Vets Rap WH Plan on Paying for Care

[Mary, Proud Mom of Nick]

March 17, 2009
Kansas City Star

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration is considering making veterans use private insurance to pay for treatment of combat and service-related injuries.

The plan would be an about-face on what veterans believe is a longstanding pledge to pay for health care costs that result from their military service.

But in a White House meeting Monday, veterans groups apparently failed to persuade President Barack Obama to take the plan off the table.

"Veterans of all generations agree that this proposal is bad for the country and bad for veterans," said Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. "If the president and the OMB (Office of Management and Budget) want to cut costs, they can start at AIG, not the VA."

Under current policy, veterans are responsible for health care costs that are unrelated to their military service. Exceptions in some cases can be made for veterans without private insurance or who are 100 percent disabled.

The president spoke Monday at the Department of Veterans Affairs to commemorate its 20th anniversary and said he hopes to increase funding by $25 billion over the next five years. But he said nothing about the plan to bill private insurers for service-related medical care.

Few details about the plan have been available and a VA spokesman did not provide additional information. But the reaction on Capitol Hill to the idea has been swift and harsh.

"Dead on arrival" is how Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington described the idea. " ... when our troops are injured while serving our country, we should take care of those injuries completely," Murray, a member of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, told a hearing last week.

"I don't think we should nickel and dime them for their care."

In separate comments, Republican Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri said the nation "owes a debt to the veterans who fought and paid for our freedom."

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki said at the hearing where Murray spoke that the plan was "a consideration." He also acknowledged that the VA's proposed budget for next year included it as a way to increase revenue.

But Shinseki told the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee that "a final decision hasn't been made yet."

For veterans, that was little comfort.

"When a man goes and defends his country and gets injured and then they want your insurance to pay, that's wrong," said David Gerke, a 60-year-old Vietnam veteran and retired postal worker from Kansas City. "When we went into the service, we were told our medical needs...would be taken care of for the rest of our lives."

Veterans claim that the costs of treating expensive war injuries could raise their insurance costs, as well as those for their employers. Some worried that it also could make it more difficult for disabled veterans to find work.

Several veterans groups had written Obama last month complaining about the new plan.

"There is simply no logical explanation for billing a veteran's personal insurance for care that the VA has a responsibility to provide," the heads of several veterans groups said in their letter to Obama.

Despite the current economic crisis, they wrote that "placing the burden of those fiscal problems on the men and women who have already sacrificed a great deal for this country is unconscionable."

A spokesperson for America's Health Insurance Plans, a trade association, said Monday that it would evaluate any proposal that the administration puts forth. But "we don't have a position on it at this time," Robert Zirkelbach said.

Related article: Legion Opposes Obama's Injured Vet Plan

Many veterans had high expectations for Obama after years of battling the Bush administration over benefit cuts and medical concerns such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

But the VA's decision to float a potential change in its policy of paying for service-related injuries could signal a quick end to the honeymoon.

"It's a betrayal," said Joe Violante, legislative director of Disabled American Veterans, which signed the letter to Obama. "My insurance company didn't send me to Vietnam, my government did. The same holds true for men and women now fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's the government's responsibility."

Gerke was a 20-year-old petty officer in the Navy during the Vietnam War. He helped load Sidewinder missiles and 500-pound bombs onto F-18s.

He came home with a bad back and post-traumatic stress disorder, among other injuries. But the government honored its pledge and has paid for his health care. Now he's worried, especially for the injured service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Let's face it, (the VA) needs the money," Gerke said. "But why should disabled vets be paying that price?"


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[shell]

thanks for the heads up Mary

[Donna]

What has happened to our priorities as a country. Responsibility, honor, morality and respect. This makes me very sad. To think even for a second that these men and women are not deserving of the medical care they need. Priorities need to be fixed!!!!

[Lake Charles Vicky]

I saw this too about a week ago and only in one place so I thought maybe CNN got it wrong. I can not believe they would even consider this. It is wrong, wrong wrong!

Please, anyone who see's anything else about this post it. I'm going hunting for information. If this is true we all have to stand up and say "NO!"

[Lake Charles Vicky]

I totally agree Wendy!

[Lake Charles Vicky]

I'm standing!

