Bernie Sanders wrote the ACA clause that allowed for VT to try single payer, but VT failed to raise

[JonLP24]

175. A lot of the bills & the record of Senate behavior are related to

the committees he's on such as Veterans' Affairs Committee which McCain is also on.

The Phoenix VA controversy really caught me surprised. Waiting in the lobby for the prescriptions (the long wait there my only complaint) there was a man handing out cards to complain about the VA on Facebook. It was puzzling, the older vet next to me looks at me ask each other what we think he says "We get damn good care", mine was "best health care I ever received".

A couple weeks later boom a media controversy. It was very misleading on the face, I don't deny there was probably a coverup but I wonder why they were lying & for who? The long waits, if a secret, were a badly kept one. My VA case manager several months earlier suggested the Southeast Clinic in Mesa. The one in Phoenix is centrally located of a large urban center that handles care of the entire state while getting ripped off by some for travel pay. (lying about mailing address, in theory you could say you live 50 miles away when you're down the street).

I followed it closely, Bernie Sanders was hitting all the right points. The most often thing repeated by the media was patients dying waiting for care but is the death because their appointment wasn't sooner or did they die for something unrelated? I don't doubt it has problems -- it needs more facilities like the Southeast clinic & more staff. McCain & others wanted to go in the other direction & there are reports where they overheard shouting matches but he managed to get a bill passed with McCain. It is a very strong example, I think, especially under the environment with the VA controversy.

Sanders, McCain reach deal to fix VA

Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Thursday announced a deal on legislation to reform the Veterans Affairs Department’s troubled health system amid a scandal over long wait times for treatment.

The $2 billion compromise measure gives the VA secretary expanded powers to fire poorly performing individuals, would allow some veterans to seek outside health care and would hire more doctors.

Sanders, the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee chairman, and McCain worked the last two days on how to merge their competing bills to tackle problems within the agency.

Announcing the deal on the Senate floor, Sanders said veterans' care "should not be a political issue" and that Americans had been "appalled" by revelations that VA officials around the country manipulated patient wait times, leading to long delays in care.

<snip>

On Thursday, McCain and Sanders said that neither side got everything they wanted in the bill.

"But right now we have a crisis on our hands and it is imperative that we deal with that crisis," Sanders said.

<snip>

Sanders said he convinced McCain to back hiring new doctors and nurses despite charges from GOP lawmakers that VA personnel only saw half the number of patients as private providers.

http://thehill.com/policy/defense/208396-sanders-mccain-reach-deal-on-va-bill