The thing is that government doesn't reach everyone either. Often homeless vets don't seek VA help because why would you trust the government, which injured you and put you in the place you're in now (not to mention that the VA has a terrible track record of actually helping). The government also has a very terrifying incidents in it's history relative to providing healthcare, from the Tuskegee siphilis experiments, to offering healthcare in exchange for sterilization, and more recently, using a polio vaccination program as a cover to spy on bin laden.
> VA has a terrible track record of actually helping
Is this a fact? Would private industry do it better?
I ask because the VA is the closest thing we have to a single-payer experience in the US. Active or inactive, the VA is willing to treat you the only requirement being that you served.
Yet, when people bring up the failing VA they always pass along the Walter Reed VA hospital horror stories. I looked into it and you know what, Walter Reed is a huge military hospital base. It's so big there are multiple hospitals on site. And that site has government run VA hospitals and contractor run VA hospitals. And they are all called Walter Reed. But guess what? All the VA horror stories from Walter Reed come from the same contractor ran hospitals.
My dad was a hospital administrator at the VA. He complained about several issues and was rubber-roomed (dad was in the Navy, used to delivering products on time and in budget and was appalled at the treatment of his fellow vets). This was not at Walter Reed. The organization simply doesn't have a culture of taking care of veterans, or anything really, beyond CYA and job security for career bureaucrats.
> the VA is willing to treat you the only requirement being that you served.
They will make it very hard for you to qualify for VA disability by throwing bureaucracy at you.
