[Infowarrior] - OT: Vets Rap WH Plan on Paying for Care

[Richard Forno]

DOA or not, the fact such a plan was even brought up by the WH is more  
than a little disturbing.... --rf

http://www.military.com/news/article/vets-rap-wh-plan-on-paying-for-care.html

Vets Rap WH Plan on Paying for Care

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....

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http://www.military.com/news/article/vets-rap-wh-plan-on-paying-for-care.html