In most cases they are either too sick or too poor. When care is virtually free to the patient, even inefficient services and waiting lines are better than nothing. With 2.7 million patients, the VA is the most costly health care system we have. Such disproportionate spending might not be so bad if most veterans needed extensive care or if all were receiving the best care available. In 1993, the General Accounting Office did a survey of VA outpatient care.
Veterans generally wait eight to nine weeks for appointments to specialty clinics.
The VA has 268,000 employees, including 400 lawyers who spend much of their time deciding who is and is not eligible. Getting the VA to build a hospital in one's district is a sure vote-getter for a member of Congress. VA hospitals are about money and jobs - not quality health care. Of course, many VA health care providers are highly trained and dedicated professionals. Despite such providers' best efforts, however, the VA bureaucracy often impedes patient care.