Obama - vets to pay for service related injuries

Number of posts : 2074 Registration date : 2007-01-24

Our service men and women do not deserve this. I don't see Obama is gonna be stopped. This is beyond disgusting. Maybe since Obama wants to take this benefit from them maybe he can pay for their services that are needed. This is insane. I am an a point where i can hardly contain myself right now. This man is showing the lowest of the low to me. We need to be giving our service people what they deserve for giving to this country. Not take from them.

By Adam Levine
CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki confirmed Tuesday that the Obama administration is considering a controversial plan to make veterans pay for treatment of service-related injuries with private insurance.

Lawmakers say they'd reject a proposal to make veterans pay for treatment of war wounds with private insurance.

But the proposal would be "dead on arrival" if it's sent to Congress, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, said.

Murray used that blunt terminology when she told Shinseki that the idea would not be acceptable and would be rejected if formally proposed. Her remarks came during a hearing before the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs about the 2010 budget.

No official proposal to create such a program has been announced publicly, but veterans groups wrote a pre-emptive letter last week to President Obama voicing their opposition to the idea after hearing the plan was under consideration.

The groups also cited an increase in "third-party collections" estimated in the 2010 budget proposal -- something they said could be achieved only if the Veterans Administration started billing for service-related injuries.

Asked about the proposal, Shinseki said it was under "consideration."

"A final decision hasn't been made yet," he said.

Currently, veterans' private insurance is charged only when they receive health care from the VA for medical issues that are not related to service injuries, like getting the flu.

Charging for service-related injuries would violate "a sacred trust," Veterans of Foreign Wars spokesman Joe Davis said. Davis said the move would risk private health care for veterans and their families by potentially maxing out benefits paying for costly war injury treatments.

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A second senator, North Carolina Republican Richard Burr, said he agreed that the idea should not go forward.

"I think you will give that up" as a revenue stream if it is included in this April's budget, Burr said.

Murray said she'd already discussed her concerns with the secretary the previous week.

"I believe that veterans with service-connected injuries have already paid by putting their lives on the line," Murray said in her remarks. "I don't think we should nickel and dime them for their care."

Eleven of the most prominent veterans organizations have been lobbying Congress to oppose the idea. In the letter sent last week to the president, the groups warned that the idea "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."

The groups included The American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, Military Order of the Purple Heart, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

At the time, a White House spokesman would neither confirm nor deny the option was being considered.
the url: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/10/veterans.health.insurance/in...
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Admin Number of posts : 16603 Registration date : 2007-01-20

I can see why the public furor but it looks like a simple cost-cutting method to me. They would be asking the servicemen's insurance to pay not the vet themselves. As long as thier deductibles or added costs were paid I don't see the problem with that for the vet. On the other hand I dont think its fair for the insurance company to bear that cost so I wouldn't be behind this cost cutting measure.

Number of posts : 2074 Registration date : 2007-01-24

i see a big difference. Why should private insurance companies have to pay for service related injuries. Sorry that is the governments responsiblility. These men and women deserve to not have to worry about their medical expenses being paid and worrying whether IF they have private insurance that the carrier will pay it. How about take someo f the money we are giving the banks who are squandering it on resorts etc and pay the vet bills.

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