[Mary, Proud Mom of Nick]

A letter from our Veterans:

February 27, 2009
The Honorable Barack Obama
President of the United States
The White House
Washington, DC
Dear President Obama:
On behalf of the millions of veterans represented by the veterans and military service organizations that have joined our effort, we write to express our serious concerns about a policy proposal that has been discussed this week in conjunction with the release of your first budget. We have been told that your Administration may be considering a proposal that would allow the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system to bill a veteran’s insurance for the care and treatment of a disability or injury that was determined to have been incurred in or the result of the veteran’s honorable military service to our country. Such a consideration is wholly unacceptable and a total abrogation of our government’s moral and legal responsibility to the men and women who have sacrificed so much for our freedoms.
As you know, the mission of the VA is “To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan.” Similarly, the VA emphasizes that it will “provide veterans the world-class benefits and services they have earned—and to do so by adhering to the highest standards of compassion, commitment, excellence, professionalism, integrity, accountability, and stewardship.” Unfortunately, the proposal to bill veterans for the care of their service-connected disabilities ignores the most important aspect of this vision—that their care has been earned.
This proposal ignores the solemn obligation that this country has to care for those men and women who have served this country with distinction and were left with the wounds and scars of that service. The blood spilled in service for this nation is the premium that service-connected veterans have paid for their earned care.
We understand and accept that the VA bills third-party insurers of veterans who are treated for non-service connected conditions. However, we cannot and would not agree to any proposal that would expand this concept any further. There is simply no logical explanation for billing a veteran’s personal insurance for care that the VA has a responsibility to provide. While we understand the fiscal difficulties this country faces right now, placing the burden of those fiscal problems on the men and women who have already sacrificed a great deal for this country is unconscionable. If in fact your Administration is considering this proposal, we would like to meet with
The American Legion
1608 K Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20006
[phone]
www.legion.org
AMVETS (American Veterans)
4647 Forbes Blvd.
Lanham, MD 20706
[phone]
www.amvets.org
Blinded Veterans Association
477 H Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20001
[phone]
www.bva.org
Disabled American Veterans
807 Maine Avenue, S.W.
Washington, DC 20024
[phone]
www.dav.org
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America
308 Massachusetts Ave NE
Washington, DC 20002
[phone]
www.iava.org
Jewish War Veterans of the USA
1811 R Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20009
[phone]
www.jwv.org
Military Officers Association of America
201 N. Washington Street
Alexandria, VA 22314
[phone]
www.moaa.org
Military Order of the Purple Heart
of the U.S.A., Inc.
5413-B Backlick Road
Springfield, VA 22151
[phone]
www.purpleheart.org
Paralyzed Veterans of America
801 18th Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20006
[phone]
www.pva.org
Veterans of Foreign Wars
of the United States
200 Maryland Avenue, N.E.
Washington, DC 20002
[phone]
www.vfw.org
Vietnam Veterans of America, Inc.
8605 Cameron Street, Suite 400
Silver Spring, MD 20910
[phone]
www.vva.org

[Lake Charles Vicky]

I'm a little confused. Are they talking about asking the veterans to pay for their health care or are they going to charge the insurance co's for the care? If they do that how can a veteran get and keep private health insurance and aren't our tax dollars paying for the VA hospitals and Dr.s?

[Lake Charles Vicky]

Mary, are you asking the President to meet with these groups? I'm thinking your letter would make a good petition if he plans to go through with this.

I'm really having a hard time seeing him doing this though. My husband and I were both shocked there is even any talk of it.

[Lake Charles Vicky]

Me again :)

I found this on The White House site. This is what President Obama campaigned on and I say we hold him to it.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/veterans/

[Lake Charles Vicky]

That is really good news!!!!

[Mary, Proud Mom of Nick]

That is great news for our Veterans, thanks for sharing Wendy!

[Mary, Proud Mom of Nick]

Obama Drops Vet Insurance Plan
Week of March 23, 2009

President Obama won style points from veterans' service organizations this week even as he was forced, under heavy fire, to withdraw his plan to have the Department of Veterans Affairs bill veterans' health insurance for the cost to VA of treating service-connected medical conditions. More disputes are likely between a White House struggling to impose new restraints on federal spending, and advocates for military members and veterans who have borne the brunt of two long and difficult wars. To learn more, read the full article on Military.com.