(via VA Scandal Exposes Single-Payer Health Care Flaws | The Fiscal Times)

In case there wasn’t already enough evidence that America will never have a Scandinavian or British style government-run health care system that includes both health insurance and health care the scandal at the U.S. Veterans Administration and failing to provide our military veterans the health care that they deserve is the ‘smoking gun’.

Monopolies public or private for-profit or non-profit which is what the VA health care system is a public non-profit health care system they do not work for the simple reason that their patients or customers do not have other options. So whether these services do a good job or not they are guaranteed of staying in business and continuing to operate regardless of the service that they perform. Which means they do not have the incentive that frankly most Americans need whether we work in the public or private sectors to do a good job. Because they know they’ll most likely always have a job working for that monopoly. Unless they are caught doing something so horrible that embarrasses the agency that they work for.

But that is just one problem with the VA health care monopoly. The other one having to do with the fact that since they are the only game in town when it comes to veterans health care and since this country has essentially been at war since 2001 now they have a lot more customers or veterans they are simply responsible for. And because of that are probably overwhelmed with the services they have to provide.

It seems to me at least to be basic commonsense to allow Americans who’ve risked their lives for their country and ours to simply have freedom of choice in where to get their health care. And both Congressional veterans health care reform bills provide at least some of that choice for where our veterans can get their health care in the future. The VA, or a public non-federal hospital, or get their health care from the private sector.