It depends. Until I moved west four years ago, I went to the VAMC in Des Moines. I can't say enough good about them. I got great care from the staff, and never had a major problem with the system. No overwhelming racial or ethnic presence that I noticed. Since then I get my care at a CBOC, a satellite clinic in a western state. The staff is fine when you actually get in to see them. My doc is perhaps the best doctor I have ever had, but the system sucks. Nearly impossible to communicate effectively with anyone by phone or their computer system. Messages fall into a black hole, and the right hand doesn't seem to know what the left is doing.
VA needs a major system overhaul, funding and politics aside. It should be led with the appointment at the highest level of true systems experts, and implemented without political interference. A dream, I know.
If history is any indicator, there will continue to be a lot of lofty pronouncements, but no effective change, and veterans will continue to suffer.
Paul
