Veterans Health Care

Open Email to Sen. Brian Schatz:

Dear Sen. Schatz,
Thank you for your email concerning veterans health benefits.
You said you are supporting bipartisan legislation to improve operations at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Your bill will make VA executives more accountable, cut wait times, and help make way for a major new VA medical facility on O'ahu that would double VA clinical services on the island,
I agree completely with the first part of your statement. US citizens, through their federal government, have an obligation to supply Healthcare Services to veterans of quality and availability at least equal to that for the general public.
However I disagree completely with your plan to establish a new VA medical facility on Oahu. In no case should the federal government own property for services which can be supplied by facilities of private industry. Not only do I disagree with the construction of a new medical facility on Oahu, but I am also suggesting that the Veterans Administration dispose of all medical facilities by selling them off to private industry.
To properly handle the health needs of veterans, the Veterans Administration only needs to supply each veteran with a health card indicating that the Veterans Administration will pay for any medical treatment given to the veteran at any legitimately authorized institution; private or public hospital. By this mechanism, a public market will be created for supplying healthcare to veterans. If the facilities are presently insufficient, the civilian hospital group will expand to accommodate the influx, because they are guaranteed payment which reduces their risk.
Simply stated. The federal government should not build new medical facilities for veterans. It should sell off existing facilities to private industry. It should supply each veteran with the health care card stating that the Veterans Administration will bear the cost of any medical treatment given to that veteran by a legitimate supplier, which would include essentially every hospital and hospital chain in the US, including Hawaii.