fixing the VA

National Journal has another very sensible article on the problems with the Veterans Administration health system. It recommends:

1. Congress could ask doctors—not veterans—to handle the paperwork.
2. Congress could require the VA to give more veterans the benefit of the doubt.
3. The VA could start rewarding its employees for quality, not quantity.
4. Congress can pressure the Pentagon and the VA to share electronic files.

 These all sound smart to me -- though I caution that #2, which calls for selective review of claims rather than full verification of each one, runs the risk of fraud and abuse, swinging the pendulum back against the officials who fail to catch the deception.