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Obama: Vet's Use Private Insurance for Wounds

Triangle Bar

Well-known member
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/10/veterans.health.insurance/index.html


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.

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.
 

Sandhusker

Well-known member
Let's see if I have it right, Obama wants to give government health insurance to people who won't work, but he'll deny government benefits for those who have sacrificed and risked all to serve this country?
 

Larrry

Well-known member
the scumbag, lowlife, leach, socialist, America hater good for nothing sob obblahblah should be impeached and sent back to Kenya
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
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.

I watched the Health Care hearings and the Health Care Forum - and in both the Administration/Obama said nothing is written in stone- or for that matter even in their plans-- BUT that they have laid out all the alternatives for Congress/the public/ the health care/ health care insurance industries to look at to lower health care and health care insurance costs....

And just like I heard Senator Orrin Hatch say several times in both--DOING NOTHING IS NOT AN OPTION- and could lead to the bankruptcy of the country.....
 

leanin' H

Well-known member
Oldtimer said:
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.

I watched the Health Care hearings and the Health Care Forum - and in both the Administration/Obama said nothing is written in stone- or for that matter even in their plans-- BUT that they have laid out all the alternatives for Congress/the public/ the health care/ health care insurance industries to look at to lower health care and health care insurance costs....

And just like I heard Senator Orrin Hatch say several times in both--DOING NOTHING IS NOT AN OPTION- and could lead to the bankruptcy of the country.....

Congress has done a wonderful job of doing nothing about bankrupting social security! We must take care of our veterans! I cannot believe that they are even thinking about doing something like this!
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
leanin' H said:
Oldtimer said:
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.

I watched the Health Care hearings and the Health Care Forum - and in both the Administration/Obama said nothing is written in stone- or for that matter even in their plans-- BUT that they have laid out all the alternatives for Congress/the public/ the health care/ health care insurance industries to look at to lower health care and health care insurance costs....

And just like I heard Senator Orrin Hatch say several times in both--DOING NOTHING IS NOT AN OPTION- and could lead to the bankruptcy of the country.....

Congress has done a wonderful job of doing nothing about bankrupting social security! We must take care of our veterans! I cannot believe that they are even thinking about doing something like this!

The major part of the issue that was mentioned in the hearings was the issue of using local private health care facilities/hospitals for the treatment of Veterans, if available- rather than the current regional/state facilities/hospitals- and veterans having to travel hundreds of miles just to see a doctor...

My Dad was a disabled vet- and I remember once when he was hospitalized in Miles City for an extended period (which was a 400+ mile round trip drive to visit him because they wouldn't allow/pay for the local in town hospital to treat him :roll: ) his roommate was a local fellow (veteran) by the name of Jerry A.- that told how when he needed emergency surgery they had flown him to the V.A. hospital in Denver for the surgery- and that the Doctor that did the surgery on him was Dr. Listerud-- a local "fantastic" surgeon that lived in the neighboring town of Wolf Point (45 miles away) and was also the Chief of Staff for the local hospital- that whom they had also flown down to Denver to do his surgery- because they considered him the best with that type of surgery.... :shock: :roll: But under VA rules he, acting in the local hospital- as a local surgeon didn't qualify... :roll:
Now thats government waste.....
 
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