Veterans’ Choice Program – Designed To Make Health System Better – Complicates Matters In Alaska
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reports on a program that connects dogs trained in the "puppies-behind-bars program" with veterans who have post-traumatic stress disorder.
Reveal:
Veterans Choice Didn’t Ease Health Care Woes, Especially In Alaska
In Alaska, an investigation by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting found it took a hard-won system with identical goals that was working better and made it worse. Far worse. Under the Choice program, seeing private medical providers through the VA got a lot more complicated in Alaska. The VA’s own nationwide analysis says the program is costing taxpayers more money. And the volume of care in Alaska declined – the opposite of what Congress intended. (Romney, 9/15)
The Wall Street Journal:
Inmate-Trained Dogs Give Veterans Some Love
Ms. Stoga’s “classes” typically produce six dogs that are ready to be service animals. She refers to them as “geniuses,” and she should know—she owns two that failed the program. Ones that don’t make the grade are held for further training or released for adoption. Successful graduates learn over 90 commands and acquire astonishing skills, from pulling off their owner’s socks and placing them in a laundry basket to waking them from post-traumatic-stress-related nightmares by turning on a closet light or pulling the sheets off their bed. (Gardner Jr., 9/15)
