The American Spectator

Special Report

Should the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) serve as the model for the entire U.S. health care system? Many commentators, both left and right, sing its praises. The American Prospect's Ezra Klein calls it the "best medical system in America." The Competitive Enterprise Institute's Eli Lehrer states that it "has emerged as one of the best-run federal agencies." And many highly respected research institutions and journals have given it high marks, including the RAND Corporation, the National Committee on Quality Assurance, and the New England Journal of Medicine.

p>But one has to wonder if all of the praise captures the complete picture of the VHA. A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report (PDF) noted that "Most of the nation's 24 million veterans are eligible for some aspect of VA's health care services if they choose to enroll. In fiscal year 2005, about 7 million veterans were enrolled to receive VA health care services." If the VHA is so wonderful, why are more than 2 out of 3 veterans eschewing it? Furthermore, anecdotal evidence suggest some serious problems with the VHA, as with this commenter at Michael Medved's blog : br> /p>

I'm a disabled veteran and I qualify for "free" healthcare through the Veteran's Administration....It takes six months to get an appointment, the last doctor I saw was foreign and had to have his nurse translate for him, they gave me medication that caused an allergic reaction and when I called to get the proper medication I was told that I had to wait another six months for an appointment to correct the problem. When I call to make an appointment I have no input into when it will be. I have to take what's available, even if it means missing half a day of work to get there. Many tests, procedures, and medications that are common downtown aren't available through the VA. There's a complaint system, but the attitude of the employees seems to be "If you don't like our service, go somewhere else".

br> Of course, relying on a blog comment as evidence is always risky, but it seems representative of many government reports on the VHA. In 2003 minority staff on the House Government Reform Committee examined VHA wait times in Georgia, Kansas and Oklahoma. The report on Georgia found that an estimated 36,000 veterans in Georgia would wait more than 30 days for an appointment in 2003, while the report on Kansas found that the average wait time was 58 days to see a primary-care physician, 76 days for an orthopedic appointment, and 49 days for an audiology appointment. In Oklahoma, the report

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