White House Withdraws Proposal

Here is an article that the White House is withdrawing the proposal to privatize health insurance for wounded veterans. Thank you President Obama for listening to our objections.


WHITE HOUSE WITHDRAWS CONTROVERSIAL PROPOSAL

VFW calls it the right decision



WASHINGTON (March 18, 2009) – The national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. is thanking the president for withdrawing a controversial proposal that would have billed veterans with private health insurance for the care they receive for their service-connected disabilities and wounds.



"President Obama said in a meeting Monday that he would listen to the veterans' community if they objected to this proposal," said Glen M. Gardner Jr., a Vietnam veteran from Round Rock, Texas.



"The president kept to his word and made the right decision. Now we can move forward and work with his administration and Congress to ensure that the rest of the Department of Veterans Affairs budget recommendation is signed into law."



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The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. is a nonprofit veterans' service organization composed of combat veterans and those who currently serve on active duty or in the Guard and Reserves. Founded in 1899 and chartered by Congress in 1936, the VFW is the nation's largest organization of war veterans and is one of its oldest veterans' organizations. With 2.2 million members located in 7,900 VFW Posts worldwide, the VFW and its Auxiliaries are dedicated to "honor the dead by helping the living" through veterans service, legislative initiatives, youth scholarships, Buddy Poppy and national military service programs. The VFW and its Auxiliaries contribute more than 13 million hours annually in community service to the nation. For more information or to join, visit the organization's Web site at www.vfw.org.

The Military Coaltion Response

Read the response of The Military Coalition on the proposed changes to VA Health Benefits http://www.nera.org/storage/nera//third%20party%20billing.pdf

Then vote in our poll!

Proposed Changes to VA Health Benefits

Will Obama Go AWOL on VA Health Benefits?

By DAVID K. REHBEIN

'If you were injured in Iraq or Afghanistan and you have not paid your co-pay, please press 1. If you were injured during military training and you have not yet reached your deductible, please press 2. If your family has reached its maximum insurance benefit, please call back after you have purchased additional coverage. Thank you for your service."

Before the leaders of other veteran's groups and I met with President Barack Obama at the White House on Monday, I believed a phone call like the one described above unimaginable. Now it seems all too possible.

President Obama made clear during our discussion that he intends to force private insurance companies to pay for the treatment of military veterans with service-connected disabilities. He is trying to unfairly generate $540 million on the backs of veterans.

The proposed requirement for private companies to reimburse the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) would not only be unfair, but would have an adverse impact on service-connected disabled veterans and their families. Depending on the severity of the medical conditions involved, maximum insurance coverage limits could be reached through treatment of the veteran's condition alone. That would leave the rest of the family without health-care benefits.

Currently, when veterans go to a VA hospital or related health-care facility for treatment of a service-connected disability, they receive the care without any billing to the veterans or the veterans' insurance. (On the other hand, those veterans who choose the VA for the treatment of nonservice-connected disabilities pay a co-pay, and the VA bills private insurance companies reasonable charges.)

Perhaps nobody would be hit harder by the Obama administration's proposal than the thousands of veterans who own small businesses. Not only will their private insurance premiums be drastically elevated to cover service-connected disabilities, but many will be forced to cut staff as a result. The unemployment rate for veterans may climb even higher, as businesses avoid hiring these heroes for fear of the impact they would have on insurance rates.

This plan is as unfair as it is unnecessary. According to the U.S. Constitution, it is the president and Congress who send troops in harm's way, not the CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield.

As head of the nation's largest veterans organization, I was startled by this radical shift of position the president has taken. Last October, candidate Obama listed several proposals he had for the VA and none of them included billing veterans' insurance providers.

In fact, when asked how he would improve the funding formula for the VA's health-care system, then-Sen. Obama told the American Legion Magazine, "It starts with the president saying that if I'm budgeting for war, then I am also budgeting for VA. If I've got a half-a-trillion-dollar Pentagon budget, then I'd better make sure that I make some of those billions of dollars available to care for the soldiers once they come home. It should be a non-negotiable proposition that people are receiving the services that they need. This is the reason I joined the Veterans Affairs Committee -- because I believe deeply in that principle."

So I ask President Obama now, for all America's veterans, where is that principled stance today? By abandoning its responsibilities to the heroic men and women who answered our nation's call, the federal government is breaking a sacred promise. Moreover, it is unnecessary.

