve you well and honorably, showing you the same kind of dignity and devotion that you gave to America," Wilkie told the group's 100th annual convention, which was held in Minneapolis. "My prime directive is customer service. When a veteran comes to VA it is not up to him to employ a cauldron of layers to get VA to say yes. It is up to VA to say yes to them."

Wilkie said it's "absolutely essential" to have caregivers who specialize veterans' special needs.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-29/veterans-affairs-secretary-vows-not-to-privatize-agency

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Damn Socialists...

[tonyt53]

1. By next spring, it will be privatized then.

[yuiyoshida]

2. Trump doesn't give a damn about Veterans

If THINGS DON'T INVOLVE HIM, or pumping him up, He doesn't care..THIS LAST Election was all about Making Donald Trump Happy, to be in the spotlight every day...If he could perform fellatio on himself he would.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

3. Uh-oh. That means they're going to privatize the V.A.

Because I live more than 40 miles from the nearest V.A. clinic I've been put into the Choice program, where a private doctor is contracted to provide services. I also see a private doctor, but chose to use the V.A. when he prescribed a drug that costs $900 a month. The V.A. charges $8 a month for the same drug.

The provider tried multiple times to get me to let go completely of my private provider, and I kept telling her I didn't trust the V.A.'s contracting their services out -- that I wasn't sure of the stability of such an arrangement -- especially during the time of Trump. Then during one appointment she told me out of the blue she was retiring the next day. Given how convenient her office was -- two miles versus 45 for the V.A. clinic -- I was a little dismayed. When I asked the V.A. for a replacement, they assigned someone at a private company in San Diego -- 120 miles away! They see me via computer conferencing, which is really a unfulfilling experience. They wanted me to come down once every six months to meet with their doctor. So I"m back to using the local (45 miles) clinic.

That's my experience with a privatized V.A. In neither case have I gotten the sense of being cared about because of my service. What it feels like to go to a private provider is very sterile. At times I feel like they look at me as just another cash cow.

[WhiteTara]

4. That means it's almost a done deal

and we can see it in action by Christmas. They like those holidays to destroy peoples' lives

[flotsam]

5. Can someone provide a gibberish to english translation?

"My prime directive is customer service. When a veteran comes to VA it is not up to him to employ a cauldron of layers to get VA to say yes."


How does one "employ a cauldron of layers"????

[haele]

7. The only other reference to a cauldron of layers is from an online student's essay from Cambridge UK

On how late bronze age and early Roman era cauldrons were made in layers riveted together (cauldrons were an indicator of household status).

Somehow, I don't think that's where he got his notion.

Might it be an allusion to MacBeth, where the witch's cauldron stands for the layers of reality the prophesy the witches gave to MacBeth that led him to his ultimate fate? or "A cauldron of Lawyers?"

Got nothing else here.

Haele

[marble falls]

6. If he's on the level he'd better have his resume updated, otherwise only a Blue Wave ...

save his job.

[B Stieg]

8. Doesn't the Secretary have to clear this...

with a couple of Trump's buddies at Mar-a-lago?