And the secretary has graciously agreed to be with us for this time, so lets take advantage of it. I want to thank governor fallon to agree to being the cochair. I want to thank the secretary for his remarks and for agreeing to remain afterwards to engage in dialogue with all of us. Im a little bit torn because i learned just as we walked in that hes a big Philadelphia Eagles fan who, yeah, governor, yeah, see . Well, im getting over it. But the Veterans Administration needs no introduction, so mine will be brief. The va impacts the lives of our veterans in so many ways, and in addition to its vital services, the va means something deeply special to our veterans. It is the fulfillment of a sacred promise that their country made to them. They stepped forward to protect and defend our country in a time of need. Some returned relatively unscathed from their service. Many, however, carry physical and psychic wounds which will plague them for the rest of their lives. Now they are in need. T
I want to thank governor fallon to agree to being the cochair. I want to thank the secretary for his remarks and for agreeing to remain afterwards to engage in dialogue with all of us. Im a little bit torn because i learned just as we walked in that hes a big Philadelphia Eagles fan who, yeah, governor, yeah, see . Well, im getting over it. But the Veterans Administration needs no introduction, so mine will be brief. The va impacts the lives of our veterans in so many ways, and in addition to its vital services, the va means something deeply special to our veterans. It is the fulfillment of a sacred promise that their country made to them. They stepped forward to protect and defend our country in a time of need. Some returned relatively unscathed from their service. Many, however, carry physical and psychic wounds which will plague them for the rest of their lives. Now they are in need. They need health care services, disability compensation, vocational rehabilitation, education assist
Inmates have been put on death row for. That was my thinking. As this illustrates, there is no perfect, ideal way to do it. Things are going to be slightly different. Most of us are in the same place. When i look at my story davids story, my story, they look alarmingly similar. You might think we colluded. They often have a very similar lead, a similar first quote. Newspaper work is, in a way a fairly narrow kraft. Wouldnt you concerned, though if we actually differed on the outcome, who won and who lost . The thing is, they are both wrong. What you really found from that that there are seven justices who didnt question the constitutionality of the Death Penalty. What i thought was stirring was that it was a narrow but i thought the end of my lead was unequivocal directive that states could experiment with ways to execute people and the court wasnt going to get in the way of that. Obviously, as you said i this i i put it in the fourth graph that the two of them dissented. I thought it
We cant lose ground. The new treatments can be extremely expensive and cost as much as 1,000 a pill. I understand the v. A. Has been able to negotiate with the Drug Companies to a lower cost. And ive heard estimates that v. A. Is instead paying closer to 600 a bill, is that correct . I you may not have a answer. I would like to not have to answer that question. We work very slowly and collaboratively with the manufacturers of those drugs and have been able to reach attractive arrangements for the continued purchase of those drugs. And we continue to have those conversations. My what im curious about is if maybe our veterans are maybe choosing to go to v. A. As opposed to the private care or tricare or other options because they might get access to this medication more easily and the doctors might be able to get the treatment done in a more timely manner . I think that is certainly the case. If a veteran who is medicare eligible was to go to a private provider, he would wind up with a v
Seriously considered. Senator mccain has already referenced them. One is i think we have to take a hard look at overhead. The army but not just the army but the military across the board, all of the services to include department of defense are very very Large Organization with a big bureaucracy with a significant overhead. A second is acquisition. As already previously mentioned, theres a considerable amount of cost and in many cases waste in the acquisition process. We need to get that under control. And the third and final piece that i think is worth taking a look at theres a wide variety of emerging technologies that could in the outyears could lend itself to automated processes and reducing either manpower or manpower costs, compensation cost over time. Thats three big areas that would want to lock at if confirmed. We have russia creating a looming threat in europe, we have the pacific and chinas expansion or i should say increased activity there. We have the ongoing war in the mi