Brass Knuckles

If you need an example of how well the government manages healthcare, read Marie Cocco of the Washington Post and her indictment of the care that our soldiers have gotten from the VA.

It has been more than a year since The Washington Post reported on nightmarish conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and recounted the scandalous treatment of severely wounded veterans who spent months trying to get their disabilities properly recognized by the Department of Veterans Affairs, then often months more battling claim rejections that leave the vets and their families struggling financially, emotionally — and of course, physically.

This wasn’t one of those revelations that made headlines for a day or two and then faded. Oh, no. There were hearings in Congress — too many to count. And commissions. And the usual vows to do better. This week, the Post won a well-deserved Pulitzer Prize for its Walter Reed expose.

The government’s response earns no such accolades.

This has been my criticism all along of the idea that the federal government can inject a measure of efficiency into the healthcare delivery sysem that we have now.  In theory, sounds grand, but the reality is that it’s not that hard to evaluate the government’s performance to date. 

There are, of course, those who will argue that once we put them in charge of all healthcare, they will have no choice but perform under the new scrutiny they will undoubtedly get once they start managing the healthcare needs of John Q. Public and his wife, Jane S. Consumer.  The glaring question remains, though; given the high profile nature of healthcare for returning veterans, the expose by the Washington Post and the fact that we’re talking about Walter Reed, why aren’t they performing now?