We've all heard what a mess the VA system is, and some pundits have noted that the current system is the same?

The pundits are pretending that any "government run health care" is a joke--that's really the only comparison. The government has managed to give the actual military free health care, so it isn't always a failure for government to be in the health care business.

Medical school students are students and need to be studying. The ones who are advanced enough to intern at a hospital or VA should be interns. We should not lower the standards to be a doctor without a good reason.

Sorry if it sounded like I was just busting on you, I actually like the way you are thinking even if I don't like the answers you came up with. I think that money is the root of the problem, but I can't get much further than that myself. I like that you are looking at the provider end of it--they seem to be left out of this debate too often.

The V.A. already uses medical school students. V.A.M.C. Memphis,Tn. is a training Hospital. We do not need unions. Unions are for the ones that don't want to work.

The VA medical system was created out of necessity, but is pretty much a political holdover. Like all government agencies, it is plagued with "politics over proficiency" which included hiring of many non-native doctors from non-American med schools, retaining incompent staff, and "rice bowling" to artificially create need for bigger facilities.

Even the secretary of the VA system was more a political "rainbow nation" promotion over a more competent advisor.