"Single Payer" for Veterans.

Keep the cabinet level position no differently than HHS, but, provide a "Single Payer" system that frees the American people from VA administration costs and provides the best for our veterans.

The current VA system is ungainly. Trim the system to support "Single Payer" and sell the infrastructure after enough time has moved veterans from the VA system to "Single Payer."

The Iraq and Afghan wars have increased the number of veterans significantly. There is no sense to build new construction and spend money on administrative infrastructure that can best be spent for the benefits of veterans.

A five year transition should bring relief to veterans in short periods of time. The veterans of Iraq and Afghan have terrible problems. They need treatment and on a long term basis.

The President’s 2016 Budget (click here) includes $168.8 billion for VA in 2016. This includes $70.2 billion in discretionary resources and $95.3 billion in mandatory funding. Our discretionary budget request represents an increase of $5.2 billion, or 7.5 percent, over the 2015 enacted level.

If these monies were put to work for veterans, they would be well cared for. The one aspect of the Veteran's Administration is it's pharmacy. That benefit is very valuable to the veterans. The only infrastructure that has to remain are VA pharmacies no different than a local drug store such as CVS, Walgreens, Riteaid and others.

Veterans have unique problems connected with war. They need their own cabinet level position that will mange the Single Payer for them. Tricare has been an answer for the military on bases. I think that is fine and doesn't have to change. But, veterans are different and need an exclusive system that protests their lives and returns quality of life. There is no reason to privatizing the pharmacy for veterans.  The veteran Single Payer can have their own free standing pharmacies. Their current pharmacy system works extremely well and provides for affordable medicines. I don't really see this as an option, but, as a necessity. It is a great campaign issue as well. I think Democrats should be promising better services to veterans by dismantling the current monstrosity of a system and turning those dollars into better treatment for veterans.

September 29, 2015
By Editorial Board Star Tribune

...The two administrators (click here) work for the Veterans Benefits Administration, a part of the Department of Veterans Affairs that was the subject of a 2012 congressional hearing scrutinizing its massive backlog in claims processing. On Monday, the inspector general released the results of an investigation triggered by a whistleblower’s call about nearly $300,000 in moving benefits paid out to administrator Diana Rubens when she transferred from Washington, D.C., to a regional office in Philadelphia.

The other administrator the report focuses on is Kimberly Graves, who volunteered in 2014 to move to Minnesota to head up the regional benefits office in St. Paul. Graves’ moving expenses were $129,467. The inspector general is referring its findings on the two to the U.S. attorney’s office for possible criminal prosecution.

Surprisingly, the investigators generally did not take issue with the ­eyebrow-raising moving expenses. Rubens and Graves qualified for a VA program that assists transferred officials when their houses can’t be sold quickly. That’s what yielded the large sums and the report concluded that policies were followed. The sums, however, stand in stark contrast to the average employer relocation package — $21,033 — documented by a 2012 survey...