re: The VA is getting bad

1. Trump's worst move as POTUS was appointing Shulkin to lead the VA. He's career VA and will do nothing but protect the status quo and the legions of shitbird SES positions that are the real reason the VA is so bad.

2. VA's stance on dealing with Agent Orange cases is and always has been abysmal. Here is where Trump's lack of military time hurts him. He has no clue about this stuff. He needs someone to clue him in. And he needs to direct the VA to dramatically loosen up requirements to have things covered subsequent to Agent Orange exposure. There are entire websites now devoted to this topic now.

VA has gone so far as to try and claim a specific aircraft was not used to ferry DDT, knowing that in combat many things don't get logged for issues of expediency. And there are many many other reasons one can be exposed to DDT without it being formally traceable. The VA has shite on Vietnam Veterans for four decades.

3. Here's an experience someone I know has had:
Schedule first appointment with primary care to see doctor at 2pm. VA doesn't tell him they want him there at 11am to see a nurse and over to the lab by 12pm, until he gets a phone call day prior, after he's put in leave for work.

VA often makes appointments for people without ever consulting them. They just send letters and expect Vets to drop everything and show up.

Guy has sleep issues. Months go by, no appointment. He gets printout of medical record. Finds a bunch of different clinics have been bouncing the referral around and cancelling the referral each time. He had sleep study in military and they wanted another one. Another guy I know works at same hospital. He find email where this VA lauds its ability to remove backlog for sleep study. Email shows graph of numbers - mathematically impossible. They would have had to resolve like 5 additional cases per day, 7 days per week, for months. That's just not possible given facilities and staffing they had. They got rid of the backlog by cancelling referrals until people stopped trying.

Guy sees a doctor that wants lab work done. Doc says he puts in order. Goes to lab, and lab doesn't have order, so he just wasted his time. Guy moves and all that's in the local area is outpatient clinic. Day he walks in they inform him the only physician that worked there just quit. Puts in request to have his records transferred and get an appointment at clinic. 5 months later, no appointment, but old hospital sends him letter saying he missed an appointment there.

Guy goes back to old hospital. Which is across the country. Went back because family member was ill. Gets Rx for medication. Waits for hours at pharmacy. Name doesn't show on the list of ready meds. He leaves. Comes back later in the day. Still not showing. Goes to pharmacy window - "oh we mailed it". There was no request to mail it. Another wasted set of hours. So he then had to sit at home waiting for UPS.

Gets another prescription. Has to talk to doctor on phone because no appointments. Also, his medication is routinely prescribed for at least 60 day intervals. But not the VA, who will only do 30 day intervals. So when VA complains about workload, most of it is their own fault. So doc puts in new Rx. Days go by. No meds. Calls pharmacy. "Oh the pharmacist didn't authorize it." Why? No one knows. Call back. "It says you didn't send in the renewal form". There is no renewal form required. Several more calls and 10 days late, the medication is finally received.

Guy gets letter for appointment. After the appointment time. So he's a no-show in VA system. Guy goes to next scheduled appointment at 9am. VA says, oh that's with the nurse, your appointment with doctor was 8am. He never had that letter or notification. Doctor comes out and immediately tells guy to go to pharmacist because doctor is too lazy or too incompetent to see the medication did eventually get filled last time, though 10 days late. Guy tells doctor he wants record to demonstrate he wasn't a no-show. Doc says 'let me see next patient and I'll come get you'. Doc then wants guy to go back in que for the missed appointment, repeat lab (because doc didn't tell patient he was supposed to fast when it was done before), and see the nurse before getting refill of medication. Given all the problems and delays, guy said he's not doing anything like that until VA can figure out how to mail a letter on time and fill a prescription in a timely manner. Doctor kicks the Veteran out of his office. And this is a mental health clinic.

The VA needs to be burned down. It's a mountain of inefficiency and incompetency.