Krauthammer: VA scandal indicative of wider problems with government-run health care systems

Charles Krauthammer told viewers Monday on "Special Report with Bret Baier" that the ongoing problems with the Veterans' Affairs administration is indicative of wider problems with government-run health care systems.

"If there's ever been evidence that a government-run system of healthcare is a disaster, it's here," Krauthammer said of the many reports that have surfaced among VA hospitals across the country.  "It's rationing, it's waitlists, and corruption, and laziness - as you get when people are salaried, rather than working in the free market."

The Obama administration announced over the weekend that more veterans will be allowed to seek care and treatment at private hospitals, in an effort to reduce some of the massive backlog that has built up across the system.

Krauthammer said that while the president should allow an investigation into claims that VA employees falsified records and withheld information to unfold, he said the veterans who are still waiting for care should be helped immediately, and that the administration's announcement came too late.

"I'm simply stunned that they have taken this much time to do anything active about the people who are still on the waiting list," Krauthammer said. "It turns out that the VA has had the authority to issue the  vouchers, or whatever the system is, to allow a vet who's been waiting forever to go out and get the care, private care. They should have done that on day one, when the scandal broke."