Yeah and most vets will vote for him anyway because they hate voting for the Democrats that prefer not to send them to the assholes of the world to get their legs blown off in...

You guys are all missing the point. There will be a trickle-down effect here.

You have to say one thing for the GOP. They have a vision for America.

As a general rule, chicken shiat douchebags like Romney should keep their mouths shut on veterans day.

pwhp_67: Yeah and most vets will vote for him anyway because they hate voting for the Democrats that prefer not to send them to the assholes of the world to get their legs blown off in...

A friend of mine, who is a gay marine, voted republican all the time. When I ask about it, he says it's because he agrees with them on most issues. Even when I tell him republicans would probably rather see him dragged behind a truck than accepting him, and he concedes that, he still rocks the vote for republicans.

/sorry, csb

SkinnyHead: nvmac: I wonder which they would choose if it cost them anything out of pocket...

That should be up to them, shouldn't it?

cameroncrazy1984: Based on their approval rating of the VA, I think you would be wrong.

Why not let individual veterans decide for themselves, instead of having some liberal decide for them?

They can go anywhere they like. Nothing stops them from getting health insurance elsewhere or paying out of pocket.

In fact I have a couple clients who live far from a VA hospital who are on private Medicare Advantage plans just because of this. NOBODY makes them go to the VA. It's just really convenient for most veterans, especially those that have combat-related injuries.

As a vet who got out of the military perfectly healthy, this doesn't really affect me. However, I know my wife would jump at the chance to never see the inside of a VA hospital again.

houginator: As a vet who got out of the military perfectly healthy, this doesn't really affect me. However, I know my wife would jump at the chance to never see the inside of a VA hospital again.

Well good thing you aren't required to go then!

SkinnyHead: I think veterans would welcome the choice to decide whether they want to go into the government system or the private system.

No they would not. No-one would have funded healthcare taken off them and replaced with farking vouchers voluntarily. Everyone in the world knows voucher schemes are poison.

I'm just gonna say I have a heavy disdain of politics and politicians in general. Whenever a politician suddenly goes from inaction to action, it's time to worry, regardless of what the stated goals are.

Mitt says that the risk of veterans to flee to a competitor will drive a private healthcare company to treat their customer/patient right.

That line of thinking might work in the boardroom, but before long, the drive for profit will cut services again and again. Private companies exist for one reason: to make a profit. The VA system exists to serve veterans. Sure, they screw it up with bureaucracy, but I would rather have that than to have a profit-driven corporation doing it.

Republicans will never, ever get a vote for them out of me.

/veteran
//presently serves (Army Captain)
///healthcare provider

big time lulz.

and the flavor next week is newt gingrich? really? newt?

bwah ha ha ha!

I'm not terribly happy with Obama but compared to the current crop the GOP offers....yeah...welcome to Whig II: this time its DERP

We've only been supporting veterans since 1636, time for them to fend for themselves. After all, Mitt Romney has always been able to support himself, thus everybody is able to be well off like Mitt.

I believe the same logic supporting Mitt's plan is used to support privatizing Social Security.

Mitt also joined Google+ today. He would have joined it 6 weeks ago, but he was considering the idea and trying to figure out the best decision possible.

SkinnyHead: I think veterans would welcome the choice to decide whether they want to go into the government system or the private system.

Sure, let's forget about studies like this one (new window)by the New England Journal of Medicine (some people have heard of them) because it may fly in the face of your own socialismbad private reality:

"..the New England Journal of Medicine published a study that compared veterans health facilities on 11 measures of quality with fee-for-service Medicare. On all 11 measures, the quality of care in veterans facilities proved to be 'significantly better.'... The Annals of Internal Medicine recently published a study that compared veterans health facilities with commercial managed-care systems in their treatment of diabetes patients. In seven out of seven measures of quality, the VA provided better care."

Don't worry, Mitt will be against vouchers tomorrow. For them again on Sunday. Monday against them...

My father served in the navy in the South Pacific theater in WWII. He was highly decorated, had a full military honors funeral and in and out of the VA hospital. I think he would tell Mitt Romney to suck a wet fart out of his ass.

Vouchers, subsidies, etc, only increases inflation so the cost remains the same. As we saw with mortgages, student loans, low income housing, and yes, even health care. I would much rather have the government run it directly.

Plus, i like the VA. If anything we should expand it. I think every should have the same baseline quality service.

Guess what Romney; the contract I signed said I'd agree to be shot at for 20 years and you would give me lifetime VA benefits - not some voucher that won't be worth a flu shot in a few years. Keep up your end of the bargain or go fark yourself in the ass.

