209. No Medications for Veterans

VA Healthcare Down The Tubes?

Lately the VA has had a hard time filling prescriptions due to increased oversight on amounts of medications being prescribed by its medical affiliates (The VA’s Excuse)

The funny thing about the VA’s medical affiliates is that almost all VA Medical Centers or VAMC’s are co-located adjacent to almost every states top medical colleges.

Recently due to a “mis-order” the VA pharmacy system is running short of medication for all IN PATIENT as well as out patient clients. It is now normal for a veteran to be handed a photocopied IOU for the medication that cannot be filled though they are coaxed to sign as they have received it. This disorder is now system wide, and rampant through out the system. First discovered in Birmingham, AL and reported to the Birmingham News of all places in over two months it has yet to correct itself.

Part of this shortage is due to the US Government not allowing all FDA approved drugs to be prescribed at VA Hospitals. Due to costs some vets are forced to use drugs that are “not as good” and that their Physician “would not normally prescribe”.

These shortages are often more than 20 days late now in being made to current. One of the drugs (Verapamil) is a blood pressure medication. It seems that the VA is trying to kill veterans by not dealing with this new issue. A few months ago the VA delayed a few thousand pensions by a few days due to a shortfall in the coffer / double checking of certain veterans that had long since over ten years plus never had a problem with their deposited pensions. According to the VA it was a arduous process and one VA service employee said “I am getting so sick of them doing this stuff.”

Wanderingvet

NOTE; The VA and Public Health Service (PHS) are the models of current administration health reform for the rest of us. The problems above are affecting all Veterans and Native Americans as well as those others relying on these services.

206. 8 to 12 Hugs a Day?

Dear Friends:

Today August 18th 2009 was a most dysfunctional reality check at the V.A.

One of my close ,old friends who is a long time Wanderingvets supporter and who is also aiding me while I am in North Carolina dealing with my health issues, picked me up this morning and drove me to the VA for a scheduled Compensation and Pension Examination.

Arriving promptly at 9AM for my scheduled appointment, I was surprisingly ushered right in to have my vitals checked, all good there (111/71 BP, 97.9 Temp). I was then whisked right across the hall to where I met a very nice PA-C (Certified Physician Assistant). It was all a roller coaster ride after that.

204. The Ghost of The Mind

 

When one finds themselves with too much time on their hands, old memories seep into ones consiciousness more and more. I understand these things first hand and I fear others will soon experience these same memories of better times with the  increase in unemployment and the number of foreclosed homes and displaced families.

 

It is not uncommon for me to reflect back upon my life, the woulda, shoulda, coulda’s of life in the past.

203. How to keep a good nation down (or lower)!

When watching the news on our leading companies such as General Motors, Chrysler, ExxonMobil, our Banks, our former steel and other metals industry… I get damn depressed. I was reading Greg Palast’s Armed Madhouse, and it caused me to research our government’s Department of Labor a bit further…

In 2004 the United States Department of Labor decided that businesses were not making enough money. So being led by the nose by the National Council of Chain Restaurants the US. Dept. of Labor came up with a few whiz bang ideas to help out those keeping restaurant labor costs down as well as then reaching out into all sectors that donate money to political campaigns, In the August 2004 a bunch of idiots in the federal labor department they started implemented the following gems that they started creating around Labor Day 2003.

201. Ten Trillion Dollar Bailout For Business and Zero For You

According to the Associated Press:

Social Security and Medicare are fading even faster under the weight of the recession, heading for insolvency years sooner than previously expected, the government warned Tuesday.

Wow! like we did not know this already? That with money going to Bailout companies like AIG (who paid themselves bonuses), GM & Chrysler (who are still filing for Bankruptcy), as well as the other large Fortune 500 companies that are laying off rapidly (See Layoff Tracker).

Ok maybe I missed how saving these companies that are in a natural course of readjustment from mismanagement deserved all of this cash from the U.S. Government, while the Fed, congress and our president has mismanaged our Medicare and Social Security Systems (which we pay into from our earnings).

