Who is responsible for this mess?

[gcy]

The Bush administration's drive for privatization may be responsible for the deplorable outpatient care for soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. A 5-year, $120 million contract awarded to IAP Worldwide Services ? a firm run by a former executive from Halliburton ? will be probed at a House committee hearing Monday. Before the contract, over 300 federal employees provided management services at Walter Reed, but that number reportedly dropped to less than 60 the day before IAP took over

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: gcy
Topic Title: Who is responsible for this mess?

Republicans of course

 

[XMan]

VA hospitals have been mismanaged for decades. It's not a new problem.

 

[brandonb]

Who's fault is it? Bush
Just like he's the reason Hurrican Katrina happened.

 

[Genx87]

While it doesnt surprise me a contract was awarded to a cronie. It was awarded in January of 2006, 14 months ago. The damage and living conditions shown across the news clearly took more than a year to create.

This sounds like your atypical political hot potato as people try to shift blame.
Bottom line however is this is the best you can expect out of a govt run UH system. Imagine the worst.

 

[SViscusi]

Originally posted by: XMan
VA hospitals have been mismanaged for decades. It's not a new problem.

Not true, Clinton's admin reorganized the entire system until it was one of the best quality systems in the world. It looks like that only after large swaths of it was privatized did it fall into it's current state.

 

[Lemon law]

What a ridiculous post brandonb. While you are right, GWB&co. did not cause Katrina, its still a fact that his administration was responsible for having agency directors in place who could effectively respond. And who did the shrub appoint---his old frat buddie that was clearly incompetent when the chips were down---added to a new homeland security policy the Bush administration was also supposed to have up and working----with who's in charge greatly blurred between Brownie and Chertoff---but with Brownie clearly incompetent and Chertoff missing in action, Katrina was a GWB administration public relations disaster---and someone had to be the scapegoat.

Now its Walter Reed---something that has received low level bad press for years and was ignored
by GWB&co.----suddenly it escalates into a full blown media public relations disaster---and its hurry up and fire the scapegoat time again.

The only commonality here is that the remedy should have been in place long before the crisis hit. The fact that it was not can only be laid at the doorstep of GWB&co. who can't seem to manage anything with any degree of competence.---because they appoint Republican ideologs without a thought towards competence or qualifications.

 

[Moonbeam]

Originally posted by: Lemon law
What a ridiculous post brandonb. While you are right, GWB&co. did not cause Katrina, its still a fact that his administration was responsible for having agency directors in place who could effectively respond. And who did the shrub appoint---his old frat buddie that was clearly incompetent when the chips were down---added to a new homeland security policy the Bush administration was also supposed to have up and working----with who's in charge greatly blurred between Brownie and Chertoff---but with Brownie clearly incompetent and Chertoff missing in action, Katrina was a GWB administration public relations disaster---and someone had to be the scapegoat.

Now its Walter Reed---something that has received low level bad press for years and was ignored
by GWB&co.----suddenly it escalates into a full blown media public relations disaster---and its hurry up and fire the scapegoat time again.

The only commonality here is that the remedy should have been in place long before the crisis hit. The fact that it was not can only be laid at the doorstep of GWB&co. who can't seem to manage anything with any degree of competence.---because they appoint Republican ideologs without a thought towards competence or qualifications.

Everybody knows the people who voted for Bush are hyper, flag-waving, pseudo patriots stuffed full of ego and hubris, where their emotional judgment and intuition should have been, with the result that we now suffer through a tremendous national disaster. Do you really think these God, and, my country right or wrong, loons are going to wake up now and expose their egos the their deserved measure of calumny and shame? Denial is always greatest in those who carry the most blame. I believe they would rather continue to destroy the country with their delusional thinking that change, even if they go down too. They especially were shamed as children and they especially will never allow that to happen again. It is why they are so crazy. Only those who have the courage to relive their past come to realize that everything we fear tomorrow happened in spades long ago when we were young, young children.

We can't be other than our level of consciousness allows us to be. For every sin you ever commit you have already been forgiven. But it changes nothing until you know it at the deepest level.

 

[Craig234]

GenX as usual tells the huge lie, that this is the best it can get - as he is part of the problem, preventing the improvement to the government system while pushing the problem, the profit-driven privatization.

The VA is very efficient compared to the private hospitals. For another matter, they negotiate for drug prices, with big savings, in contrast to the republican medicare drug bill.

 

[WHAMPOM]

Originally posted by: Genx87
While it doesnt surprise me a contract was awarded to a cronie. It was awarded in January of 2006, 14 months ago. The damage and living conditions shown across the news clearly took more than a year to create.

This sounds like your atypical political hot potato as people try to shift blame.
Bottom line however is this is the best you can expect out of a govt run UH system. Imagine the worst.

Would you agree it took six years to get this bad? All that War Planning must have had something about services for the wounded? Who would you Blame? Not the "decider"!