The 2.6 million member American Legion has long advocated for Medicare to reimburse the VA for its treatment of Medicare-eligible veterans. Veterans pay into the Medicare-system, yet they are unable to use Medicare benefits in the VA health system, which was created specifically for them. The Indian Health Service is successfully billing and collecting needed revenue for both Medicare and Medicaid. We also believe that direct billing between two federal agencies will reduce the opportunities for waste, fraud and abuse that tend to occur when for-profit corporations enter the mix.

Our military veterans have already served this country. They have given us their blood, sweat and devotion. Under President Obama's proposal, the most severely wounded veterans could easily exceed their maximum insurance benefit, leaving their family without any additional coverage. This is hardly the thanks of a grateful nation.

Mr. Rehbein, a former U.S. Army sergeant of the Vietnam War era, is national commander of the 2.6 million-member American Legion, the nation's largest wartime veterans organization.

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AIG Bonuses

The big news today is how can we stop AIG in paying out bonuses to their employees who helped create their financial mess in the first place? If somehow the bonuses cannot be stopped, then the people receiving the money should be fired. I also wonder, did AIG know that they had to payout the bonuses when they originally received the $170 billion from the government?

Click on the title to read an article from the Associated Press.

Obama Pay Raise

Obama calls for 2.9% pay raise in 2010

Staff report
Posted : Sunday Mar 1, 2009 8:48:46 EST

President Obama is proposing a 2.9 percent military pay raise effective Jan. 1, 2010, a figure that would match — not exceed — average wage growth in the private sector.

The pay raise is contained in a broad-stroke summary of Obama’s first federal budget, titled “A New Era of Responsibility.” Full details of the budget are not expected to be released until some time in April.

In every year of this decade so far, the military pay raise has been at least one-half percentage point above the average private-sector wage growth, a sustained effort by Congress to close a purported gap between military and civilian pay that some say has existed since 1982. The gap reportedly stands at 2.9 percent today.

The Bush administration also proposed military pay raises that matched private-sector wage growth in at least two years of this decade, but lawmakers consistently have bumped up the increase slightly in the final defense budget.

Obama’s defense budget request for fiscal 2010 totals $533.7 billion, which would be a 4 percent increase over this year’s figure of $513.3 billion. That does not include funding for ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama has asked for $75.5 billion for the rest of this fiscal year and $130 billion in fiscal 2010 in wartime supplemental funding.

At the same time, the administration will begin shifting back into the base defense budget spending for some programs that have been supported with emergency supplemental funds in recent years.

The administration says these programs do not belong in the “wartime emergency” category. They include “certain medical services, family support initiatives, security assistance to foreign governments, and enhancements to intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.”

In other areas, Obama’s 2010 budget proposal would:

• Expand concurrent receipt of full veterans disability payments and military retired pay for those who are eligible for both payments. The budget document does not explain what this proposal entails. Currently, many disabled military retirees still have a portion of their retired pay offset dollar-for-dollar by the amount they receive in VA disability payments. The offset is being phased out over a 10-year period that is scheduled to end in 2014.

• Increase Veterans Affairs Department funding by $25 billion over the next five years. The budget also would restore eligibility for VA health care to veterans who have at least modest incomes and do not have service-connected conditions. These “Category 8” veterans have been shut out from enrolling in VA’s health care system since 2003. By 2013, this would bring more than 500,000 more veterans into the system.

• Fund expanded VA mental health screening and treatment services, with a focus on reaching veterans in rural areas by establishing more Vet Centers and mobile health clinics.

• Support continuing efforts to “improve the medical care and housing for wounded, ill and injured service members.” The Defense Department will complete new Army wounded warrior complexes at posts throughout the U.S., including in Alaska and Hawaii, as well as in Germany.

• Expand Pentagon and VA pilot programs to expedite the processing of injured troops through the Disability Evaluation System. The pilots are designed to substantially cut the time required to determine disability ratings and begin paying benefits to wounded troops.

• Continue to “sustain and modernize barracks and dormitories housing service members around the world and works to end all inadequate housing for military families.”

• Fund a comprehensive Defense Department traumatic brain injury registry, “including a single point of responsibility to track incidents and recovery.” The military services also will expand the number of mental health professionals integrated with deployed units “to better channel medical attention to those who need it quickly.”

Obama’s 2010 budget proposal also would support additional permanent end-strength increases in the size of the Army and Marine Corps to 547,000 and 202,000, respectively, that are on track to be achieved by the end of 2009.