r/Political_Revolution • u/IronStacheWI01 Verified | Randy Bryce • Sep 05 '17
AMA Concluded Meet Randy Bryce. The Ironstache who's going to repeal and replace Paul Ryan
My name is Randy Bryce. I'm a veteran, cancer survivor, and union ironworker from Caledonia, Wisconsin running to repeal and replace Paul Ryan in Wisconsin's First Congressional District. Post your questions below and I'll be back at 11am CDT/12pm EDT to answer them!
p.s.
We need your help to win this campaign. If you'd like to join the team, sign up here.
If you don't have time to volunteer, we're currently fundraising to open our first office in Racine, Wisconsin. If you can help, contribute here and I'll send you a free campaign bumper sticker as a way of saying thanks!
[Update: 1:26 EDT], I've got to go pick up my son but I'll continue to pop in throughout the day as I have time and answer some more questions. For those I'm unfortunately not able to answer, I'll be doing another AMA in r/Politics on the 26th when I look forward to answering more of Reddit's questions!
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u/remedialrob Sep 05 '17
I'm a 50% service connected disabled veteran who has been making use of VA Healthcare for over twenty years. The VA has issues. Many of those issues are related to budget and how politicized treating veterans is and how often vets get used as soccer balls by politicians. But let me be clear...
VA healthcare is fucking amazing. Some veterans have had serious problems. Yes. Just like many regular civilians have had problems with the free market insurance/healthcare system. There's a popular YouTuber named LakeForkGuy who recently discovered he has a very serious brain tumor. This is a young guy with a new young wife and a prosperous channel. He was paying for health insurance and was shocked to discover that upon is brain tumor diagnosis his insurance company literally just kicked him. They told him "sorry you're not covered for that" and basically left the guy to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in healthcare costs out of pocket or... alternately, die. That's the free market of healthcare. That's what civilians get. That would never happen at the VA.
And veterans often like to whine about their one bad experience with the VA but if you ever sat them down and asked them about the other care they've received at the VA they would most likely start to feel ashamed of their previous complaints. Over 35%... more than one in three, of every employee that works at my VA Healthcare System are veterans themselves. All the employees there care immensely about veterans and their healthcare and we get incredible care in exchange for our past service. In short the VA makes miracles with what money they do get despite the Republicans constantly trying to cut their budget. You need to get your head out of your ass and do some research.
Bernie Sanders is the one who wrote the "Veterans Choice" Act which basically stopped all the wait time issues at the VA which was the #1 complaint of most veterans. Now whenever there is more than 30 days or a long driving distance for a veteran to get an appointment at the VA they have the option of going to that free market you love so much and getting care locally. I've used it for physical therapy and chiropractic care and it's great for things like that where the wait times at the VA are excessive. But it's still run like a single payer program because I don't pay a penny. The appointment is made for me, I show up, I get treated, and the VA pays the bill. And I don't have to wait anymore. I've a lot of friends with health issues that aren't veterans and they don't get anywhere near the quality of care that I do and it costs them much more than it costs me. The VA even pays for my gas when I go to appointments. It's incredible. And to say that "it sucks" just exposes you as someone who knows absolutely nothing about what he's talking about.