http://goo.gl/glY9Wk
Unfortunately the problems with VA medical care will provide ammunition to politicians who oppose replacing Obamacare with a simple single-payer system, “Medicare for all.” Although the Affordable Care Act made no changes to veterans’ medical benefits, critics of Obamacare have already seized the opportunity to charge that “government-run health care doesn’t work – just ask a veteran.”
Of course, the problems with veterans’ benefits do not prove that “government health care” doesn’t work. Medicare, for example, is a government program and it works quite well, with none of the problems afflicting Veterans Affairs facilities or, for that matter, Obamacare.
A key difference between Medicare on the one hand and veterans’ benefits and Obamacare on the other hand, is that Medicare patients can go to virtually any doctor or hospital in the country, most of which are not operated by the federal government. The VA has only limited facilities, not always conveniently located and insurance policies sold under Obamacare often severely restrict the doctors and hospitals people can go to.