Brickbat: The Doctor Will See You Shortly

About a year after Douglas Chase was diagnosed with brain cancer, it became difficult for him to go to Boston for treatment. So his family tried to switch the Vietnam vet's care closer to home at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Bedford, Massachusetts. But they heard nothing from the VA after contacting the agency in 2012. To add to the injury, officials later turned down Chase's request for benefits because he wasn't treated in a VA hospital, and several months after that, Chase passed away. But just a couple of weeks ago, almost two years after Chase died, his widow got a letter from the VA saying he could now apply to see a doctor.

Comments

[invisible furry hand]

From the comments:

Problem is he was a decent, law abiding vet. Had he been a lecherous drunk who groped women, like Teddy Kennedy, his brain tumor woulda been treated immediately.

[mnarayan]

I hadn't heard of him groping women. Drowning them though...

[Fist of Etiquette]

If it makes Chase's family feel any better, Charlie has trouble seeing his doctor, too.

[Mickey Rat]

This is what access to health care under single payer looks like. But at least he had coverage!

[db]

Everybody's Free (to have access)

[Ted S.]

Everybody's free to use sunscreen too.

[Doctor Whom]

My progressive Facebook friends are quiet about this. Perhaps they're still working on how to blame market failure.

[sarcasmic]

Nah. Their fingers are fully imbedded in their ears as they yell "La la la la I can't hear you single payer is wonderful we need to be more like Europe la la la this didn't happen because single payer is the best la la la la...."

[Adam]

Maybe they should read the comments blaming the "gutting" of the VA budget by Repubs. Wait, maybe it's....nevermind.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I don't want to live in a world where incompetence and deceit aren't the path to a bigger budget.

[invisible furry hand]

Depend on the VA for your medical treatment and you won't have to

[datcv]

Well the more retarded ones are blaming it on lack of funding. TEA PARTY DERP DERP THUGLICANS CUT FUNDING DERP DERP.

[Suthenboy]

This is what single payer systems operate like.

What is the motive behind people who want one for everyone else, but not for themselves?
Malice. Control. Greed.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Fuzzy Unicorns and Double Rainbows

[WDATPDIM!?]

Who needs death panels when sheer incompetence will weed out the less connected deserving?

[sarcasmic]

That's exactly it. The connected are put into the front of the line, while people who voice unpopular political opinions perpetually remain in the back of the line. Since people on the left align themselves with whatever is popular, as opposed to any moral sense of right and wrong, they at least know they won't be shoved into the back of the line. At that point it's all about making connections to be put in the front of the line. Go to the right college, join the right clubs, make the right friends, and you'll never have to worry about getting an appointment.

[WDATPDIM!?]

Wrong-thinking people need to be punished.

Lest we forget:

"When an entire major party has excused itself from meaningful debate and a thoughtful U.S. senator like Orrin Hatch no longer finds it important to make sense and an up-and-comer like Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty attacks the president for giving a speech telling schoolchildren to work hard in school and get good grades, one starts to wonder if the country wouldn't be better off without them and if Republicans should be cut out of the health-care system entirely and simply provided with aspirin and hand sanitizer. Thirty-two percent of the population identifies with the GOP, and if we cut off health care to them, we could probably pay off the deficit in short order."

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Not everybody can be above average

[Rich]

one starts to wonder if the country wouldn't be better off [if people were] simply provided with aspirin and hand sanitizer.

That actually sounds like a decent think-tank study.

[WDATPDIM!?]

Now that's a healthcare plan I can get behind.

[Rich]

almost two years after Chase died, his widow got a letter from the VA saying he could now apply to see a doctor.

If she has the stomach for it, she should see the doctor visit through.

[Ted S.]

If she really has the stomach, she should exhume the body and take that to the doctor.

[Rich]

Exactly.

"Next. ... Oh. My. GOD!!!"

[AnkitLucky]

Doctor is god!!!!