VA Private Health Care

[FredyF77192]

As a military Retiree I am fortunate enough to be eligible for Tricare and have very little dealings with the VA outside of my disability compensated injuries. I can’t imagine not having access to health care close by and although not an economist can’t figure out why having a system such as Tricare for Veterans wouldn’t make sense financially for the government. Out of curiosity I researched 7 different jobs staffed by the VA in my state alone, in just those 7 jobs this state has 393 personnel listed as having those jobs. Looking at USAJOBS and finding listings for those job descriptions, at the lowest offered salary for each of the 7 positions would come out to a payroll of $30,543,000.00 a year just for those 393 employees. Using 2017 numbers from National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics this state alone had a budget of $ 3.5 Billion dollars … a little over $9,500.00 per Veteran. I fail to see how using this money in a contracted health care system such as Tricare for Retirees wouldn’t be more beneficial to the Veteran that needs to use it. Couldn’t the money be utilized for better and more accessible  health care for those that need it rather than funding 4 inpatient facilities (not including the outpatient, vet centers and or clinics) convenient only to the 67,000 Veterans of the state that live in the counties close to these facilities, what of the 302,698 living several hours drive from these metropolitan areas. Don’t misunderstand me, as a Veteran I understand and appreciate the need for the VA but has it gotten so big and bureaucratic that as a whole has lost sight of its intended purpose?