Our elected officials have now come to the conclusion that it would now be prudent to raise retirement age of everyone born after 1960 to qualify for Social Security – a benefits cut, as well as to deny the cost of living raise for 2010 – 2011 to benefit recipients.

200. Health Effects of Unemployment and Poverty

Mental Illness has long been one of the leading tenets in the cause of Homelessness both in the United States as well as world wide. With all of the Bailouts for Big Businesses, the citizens that are most impacted (laid off workers, the unemployed, and those fearing future job cuts) have been totally ignored by the Federal and States governments.

Economic turmoil (e.g., increased unemployment, foreclosures, loss of investments and other financial distress) can result in a whole host of negative health effects – both physical and mental. It can be particularly devastating to your emotional and mental well-being. Although each of us is affected differently by economic troubles, these problems can add tremendous stress, which in turn can substantially increase the risk for developing such problems as:

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Compulsive Behaviors (over-eating, excessive gambling, spending, etc.)
• Substance Abuse

The above quote comes from then Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration as well as showing the normal pattern of the causes for homelessness.

199. How I find jobs for survival or It is OK to lie!

Dear Friends:

Two years ago I lost my my income, home, most of my golfing buddies and all material goods due to the obliteration of the housing and mortgage industry in todays financial tail spins. I was an early casualty, as well as a well paid six-figure a year former company executive. My reputation was good enough during the 1990’s and 2000’s that if I wanted to change positions all I had to do was make a phone call and never miss a beat.

In the fall of 2007 that all changed. I was faced with many bills and zero income after a job loss and lost everything.  I was not the only one though. I called everyone I knew for positions, the industry was and is a terrible mess. I emailed hundreds of resumes to all sorts of companies. Unfortunately, unless you were entry level they did not want to talk to you. Being in my very early 40’s  and a former upper mid level management I was considered too skilled and had earned too much for them to want to take a risk on. I heard more “we cannot pay you what you were making”, “we feel you will get bored here”, “you have a lot of experience”, and basically “we are not currently looking for some who is so obviously over qualified”.

Upon realizing that many were applying for fewer positions and that I was no longer in the employment target market I tried elsewhere and really lowered my sights.

198. Mr. Obama’s Faulty Logic

The All Seeing Eye

Dear Friends:

The other day I was watching President Obama in a press conference where he stated that he and his administration has created or saved over 150,000 jobs.  I said to myself, Damn that man cannot add or subtract. The next day Chrysler announced they were cutting between 8,500 to 11,ooo jobs in the next few days as well as letting go 13,ooo workers over the next three years. Mr. Obama has a problem with math as you will see…

That is just great since in his first 100 days in office his administration had lost over 2.7 million jobs and had a steady increase of foreclosed homes and increases in homelessness so far under his watch.

From The Bureau of Labor Statistics:

In March (2009), the number of unemployed persons increased by 694,000 to 13.2 million, and the unemployment rate rose to 8.5 percent.  Over the past 12 months, the number of unemployed persons has grown by about 5.3 million, and the unemployment rate has risen by 3.4 percentage points. Half of the increase in both the number of unemployed and the unemployment rate occurred in the last 4 months.

197. Time To Take A Stand

Dear Friends:

As I live and work trying to recoup my life and livelihood I see others sinking into the mire of what happened to me a little while back. Having lost my income and livelihood due to recession and changes in the market I believe gives me a little bit of perspective into other aspects of what is going on in this nation.

196. State of Affairs

A few readers have mentioned that I have not written for a while. I have been trying to rebuild my own survival plan or bailout plan.

I admit the last six months ,including the holidays, have been very trying times. With the addition of all the new unemployed, there is a severe impact on the availability of jobs with the newly downsized now competing for a dwindling amount of positions in the retail and restaurant sectors. With the tremendous amount of newly unemployed, more than a few things happened making life more difficult.

First, with the number of people and families now having less income, many employers in the retail and restaurant industries reduced their work forces or the hours for their employees. This led to fewer job openings as well as the increased competition for positions, an overall lowering of wages since there was more competition for positions / jobs available. With the reduction of income many retailers and restaurant chains filed for bankruptcy protection since they survive on the extra income that families and others spend.