Oh No! They want to cut VA spending!! OMGzers!

Dixie said:
Why does this bit of distraction and minutia have anything to do with the topic? Does it matter that a "medical officer" is not a "medical director?" Does that somehow make it acceptable to be paying over 200 government workers a wage most of us could only dream of? Does their "directorship" justify the level of pay they are receiving in addition to their income from private practice? And what about their federal pensions and retirement benefits? I suppose, since they are dedicated public sector employees, who do this to help the poor unfortunate veterans, they probably don't receive much in the way of perks and benefits, huh?
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It isn't a distraction to correct your error. You made a statement that was incorrect. I corrected you.

Yes, it matters if a medical officer is not a medical director. One is typically in charge of running the facility, the other in charge of patient care. They are different positions.

Again... the majority of them are NOT directors.

Again.... You are assuming that the majority of them also run private practices.

Again.... You are forgetting/ignoring medical malpractice premiums and costs of education. You assume they all had it paid for by the government. Back that claim or back off that claim.
 
Damn Yankee said:
She also accepts private insurance so her gig with the VA must be part-time as well. http://www.healthgrades.com/directo...es/dr-md-reports/dr-carol-griffin-md-3e9853de
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The facility she works for is a VA facility. Accepting other forms of insurance doesn't mean she works for anyone other than the VA facility.

I am not a VET and not sure if they have a need for supplemental insurance to cover other family members or procedures that may not be covered by their VET bene's. It is possible that is what the other insurance is for. Note... just a guess on my part as I am not familiar with what all the VA pays for.
 
Superfreak said:
The facility she works for is a VA facility. Accepting other forms of insurance doesn't mean she works for anyone other than the VA facility.

I am not a VET and not sure if they have a need for supplemental insurance to cover other family members or procedures that may not be covered by their VET bene's. It is possible that is what the other insurance is for. Note... just a guess on my part as I am not familiar with what all the VA pays for.
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I'm not sure either but it seems to me that if she is getting paid to provide services that the VA doesn't cover then she would obtain coin for these services over and above her VA salary. *shrug*
 
Superfreak said:
It isn't a distraction to correct your error. You made a statement that was incorrect. I corrected you.

Yes, it matters if a medical officer is not a medical director. One is typically in charge of running the facility, the other in charge of patient care. They are different positions.

Again... the majority of them are NOT directors.

Again.... You are assuming that the majority of them also run private practices.

Again.... You are forgetting/ignoring medical malpractice premiums and costs of education. You assume they all had it paid for by the government. Back that claim or back off that claim.
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I am saying it doesn't matter if they are "directors" or "doctors" or whether they have a private practice on the side or not... My issue is with the number of individuals making well over $200k a year, working for the VA, just in the state of Alabama!

As for "medical malpractice" ...as employees of the Federal Government, they represent the US as agents of the US government, any lawsuit for malpractice against them, would have to be made against the US government, and the US government would be obligated to provide legal services for defense. This is one of the perks of working as an agent of the Federal government. Now, these medical officers who happen to also have a private practice, may very well have to pay for their own malpractice insurance, I don't know... it doesn't matter... as medical officers for the VA, their 'malpractice insurance' is covered, because they work for Uncle Sam.

I can't state that all of their education across the board was paid for by the government, I am sure every individual has a different history and story, but I would say it's a reasonable presumption that most VA medical officers were probably in the military at some time. Do you think that is unreasonable to presume? I mean, yeah... there are probably some exceptions to that, but I can't imagine that many. Most of them served in the military, and were educated in medicine through the military. So, there goes that excuse for taxpayers coughing up $200k+ a year for their part time gigs.
 
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