On second thought, do both.

bunner: My father served in the navy in the South Pacific theater in WWII. He was highly decorated, had a full military honors funeral and in and out of the VA hospital. I think he would tell Mitt Romney to suck a wet fart out of his ass.

THIS

i watched my grandfather die in a vet's home that stank like pee and the staff were usually somewhere else. my great-great-grandfather also died there.

mitt is a farkin' idiot.

So, there's a bunch of dudes and gals who signed up to go shoot brown people in countries that never attacked us and couldn't touch us for "freedom" and get blown up themselves. If you're that dumb, then you really shouldn't be making your own decisions regarding health care.

Therefore, Mitt's plan is stupid.

SkinnyHead: gaspode: SkinnyHead: I think veterans would welcome the choice to decide whether they want to go into the government system or the private system.

No they would not. No-one would have funded healthcare taken off them and replaced with farking vouchers voluntarily. Everyone in the world knows voucher schemes are poison.

Why not let them decide for themselves, instead of having you decide for them?

Lemme see... go to the VA, where I don't have to fill out one single form to get care 24/7, or go to the private industry, where I'll spend the first hour in the ER filling out forms and mimicking the "pain face" chart?

Tough call.

Karac: Guess what Romney; the contract I signed said I'd agree to be shot at for 20 years and you would give me lifetime VA benefits - not some voucher that won't be worth a flu shot in a few years. Keep up your end of the bargain or go fark yourself in the ass.

On second thought, do both.

If nothing else, the GOP has demonstrated that they have plans to transfer all contracts to the private sector who will then, with complete impunity, wipe their fat, greasy, bloated asses with them. Corporate America isn't Ward Cleaver. Baron Harkonnen. And the GOP gets little boys for it.

Here's an idea...let's ask the veterans that actually use VA healthcare. I'll go first.

Dear Mitt,

fark you.

On, and that ripping sound you just heard was me tearing up my voter registration card with an R on it. It will have a shiny new D in its place come Monday.

Love,
Me.

As a vietnam vet with a service connected disability (minor) who has been in the VA system since 1975 (discharged '67), I will add this: The medical staff at the VA hospitals (FL, WY, CO, OR) are some of the most caring, knowledgeable people available. Dealing with the administrators, however, is absolutely infuriating. Meh - 'bout like dealing with an insurance company, except free.

Corporate America is Baron Harkonnen. Sorry. Still no typing classes available in my area.

A llittle on Mitt's valiant service during the Vietnam War from a Republican website:

Before joining college, Romney had received a deferment from the draft as a Mormon 'minister of religion' for the duration of his missionary work in France, which lasted two and a half years. At the time, there was an agreement of sorts between the church and the Selective Service allowing exemptions from the draft for missionaries. Before and after his missionary deferment, Romney also received nearly three years of deferments for his academic studies.

But he did lead a conservative counter-demonstration at Stanford to support the draft.

Omahawg: big time lulz.

and the flavor next week is newt gingrich? really? newt?

bwah ha ha ha!

I'm not terribly happy with Obama but compared to the current crop the GOP offers....yeah...welcome to Whig II: this time its DERP

+1 interwebs

I have had some great private sector insurance since I left the military. None of them even hold a candle to tricare.

domenad: he's been advocating military cuts in general for some time

To military spending to keep troops "policing" overseas, not benefits. We have a lovely parting swift boot in the ass for you.

Middle Eastern Vets - From heroes over there to zeroes if they're lucky enough to get home alive.

/ Shame Congress, shame.

ghare: Don't worry, Mitt will be against vouchers tomorrow. For them again on Sunday. Monday against them...

He'll be for them if ol' Tommy Monsen tells him to be for them. Mitt's a good little puppet for his masters.

Thunderbox: Middle Eastern Vets - From heroes over there to zeroes if they're lucky enough to get home alive.

/ Shame Congress, shame.

Heroes like the guy that cut the fingers off of civilians and wore it like a necklace. Finally, the violence has stopped.

Thunderbox: Middle Eastern Vets - From heroes over there to zeroes if they're lucky enough to get home alive.

/ Shame Congress, shame.

Nobody comes home from a war.

You might come back.

But the home you left isn't there anymore and you're not the person who left it.

I guess if you're a multi-millionaire, sock puppet wannabe douchebag politician, this might escape you.

Out of contention too: electric boogaloo.

Romney whut?

Golden tablets.

Oh wait, ya'll like obfuscations.

NVM.