As usual, the local rag is again reassuming their typical election year status as an arm of the Democrat National Committee. Their latest effort?
This bogus puff piece on Patty Murray where they falsely claim she's visiting with a "focus on Veteran's issues."
While marketing herself as a champion of veteran's issues, that persona is false. What she's really doing here is focusing on veteran's VOTES as opposed to veteran's ISSUES.
One problem a commentor on the Murray puff piece spelled out is this:
...I take 3 prescriptions. The VA charges $27 for a 90 day prescription. I can get all 3 from Costco or Freddies for $10 for a 90 day fill. Copays are higher at the VA for those in priority 7 or 8 unless you can show in a means test that you are destitute. I am a WW2 veteran and can get better and cheaper medical care through BC/BS and Vancouver Clinic. So much for Patty and her great help.
mooney — August 27, 2010 at 9:09 a.m. ( permalink suggest removal )
So, when it comes to the issue of medication, we get better care from WalMart or Fred Meyers.
That is not to say Murray does nothing for Veterans. When I could not get the VA to provide me with script to enable me to go to Fred Meyers and get my FOUR prescriptions from them that would cost me $40 for the quarter that would now cost me $108 at the VA for the exact same thing (Man, it's a damned good thing I served 14 years in uniform... so I can get the same medications that civilians can get for only $68 MORE... PER QUARTER... meaning that the VA charges me $272 MORE per year for these meds then civilians WHO NEVER SET FOOT IN THE MILITARY pay at Freddies... or Costco... or WalMart.) Murray's Veteran's guy actually arranged for the VA to give me the script I needed to get the much cheaper prescriptions filled at Fred Meyers.
But when I asked him to get Murray to look in to why the VA charges us much more than Fred Meyers for these same drugs, he flat out refused to even ask.
So it's not that Murray doesn't KNOW the government/VA is screwing us... it's just that she doesn't care.
And this "The Homeless Women Veterans and Homeless Veterans With Children Act?"
Since when do female veterans or veterans with children rate ANY consideration that male veterans WITHOUT children don't also rate?
Here's a clue, Patty. In this state, we've outlawed gender as a consideration by the state government and every government below that level. Women are worth precisely NOTHING more than men; men with children are worth precisely NOTHING more then veterans WITHOUT children... and I say this as a veteran WITH children.
"Separate but equal is not equal." Perpetrating the myth that one veteran is worthy of consideration or benefits that ALL veterans cannot have because of their gender or because they've got children is garbage and the kind of pandering that sickens me.
Murray has had 18 years to work to fulfill the promises made to me and millions of other veterans when we enlisted, as I did during the Vietnam War; or were drafted; that we were to have FREE health care, from head to foot, FOR LIFE... the operative word being FREE.
If Murray had muscles to flex... if she was all that and a bag of chips for veterans... SHE would have fixed this stuff.
She hasn't. And I have paid thousands of dollars over the years for my "free" health care, health care that I prepaid by serving my country.
It is so sad to hear these stories, knowing that there are hundreds and thousands of stories just like it out there. Just another reason not to trust the government...it's a shame.
ReplyDeleteI just returned from a camping trip/reunion of guys from the west coast I served in Viet Nam with. Some from Washington state, too.
ReplyDeleteNone have any respect for Murray and don't buy her efforts to "buy us off."
Yes, funds and facilities are needed and deserved for Veterans, but there should be no strings attached and no efforts to make political gain from them.
Don't forget, it was Murray who boasted of preventing an audit of VA PTSD cases that might have rooted out phonies and freed up much needed funds and care for truly deserving REAL Veterans.
Off topic, but one portion of the campfire discussion was David W. Hedrick's claim of "classified Mission."
To a man, everyone's BS detector went full up.
It's hard to draw any other conclusion except that her "concern" for veterans is a political ploy.
ReplyDeleteThere's so much more that needs to be done for veterans in need... and those things need to be done for VETERANS, not just women vets, or vets with children.
No veteran's ultimate risk is greater than any other. We lack the facilities we need to treat the veterans we have now, let alone those of the future. And the idea that any veteran is charged for any medical care, or that any program is sacrosanct or can't be audited for full compliance is as absurd as the idea that Murray really "cares."
Doubling the size of the Vancouver VA Clinic isn't enough. Doubling the staff isn't enough. The inability to adjudicate disability claims is legendary.
And if Murray gave a damn about us, then she would have actually done something to address these issues instead of taking credit for things she had nothing to do with.