[SuperScout]

As a military retiree, I'm not stuck in some mythical and evil HMO, but have been able to select my own primary care provider (PCP) from a very long list of exceptionally qualified doctors. And I don't have to wait in line at some VA clinic to be treated by some doctor with questionable credentials, who is invariably different from the doctor that I saw the month before. If I need a referral to a specialist, usually a very brief office visit (at the princely sum of $12.00), or sometimes even a telephone call, and shazamm, I have the requested referral.

Of the four VA hospitals or clinics that I've seen in a non-patient status, none of them was user-friendly, all of them were questionable from a sanitary prospective.

Humana is the service provider for TriCare, and for the princely sum of $460 per year for my bride and I, excellent care is provided by my PCP and by specialists when needed. That is an obscenely low premium, when compared to the civilian rate structure. If they make billions fromthe government administering TriCare, I'm sure they will have earned every dollar. I for one to not begrudge the capitalist system for companies making a profit.

And why should duplication of facilities and services be embraced as some sort of medical panacea? If a rural community already has a clinic, and it is already staffed by competent physicians, why should the taxpayers be stuck with the VA building ANOTHER clinic, and importing VA doctors? Is the rural veteran going to receive better care? Probably not. Is the taxpayer going to stuck with more costs? Probably yes.

I volunteer to drive disabled veterans from Wimberley, a small town south of my home, to Temple, about 80 north, just so that GI Joe Vet can receive care. There are scores of more qualified doctors and other care providers within a radius of 50 miles from his home that could provide better care at a fraction of the cost. It is a waste of time, gasoline, and money, while exposing the veteran and the driver to the perils of driving on IH 35.