VA should reduce bureaucracy

A bloated overly staffed bureaucracy within our Department of Veterans Affairs is falling well short of its mission. It has been for over 60 years?

Veterans seeking care may wait months not just hours or days to see a doctor. Now consider the vast number of people from all over the world who have chosen to ignore this nation's laws and to remain here illegally. They can enter any hospital's emergency room, demand, expect and receive care within hours. Paid for by the same American tax-payers whose taxes are also supposed to provide care to our veterans! They can get that care without any proof of identification or legal status. And there's between 12 and 20 million of them!

How about slashing the size of our V.A. bureaucracy, apply that savings to either research into high-tech prosthetics or salaries to attract innovative doctors, scientists and engineers. When a veteran is honorably discharged, they should receive an irrevocable "entitlement" card that allows them to be seen anywhere in America with reimbursement to the health-card provider guaranteed by the "Full Faith and Trust of the United States Government." You know, us.

Yeah, I know, more rantings from a simple-minded uneducated hick (no college degree). If some of the degreed elitists who sit in their offices expecting the underlings in their charge to get things done while the office-holders cook the books in order to justify expecting bonuses...maybe we should clear out those officers and eliminate those positions. Till then, maybe our vets should utilize the emergency room. Seems to work just fine for the "undocumented." The American tax-payer pays the bill either way. That just won't happen. In my experience, our vets are taught selflessness above selfishness. And waiting your turn in another darned line.

Jon Smith

Moses Lake