Examiner Editorial: Government-run health care always puts system first, patients second

◼ Over the past several months, there has been a growing focus on the horrific neglect of patients within the Department of Veterans Affairs health care system, especially reports of veterans dying while on “secret” treatment waiting lists. Tragically, such stories are inevitable when government is running health care. - Washington Examiner Editorial

Of all the world's health care systems, the VA's regime most closely resembles Britain's National Health Service, the subject of an October cover story in the Washington Examiner. Like the NHS, the VA medical system is a centralized bureaucracy with a network of government-run hospitals overseen by public officials and employing doctors who are paid by the government.

The scandal facing Veterans Affairs involves evidence that officials manipulated performance metrics to create a false appearance of efficiency. In February, the Examiner's Mark Flatten reported backlogged orders for medical care were being mass-purged at hospitals in Los Angeles and Dallas to make wait times seem less than they really were. In early April, the House Committee on Veterans Affairs reported that 40 veterans died waiting for treatment at the Phoenix Veterans Affairs medical system, and that many were put on a secret waiting list to mask the fact that 1,400 to 1,600 veterans had to wait months for doctors.