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: WHAMPOM

Originally posted by: Genx87
While it doesnt surprise me a contract was awarded to a cronie. It was awarded in January of 2006, 14 months ago. The damage and living conditions shown across the news clearly took more than a year to create.

This sounds like your atypical political hot potato as people try to shift blame.
Bottom line however is this is the best you can expect out of a govt run UH system. Imagine the worst.

Would you agree it took six years to get this bad? All that War Planning must have had something about services for the wounded? Who would you Blame? Not the "decider"!

Him and the rest of the Apologists will never admit the failings of their hero or themselves because the destruction of America is their goal, Mission Accomplished.

 

[tomywishbone]

If you keep waging war and trying to maintain a worldwide military, systems are going to fail. Zero suprise.

Who's responsible? You, me and everybody, who allows the War Pigs to run our country.

 

[Rainsford]

Originally posted by: Genx87
While it doesnt surprise me a contract was awarded to a cronie. It was awarded in January of 2006, 14 months ago. The damage and living conditions shown across the news clearly took more than a year to create.

This sounds like your atypical political hot potato as people try to shift blame.
Bottom line however is this is the best you can expect out of a govt run UH system. Imagine the worst.

Universal health care does not mean government run health care. There is a HUGE fundamental difference.

Still, I'm curious as to what you think a good alternative is, since soldiers are about the best possible test case for government provided health care. You can't really argue that they don't deserve the best health care possible, yet soldiers are payed such crummy wages that there is little chance wounded soldiers can actually AFFORD the health care they need. What exactly is the conservative solution to that problem?

 

[Jhhnn]

Privatization is a scam, perpetrated as an inside job. Those at the top, the politicians who supposedly oversee the operation, whatever it is, receive certain promises of support from potential privatizers... so they place top level managers who are either incompetent or complicit with the plan, who get really stupid while looking good, thus driving the operation into the ground, and costs thru the roof. It creates a cushion, a potential profit margin for privatizers who can then theoretically underbid the public entity. With partial privatization, the remnants of the public entity are continuously cheated and their resources exploited with full management complicity... And with full privatization, the price simply goes thru the roof when it's time to rebid the contract. Privatizers seldom actually compete with each other in any meaningful way- rather, they carve up the market... This occurs time and time again in the waste management and transit industries...

I doubt that VA healthcare is any different...

 

[BoomerD]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: gcy
Topic Title: Who is responsible for this mess?

Republicans of course

Dave, as much as I'd LOVE to agree with ya on this, and point the finger (raised middle one at that) at the Repigs, the disgrace that is called the US Department of Veteran's Affairs, ESPECIALLY their hospitals and clinics has been a total disgrace and insult to American Veterans for MANY, MANY years...hell, ask any Vietnam vet how well the VA took care of him? (be prepared to duck!)
Our country asks our men & women to go to war, then, treats them worse than we treat our pets when they come home...
Sadly, it's not just the administrators who are at fault either, it's also (to a point) the rank & file doctors, nurses, and other staff who get a lot of the blame. Granted, often, the cause of the real problem is far up the food chain, and those on the floors and in the clinics are the ones who are stuck dealing with the daily reality of the policies handed down by the administrators, but all too often, they just seem not to REALLY care...contrast the treatment at any VA center with that in one of the better hospitals in the average American city, and I'll bet ANY vet will take the privately owned hospital over the VA.
The way our country treats our VETERANS is a national disgrace.

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

VAs vary dramatically across the country. Some are exceptional medical care institutions. Others are . . . well . . . not. Multiple factors play a role: 1) VA funding policies, 2) affiliated institutions, 3) influx of new vets (many with physical and mental conditions).

The VA used to be uniformly bad but reforms during the 90s led to significant improvement at those facilities with adequate funding, competent leadership, and strong affiliated institutions (providing clinicians, support staff, facilities).

 

[robphelan]

halliburton and bush.. i would NEVER have thought those 2 had a connection.

 

[Genx87]

Originally posted by: Craig234
GenX as usual tells the huge lie, that this is the best it can get - as he is part of the problem, preventing the improvement to the government system while pushing the problem, the profit-driven privatization.

The VA is very efficient compared to the private hospitals. For another matter, they negotiate for drug prices, with big savings, in contrast to the republican medicare drug bill.

Do you get the impression the more you call people liars the more likely it will happen?
Read the article, the contract was awarded in Jan of 2006. This issue clearly took longer than 12 months to develop.

The pathetically sad part is no matter how many times govts fail, like the sheeple you are, you keep going to bat for them.

 

[piasabird]

I have heard that someone in appropriations or the Army cut the budget to Walter Reed and that is part of the problem. This is how we support the troops. I think letting generals resign is awful nice. Someone should go to jail for this. This is like mistreatment of prisoners of war. We are treating the enemy combatants in Guantanamo better than this.