Posted on 08/28/2008 9:34:50 AM PDT by B4Ranch
SAN FRANCISCO -- If John McCain is elected president, wounded veterans could be in for a world of hurt.
On the campaign trail, the Republican's presumptive nominee has talked of a new mission for the Department of Veterans Affairs, suggesting that veterans with noncombat medical problems be given vouchers to receive care at private, for-profit hospitals. In other words, McCain is seeking to cut off the kind of universal health care that the government has guaranteed to veterans for generations.
"We need to relieve the burden on the VA from routine health care," McCain told the National Forum on Disability Issues last month. "If you have a routine health care need, take it wherever you want, whatever doctor or health care provider, and get the treatment you need, while we at the VA focus our attention, our care, our love, on these grievous wounds of war."
Write a letter to Senator McCain on what you think of his position.
The Republican senator had argued that giving veterans a VA card that they can use for private doctors would shorten the long wait times that many veterans face in seeing government doctors, who are nearly universally viewed as among the best in the world.
A recent study by the RAND Corporation found that "VA patients were more likely to receive recommended care" and "received consistently better care across the board, including screening, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up" than that delivered by other U.S. health care providers.
Virtually all veterans groups oppose McCain's plan. The Veterans of Foreign Wars' national legislative director has said the VA card would "undermine the entire system."
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Democrat Barack Obama has received nearly six times as much money from troops deployed overseas at the time of their contribution than has Republican John McCain.
This may seem odd to some since McCain is a former naval officer, prisoner of war, and Vietnam War veteran.
However, Paul Sullivan, a Gulf War veteran and executive director of the nonpartisan Veterans for Common Sense, said that for McCain, free market ideology is more important than providing care for former Soldiers.
"Ideologues like John McCain and George Bush hate the fact that the VA exists," Sullivan said, noting that the Republican candidate also wants to partially privatize social security and offer private school vouchers to students currently enrolled in public schools.
"They hate the fact that there's a functional example out there of the government providing better care at a lower cost than the private sector," Sullivan said. "The problem that the VA faces now is that the Bush administration failed to hire enough doctors and disability claims adjusters when they chose to go to war with Iraq. If these doctors had been hired, the VA would be an example of the government doing good work. Bush and McCain don't want the public to see that."
McCain has also never spelled out what he means by a "combat injury," leading many veterans worried they could be left out in the cold.
"If I'm driving a Humvee in Iraq and a roadside bomb explodes and I veer off the road and crush my arm and end up losing it and needing a prosthetic, is that a combat wound according to Sen. McCain?" asked retired Air Force Colonel Richard Klass, the president of the Council for a Livable World's VETPAC, which has endorsed Obama.
Official Pentagon policy calls such an incident a noncombat injury. Technically speaking, the only Soldiers "wounded" in combat are those hit by direct enemy fire. As of Aug. 5, Department of Defense statistics showed that 32,799 U.S. Soldiers had been "wounded" in Iraq and Afghanistan. Another 10,685 had sustained "non-hostile" injuries which required a medical evacuation, while 29,881 were classified as ill enough to be airlifted out of the war-zone.
Veterans are also skeptical of McCain's plans because as a senator, he has repeatedly voted against fully funding veterans' health care. In 2005 and 2006, McCain voted against expanding mental health care and readjustment counseling for service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. He also voted against efforts to expand inpatient and outpatient treatment for injured veterans, and against proposals to lower the copayments and enrollment fees that veterans must pay to obtain prescription drugs.
Read Senator McCain's full speech to the VFW announcing his health card plan.
McCain's vote also helped defeat a proposal by Sen. Debbie Stabenow that would have made veterans' health care an entitlement program such as social security, so that medical care would not become a political football to be argued over in Congress each budget cycle.
The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America gave McCain a D+ when they scored his voting record, whereas Obama got a B+. In addition McCain has voted with the interests of Disabled American Veterans only 20 percent of the time.
"If McCain would work to properly fund VA care, there would be no issue about a VA card," said Larry Scott, who edits the Web site VAWatchdog.org. "McCain, by wanting to give vets private care, is walking away from the VA and ignoring the problem. He is admitting that he will not properly fund the VA to the level where it can care for all qualified vets. "
Scott is sharply critical of the VA's often cumbersome and ineffective bureaucracy, but like most veterans' advocates, believes the VA system needs to be strengthened. He sees McCain's plan as a way to phase out the government's commitment to those who've served.
"For every vet who would get a VA card, that would be one less vet using the VA," he wrote in an e-mail to IPS. That "would mean, in a short period of time, a smaller budget, fewer locations ... and the eventual dismantling of the best health care system in the country."
© Copyright 2008 Inter Press Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
“LOl, you’ve just condemned they way the VA medical system has operated at least since WWII. I know many veterans from WWII who received medical care for all sorts of non-service related conditions until their death.”
And I knew WWII vets who would drive 250 miles to get a $2 prescription instead of paying $15 at the local doctors office.
“Recruiters are also the designated representatives of the US government, presenting the conditions of service to prospective enlistees. But you are just fine with lying.”
No anyone that lies is wrong. Believing a recruiter is quite naive though.
Regardless I don’t think anyone deserves free medical care for non-service connected issues.
Never having heard of military.com I followed the link and copied this:
[About Us
We started Military.com in 1999 to revolutionize the way the 30 million Americans with military affinity stay connected and informed. Today, we’re the largest military and veteran membership organization — 10 million members strong.
Military.com’s free membership connects servicemembers, military families and veterans to all the benefits of service — government benefits, scholarships, discounts, lifelong friends, mentors, great stories of military life or missions, and much more.
We believe that the benefits earned in the service should be easier to access and written in plain English. We’re passionate about helping members make the most of military experience throughout life.
