Recent news reports suggest that despite efforts by the Department of Veterans Affairs, many veterans continue to wait a long time to get medical care at a VA facility. Yet a simple administrative change could reduce or even eliminate many of the waiting lists. I recently retired after a 25-year career as a VA physician, the last 14 years of which I spent providing primary care at an outpatient clinic. A large proportion of the veterans I saw were already receiving care from private doctors.
