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<font size="+1">The Veterans Administration has invested significant
resources into Information Technology for patient information
systems that appear to do their job better than analogous private
sector systems. Improving the existing single-payor VA system
likely would be more efficient and less expensive than attempting
to upgrade hundreds or thousands of private systems in various
piecemeal fashions to meet the needs of a huge influx of veterans
requiring long-term care.<br>
</font><br>
<font size="+1"><b><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://tinyurl.com/pnb5f4u">http://tinyurl.com/pnb5f4u</a> <br>
<br>
After we have completed an upgrade of the VA systems to handle
the nation's unfortunate warriors from our last
quarter-century's misadventures, perhaps we can use some of the
favorable lessons learned to upgrade our national health care
system to a more effective single-payor system for everyone.<br>
<br>
Intelligent health care administration includes not wasting
resources to reinvent wheels already turning.<br>
<br>
<br>
Ken<br>
<br>
</b></font><br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 8/29/2015 5:19 PM, lfalen wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote cite="mid:0fa20416ee68385e2dfd3337636e8134@turbonet.com"
type="cite">
<div dir="ltr" style="">
<div>If they did not go to a VA hospital but to some other
hospital the government should pay. The same as they would at
a VA hospital.</div>
<div>Roger<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
</div>
<div style="padding-left: 5px; margin-left: 5px;
border-left-color: rgb(119, 119, 119); border-left-width: 3px;
border-left-style: solid;">-----Original Message-----<br>
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Ben Carson suggests doing away with
Department of Veterans Affairs<br>
From: "Tom Hansen" <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:thansen@moscow.com"><thansen@moscow.com></a><br>
To: lfalen <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:lfalen@turbonet.com"><lfalen@turbonet.com></a><br>
Date: 08/30/15 02:09:52<br>
<br>
<title></title>
<div>Mr. Falen - </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>The DVA works! It simply needs some realignment.
Closing down the DVA and requiring veterans to seek medical
assistance from a local non-VA hospital will be costly to
the veteran. The current system provides tremendous care
for for the low-income, as well as the homeless veteran, a
service that will be extremely difficult, if at all, for
those veterans to obtain.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Just who do you expect to pay the bill for those
facilities? </div>
<div>
<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" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</span></div>
<div><a moz-do-not-send="true" style="background-color:
rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"
href="http://www.moscowcares.com/"><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>
<div>
<br>
On Aug 29, 2015, at 2:44 PM, lfalen <<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="index.html?_n%5Bp%5D%5Bmain%5D=win.main.tree&_n%5Bp%5D%5Bcontent%5D=mail.compose&to=lfalen@turbonet.com"><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:lfalen@turbonet.com">lfalen@turbonet.com</a></a>>
wrote:<br>
<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div>
<div dir="ltr">
<div>Tom</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I think that you are miss -reading Carson. He does
not want to shaft veterans. Instead of waiting months
for service and driving hundreds of miles to a VA
Hospital, he wants them to be able to get service at
any hospital.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Roger<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
</div>
<div style="padding-left: 5px; margin-left: 5px;
border-left-color: rgb(119, 119, 119);
border-left-width: 3px; border-left-style: solid;">-----Original
Message-----<br>
Subject: [Vision2020] Ben Carson suggests doing away
with Department of Veterans Affairs<br>
From: "Tom Hansen" <<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="index.html?_n%5Bp%5D%5Bmain%5D=win.main.tree&_n%5Bp%5D%5Bcontent%5D=mail.compose&to=thansen@moscow.com">thansen@moscow.com</a>><br>
To: "Moscow Vision 2020" <<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="index.html?_n%5Bp%5D%5Bmain%5D=win.main.tree&_n%5Bp%5D%5Bcontent%5D=mail.compose&to=vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</a>><br>
Date: 08/28/15 20:16:12<br>
<br>
<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 moz-do-not-send="true"
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="margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px;
outline: 0px; border: 0px currentColor;
border-image: none; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);
line-height: 1.2; font-family: Georgia,
"Times New Roman", Times, serif;
font-size: 28px; font-weight: 400; vertical-align:
baseline; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">Ben
Carson suggests doing away with Department of
Veterans Affairs</h1>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px; padding: 0px;
outline: 0px; border: 0px currentColor;
border-image: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><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></div>
<div class="krttext" style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;
padding: 0px; outline: 0px; border: 0px
currentColor; border-image: none; vertical-align:
baseline;"><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></div>
<div class="krttext" style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;
padding: 0px; outline: 0px; border: 0px
currentColor; border-image: none; vertical-align:
baseline;"><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></div>
<div class="krttext" style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;
padding: 0px; outline: 0px; border: 0px
currentColor; border-image: none; vertical-align:
baseline;"><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></div>
<div class="krttext" style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;
padding: 0px; outline: 0px; border: 0px
currentColor; border-image: none; vertical-align:
baseline;"><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
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://VoteVets.org">VoteVets.org</a>,
said Carson's plan was an insult to veterans.</span></div>
<div class="krttext" style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;
padding: 0px; outline: 0px; border: 0px
currentColor; border-image: none; vertical-align:
baseline;"><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></div>
<div class="krttext" style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;
padding: 0px; outline: 0px; border: 0px
currentColor; border-image: none; vertical-align:
baseline;"><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></div>
<div class="krttext" style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;
padding: 0px; outline: 0px; border: 0px
currentColor; border-image: none; vertical-align:
baseline;"><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></div>
<div class="krttext" style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;
padding: 0px; outline: 0px; border: 0px
currentColor; border-image: none; vertical-align:
baseline;"><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></div>
</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 moz-do-not-send="true"
style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255,
0);" href="http://www.moscowcares.com/"><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>
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</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite">
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<pre wrap="">=======================================================
List services made available by First Step Internet,
serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.fsr.net">http://www.fsr.net</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com">mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com</a>
=======================================================</pre>
</blockquote>
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