Today, I venture into the perilous field of anecdotal evidence about socialized medicine. Perilous because we never make policy around anecdotes and your mileage may vary.
I am a veteran of the United States armed forces rated 60% disabled based on things that happened during my service, and so I am allowed to get my medical care from the Veterans Administration.
On August 14, I appeared at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Temple, Texas, for my annual physical. Blood was discovered in my urine. Noting that I take a medication that thins my blood, the doctor wanted to verify I was bleeding by taking another specimen in a couple of weeks.
On August 27, I was still bleeding, and the VA doctor ordered a CT scan, telling me I would receive a notice to show up for that procedure shortly.....but the notice did not come shortly.
By September 7, the blood had become visible to the naked eye. This made me nervous enough to call a doctor outside the VA system when that weekend was over, September 9.
The civilian doctor saw me the same day and I got a CT scan the next day, which revealed a kidney stone of a size that was never going to pass the normal way, although you might say it had almost made it.
By that time, the pain had hit me like a truck smacking into my back and I was getting heavy medication, but I was able to go shopping for a urologist. I found a guy here in my small town who sounded good: Johns Hopkins, Board Certified, and no disciplinary history.
When I called his office cold, the appointments were next month. When I described my symptoms on a Friday afternoon, September 13, they “worked me in” Monday morning. On this same day, I received an appointment with a VA urologist….for September 30.
The civilian urologist got the CT results by fax and wanted to operate that afternoon, but he had to wait for the blood thinner to flush from my body.
On September 18, I was wheeled into surgery to remove the stone. In that afternoon’s mail, I got an appointment for the CT scan at the VA on September 26.
The first budget President Obama submitted contained the largest increase for VA medical care in the history of the VA, but since then there has been a huge influx of combat injuries from Iraq and Afghanistan and a simultaneous (and overdue) taking of responsibility for injuries my generation incurred from Agent Orange. The system is overwhelmed.
Because of my age, I was saved by Medicare. Thank God for socialized medicine.