Well, lemme see here.
"Imprimatur"???........."Horse manure"!
I quote you Super, "the point that you missed was that practically all the wondrous discoveries that were chalked up by the VA were accomplished at civilian universities, hospitals, or R&D facilities "
Actually, NO THEY WEREN'T...........the VA has many "research" labs across the country fully capable and even though understaffed, quite able to do most of their R & D on their own.
I'm glad you brought up the "fact" that many renowned Universities and civilian hospitals are in "partnership" with the VA R & D efforts.
These "partnerships" are in most cases funded by GOVERNMENT GRANTS that would otherwise be UNAVAILABLE to these insitutions without the overriding obligation and committment of the VA Reseach & Development authorization process!
It IS a "team" effort of the so-called "bloated bureaucracy" as you call it, and private institutions that continue to make the VA the WORLD CLASS health care system it is.
And......................IF we could get the politicians now in office to just FUND it properly............it WILL be even better!
PS............That "funding" would do well to improve the "salary caps" now in place for VA physicians and help eliminate having to HIRE doctors like the one who screwed up on me (and my friend Packo). If the "playing field" were leveled with regards to salary and physicians compensation between the "private sector" and the VA health care system, you wouldn't see much of this anymore!
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