<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div>Just as you think you've heard everything ignorant, in comes Ben Carson to prove you wrong.</div><div><br></div><div>Courtesy of <i>Stars and Stripes</i> at:</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.stripes.com/news/veterans/ben-carson-suggests-doing-away-with-department-of-veterans-affairs-1.364984">http://www.stripes.com/news/veterans/ben-carson-suggests-doing-away-with-department-of-veterans-affairs-1.364984</a></div><div><br></div><div>---------------------------------------</div><div><h1 style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.2; font-size: 28px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">Ben Carson suggests doing away with Department of Veterans Affairs</h1><p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px 0px 11px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Republican presidential hopeful Ben Carson suggested eliminating the Department of Veterans Affairs in a talk radio interview Wednesday, leading to swift condemnation from one veterans group.</span></p><p class="krttext" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px 0px 11px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The former Johns Hopkins pediatric neurosurgeon said problems with the Veterans Affairs health system are discouraging people from joining the military in the first place and said there needed to be a single system to take care of active duty troops as well as those who are no longer serving.</span></p><p class="krttext" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px 0px 11px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"We don't need a Department of Veterans Affairs," Carson told host Dave Ramsey. "Veterans Affairs should be folded in under the Department of Defense. And it should be a smooth transition. We need to be looking at the way we take care of soldiers."</span></p><p class="krttext" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px 0px 11px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Instead of the current system that provides treatment for veterans at government-run hospitals, Carson suggested that they should have a health savings account that would pay for treatment at any medical facility. The VA facilities could then be used for specialized treatments for traumatic brain injuries and limb replacements — problems that particularly afflict veterans.</span></p><p class="krttext" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px 0px 11px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But Paul D. Eaton, a retired Army major general and adviser to progressive political group <a href="http://VoteVets.org">VoteVets.org</a>, said Carson's plan was an insult to veterans.</span></p><p class="krttext" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px 0px 11px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Rather than think of ways to nickel and dime our veterans, Dr. Carson should be thinking of other areas of fat in government — particularly in defense contracts — that can be cut, so we can hire more doctors and caregivers, to provide returning veterans with the kind of care they earned," Eaton said in a statement.</span></p><p class="krttext" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px 0px 11px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In the past 18 months the VA health system has been shaken by revelations that some doctors manipulated wait lists and fresh questions over the availability of care for veterans. Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert A. McDonald, who was put in place to clean up the department, is scheduled to be in Baltimore next week to address the American Legion convention.</span></p><div class="ndn_embed ndn_embedding ndn_embedContainer ndn-widget-embed-2 ndn_embedded" id="ndn-video-inside-story" data-config-distributor-id="92012" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; margin: auto; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 1;"></div><p class="krttext" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px 0px 11px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Henry Howard, a spokesman for the American Legion, said the problems have been a priority for veterans, but that most former service members are happy with the care that they get through the VA.</span></p><p class="krttext" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; margin: 0px 0px 11px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"A large percent of veterans getting healthcare are great, the veterans love it," he said.</span></p></div><div>---------------------------------------<br><br><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares"</span></div><div><a href="http://www.moscowcares.com/" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000">http://www.MoscowCares.com</font></a></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"There's room at the top they are telling you still.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But first you must learn how to smile as you kill,</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">If you want to be like the folks on the hill."</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">- John Lennon</span></div></div></body></html>