The VA budget (since 9/11) has increased by 235% from FY 2001′s $45 billion annual budget to FY 2014′s $150.7 billion; funding isn’t a problem. Firing Eric Shinseki may deflect political heat however convenience-maneuvering is not a solution. Although it is the nature of bureaucracy to self-preserve, efficiency is rarely, if ever, an operational mandate.
The question isn’t about whether Veterans are entitled to the benefit of Care. The VA System should be dedicated to assuring combat Veterans receive the heightened and specialized care they deserve and most certainly not continuing the well-established government policy of waste, fraud and abuse.
The fact is that the VA is living proof of the Governments inability to efficiently provide a service and to be accountable for doing so. There is no fixing the process so long as political appeasement and sacred-vice is standard practice and this is precisely why Government bureaucracies are so proficient at failing. For half of what the current system costs simply give each Vet a private-market premium voucher. Were it not for the catastrophic effects of Obamacare this approach would uniformly offer a significant upside and perhaps force private-market resurgence.
Attempting to create a Government bureaucracy for every possible and impossible need is pure lunacy serving only to institutionalize dependency and the processes of expansionist-government all of which, inevitably, collapse under the weight of its own excesses.
Curtis C. Greco, Founder
