General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forumstrump Merkel press conference this afternoon.
Zoom to about 42:30 and watch Merkel's facial expressions when trump talk about firing people "almost as fast as they fire people in Germany". She had great expressions throughout the conference:
C_U_L8R
(45,035 posts)there wasn't as much kissing and touching as there was with the Macron
poboy2
(2,078 posts)HipChick
(25,485 posts)&feature=youtu.be
Ohiogal
(32,168 posts)Merkel has his number, all right.
LastLiberal in PalmSprings
(12,601 posts)Those are code words for privatization.
As a veteran who is already enrolled in the existing VA Choice program because I live more than 40 miles from the nearest VA facility, I can say it can suck. For nearly two years the Choice doctor I was seeing kept telling I should drop my Medicare primary care physician and let her handle everything. Then one day when I arrived for my appointment, she told me she was retiring the next day.
VA Choice couldn't find a replacement closer than the VA clinic I was trying to avoid making the one hour drive to, so now I Skype with someone employed by a private company. It's pretty clear from his attitude he doesn't give a shit about me.
I do not know a single vet who wants to see the VA healthcare system torn apart. For one thing, the VA would lose the enormous power it currently has in negotiating lower prices with drug companies. Thanks to the GOP, Medicare Part D is prohibited from negotiating for lower drug prices. In the month after it passed the pharmaceutical companies increased their prices an average of 30%.
Right now I get a drug that would cost more than $900 a month through Medicare for $8 through the VA. I doubt a privatized VA would result in such savings.
onethatcares
(16,206 posts)watch as dump starts to hear, "blah, blah, blah, blah blah" He's like that FarSide cartoonwith the dog.