Duckworth Dishes Misinformation to Disabled Vet

Pajamas Media ^ | September 8, 2010 | Bryan Preston

[jazusamo]

VA official launches passive-aggressive "Blame Bush" attack.

Speaking off the cuff is something everyone in the Teleprompter Administration really ought to avoid. Earlier, we had Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suggesting (correctly, actually) that the national debt that’s gone out of control under Obama is a threat to our national security. She was right, but that’s surely not the party line. What Veterans Affairs assistant secretary for public and intergovernmental affairs Tammy Duckworth said while campaigning for Democratic Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias in Illinois today may have been closer to the party line, but it was farther from the truth. Duckworth, a combat injured Iraq veteran herself who unsuccessfully ran for office before being appointed to her high Veterans Affairs post by President Obama, told a fellow disabled vet that in the VA health care system, she’s more equal than he is.

One of the veterans at the session, Jason Wheeler, 39, of Champaign, was injured eight years ago in training at Fort Polk, La. In a wheelchair, he still suffers from a nerve condition that makes it feels as if his hands and legs “are on fire,” he said.

“There’s not the same help for the guys who were injured stateside,” Wheeler said.

“This unfortunately is the result of dollars. It’s money,” Duckworth said. “I think that we as a nation would want to take care of all of our veterans. But it means that we’re going to have be willing to get the folks in Washington to spend the dollars on all of our veterans. And as long as there aren’t enough dollars, then they are force to prioritize veterans.

“And combat-connected, disabled veterans are the highest priority. That is why when you and I go to the VA they will take care of me first because I am combat-connected,” noted Duckworth, who lost both of her legs when the helicopter she was co-piloting in Iraq in 2004 was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.

“The difference is how did you get hurt. Unfortunately that’s just the way that … it’s a bureaucracy that was put into place in previous administrations in order to prioritize veterans because they didn’t spend enough to take care of everyone,” Duckworth told Wheeler.

This is Grade-A Bravo Sierra, and it shouldn’t come from anyone with any actual knowledge of how the VA works.  Assistant Secretary Duckworth has such knowledge, but here she is actually engaging in a sort of passive-aggressive, rank partisan “Blame Bush” attack, with the whole “previous administrations…didn’t spend enough to take care of everyone” line.

How do I know?  Because I called up the VA’s public affairs group in Washington and asked them about it.  According to the VA, combat-injured veterans do get a higher priority rating for care, but that rating only impacts whether a veteran has to pay any co-pays or not.  That rating has no bearing whatsoever on how long it will take to be seen by a doctor, and has no bearing at all on the level of care a veteran may receive.   So Duckworth took one very small grain of truth — the fact that a combat injury yields a higher priority rating — and turned that into a cold statement to an injured veteran that he can’t get the same level of care as she can because her injuries resulted from combat.  The fact is, as more than one VA employee has told me, once you’re enrolled in the system, everyone in the system is entitled to care on the same terms.

That’s good news for Mr. Wheeler, the veteran whom Duckworth coldly misinformed.

Bryan Preston has been a leading conservative blogger and opinionator since founding his first blog in 2001. Bryan is a military veteran, worked for NASA, was producer of the Laura Ingraham Show and, most recently before joining PJM, was Communications Director of the Republican Party of Texas.

[jazusamo]

It's inexcusable if true that Tammy Duckworth said this and it looks to be true.

[donozark]

If you are service connected, you are service connected. PERIOD!
If not service connected, different rules apply for Priority Group assignment.

[Ron H.]

.... once you’re enrolled in the system, everyone in the system is entitled to care on the same terms.

True. (know this from personal experience)

[jazusamo]

What about the last paragraph, is it true?

[jazusamo]

Thanks!

[donozark]

Technically, yes. But there are EIGHT Priority Groups. Mileage will vary...

[Chode]

Duckworth or Dykeworth???

[Ron H.]

.... Technically, yes. But there are EIGHT Priority Groups. Mileage will vary...

Again, true. Honestly I'm rated 150% SC with a PH so I have no restrictions or co-pays.

[easternsky]

Parts of that are true, its a fact but should not be when comes to care or Medicine. The doctor looks at rating before He orders your Meds, or sechudles you for tests. And depending on your rating how soon you get some tests.

[Boogieman]

Tammy Duckworth is what we would call in Chicago, a “patronage” pick for her job. Basically, she let the Dems use her to bash Bush, and they couldn’t get her elected, so they gave her a bureaucratic appointment as a payoff. She shouldn’t be expected to actually know much about the VA or her job.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks jazusamo.

Earlier, we had Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suggesting (correctly, actually) that the national debt that's gone out of control under Obama is a threat to our national security... What Veterans Affairs assistant secretary for public and intergovernmental affairs Tammy Duckworth said while campaigning for Democratic Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias in Illinois today may have been closer to the party line, but it was farther from the truth. Duckworth, a combat injured Iraq veteran herself who unsuccessfully ran for office before being appointed to her high Veterans Affairs post by President Obama, told a fellow disabled vet that in the VA health care system, she's more equal than he is... she is actually engaging in a sort of passive-aggressive, rank partisan "Blame Bush" attack, with the whole "previous administrations...didn't spend enough to take care of everyone" line... combat-injured veterans do get a higher priority rating for care, but that rating only impacts whether a veteran has to pay any co-pays or not. That rating has no bearing whatsoever on how long it will take to be seen by a doctor, and has no bearing at all on the level of care a veteran may receive.

[jazusamo]

Thanks, I kind of suspected that on reading the article.

[stylin19a]

....it’s a bureaucracy that was put into place in previous administrations The Clinton administration

[america-rules]

If you have a rating of 50% or higher you get the same treatment as someone with 100%. It doesn't matter if it's combat or non-combat as they're both service connected

Where the combat rating has a little more pull is for someone that is rated under 50%.

But, a 50% rated non-combat related vet will get a higher priority then a 40% combat rated vet.

The big key with getting VA coverage is the 50% rating.

[jazusamo]

Thanks, that sounds reasonable.

[rlmorel]

Good gosh. What a lamebrain. I can’t believe she said that.

[Ron H.]

And it is my understanding per my DAV rep. that if you have a Purple Heart you will have no co-pay regardless of your rating.

[usmcobra]

She’s part of the Veteran’s Administration, then she should fix it.

[chilltherats]

This broad got her job because she’s a broad who was combat-injured - she’s a trophy. Other than choppers and bullshit, she knows nothing and is obviously unqualified for her job.

With the way she’s dishing it out, she could be returned to active duty working the chow line.

[jazusamo]

Fixing it is exactly what she should be doing but it seems she doesn’t even know how it really works now, it’s kinda pathetic.