February 8, 2006: A U.S. survey of "heath care consumers" found that users of the U.S. Veterans Administration health care system rated their care at 83, on a scale of 1-100. Users of general (private) health gave their experience a 73 rating. The ratings were obtained from the annual American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) survey. This survey questions a random sample of Americans in order to rank "customer satisfaction" with federal and private sector health care programs. The conventional wisdom, as derived from media reports and anecdotal evidence, is that the Veterans Administration is a mess, and that its care is substandard. But when you ask a random sample of the military veterans who get that medical care, they rate it rather highly. This is not a one year spike in approval, but a pattern that has been consistent over the last six years.