Military.com’s members are sharing stories, insider tips, news from the front lines, and unique slices of military life including the tough stuff of war.
Military.com provides headline news and technology updates since our community answers the call and makes news. We also cover the rest of the military experience — from great content like our user-generated videos in our popular “Shock and Awe” feature to our military equipment guide we present what makes the military unique (and fun).
In 2004, Military.com joined forces with Monster Worldwide (Nasdaq: MNST) to accelerate our growth and change the playing field for career and educational opportunities for servicemembers, veterans and military spouses. Monster’s vision is bringing people together to advance their lives, which is a great fit with Military.com’s “members first” ethos and goal of connecting the military community to all the benefits of service]
Sounds like they are mostly a headhunting service for employers and potential employees with a military background.
The editorial posed in this thread comes across as a labor union type of response to a “not-good-enough” corporate contract offer.
Actually, the biggest complaint their leadline makes is potential harm to wounded soldiers, while the editorial itself seems to argue for more pill-pushers and hand-holders.
It makes a poor point, IMO.
On the campaign trail, the Republican’s presumptive nominee has talked of a new mission for the Department of Veterans Affairs, suggesting that veterans with noncombat medical problems be given vouchers to receive care at private, for-profit hospitals. In other words, McCain is seeking to cut off the kind of universal health care that the government has guaranteed to veterans for generations.
I am a disabled vet and would not enter a VA hospital on a dare unless ordered to. Vouchers for for free care at better, civilian Med Centers? I’ll take that in a heartbeat, and thank John McCain for it!
Where did I say he is trying to cutoff medical care for vets like you and me?
(snip)
Not so with the VA Doc. Lawsuits are forbidden unless you get permission from the government first.
That's a plus for some docs. I routinely ask mine about why they chose the VA when they could make big bucks on the outside. Invariably they mention that malpractice insurance was a killer, that they never got 3 a.m. calls, and that they could devote as much time to a patient as was needed, despite the "quota" you mention.
I don’t like the idea of McCain being President/CinC because the guy has warped into a Socialist. Since we’ve been paying the guys salary I don’t think he has done much at all for veterans or soldiers in Service. So, it’s about time the guy earned his pay and pushed for something like this.
It sounds like you have found a good doc. He’s the type my wife would bake cookies for.
my parents got on it, only because they were older, with little money....
and I know a few deadbeat people that work rarely who've managed to get on it.....
ALL of these cockimamee programs of who gets what and who gets it when has got to stop.....
A perfect example of what I describing is that last week-end we had a really big pool party for my daughter’s cheer squad and their parents and siblings came so I met and talked to a lot of people. One of them was an anesthesiologist and since I’m a nurse, we starting talking about the whole health care issue. He said they are getting ready to stop accepting tricare patients because they can’t afford to keep taking such a loss. That tricare pays out less than what it costs to provide care to the patients and it is just killing him because they so want to care for service people and their families. These were his exact words.
There is a lot people don’t realize. They think because a disabled veteran has VA coverage, he or she is taken care of. They think if someone has tricare, they are taken care of.
The worst was when I met a doctor who had worked for a while at a VA hospital and said there used to be a joke there about how to tell how close a patient was to dying. They would count how many unopened orange juice containers were on the bedside table and the more there were, the closer they were to dying. This is because there wasn’t enough staffing to feed the patients that couldn’t feed themselves. If nobody feed them, they laid there day after day not getting fed. I can also promise you that this would NEVER happen to an illegal. I worked in a hospital where our ambulance would go to the international bridge and pick up illegals. Once in our hospital, they could get air evacuated out to San Antonio if needed, surgery, post op care, recovery, every medication needed, and discharge care.
Our govt is complicit in this. They feign compassion for the illegal on the basis of humanity but what about compassion for the vietnam vet going without everything? Nothing makes me more angry.
No vet gets free health care for life just for serving 4 years. I served 6 and never had any benefits other than a VA loan which charged a VA funding fee of 3% of the loan. The only vets that get VA healthcare benefits are the ones with a service connected disability.
As far as the “free medical care for life”. Someone like my husband hasn’t been GIVEN anything. When he was finished with college and was already a pilot, he had a certain set of qualifications that he earned himself. When considering what job to take, there were some that paid much better than the AF without health-care benefits and others that paid less, with benefits. He chose the AF because he wanted to fly fighter jets and serve his country.
But lets get one thing straight, the benefits are something he EARNED. They weren’t “GIVEN” to him for free. The level of education and qualifications he attained on his own made him an asset that both civilian companies and the military were seeking and therefore offering pay and benefit packages that needed to be competitive.
The health care is also not for life unless he retires after 20 years and then the tricare plan changes. Very little is covered at many of the military hospitals now on bases and fewer and fewer good doctors are accepting tricare because it pays out so little. Also, once my husband turns 65, his tricare will convert to medicare. At-least that is what has been explained to me.
Are you even reading my posts? The other poster insists he was promised and is owed free medical care for life for his 2 years on active duty.
Medical benefits are part of the compensation plan given to people who perform and meet the requirements. Saying they were earned vs given implies some level of entitlement IMO and is splitting hairs. You work and you get paid.
Sounds like you are proud of your hubby, good for you. But get this straight. The military isn’t some grand welfare program that some people consider it. I served as well and have a service connected disabilty. I’ve met many who think the VA should meet all their medical needs for the rest of their lives. To me thats nothing more than a welfare program. Service connected issues are one thing, but otherwise they can pay for it themselves.
“The military isn’t some grand welfare program that some people consider it.”
Neither my husband nor I have ever expected “some grand welfare program” when either I joined or he did. There were companies out there that offered higher pay, but less in terms of health care benefits. The military offers health care, yet most care for family members is done through tricare which pays out so little that fewer and fewer good physicians will take tricare patients.
As patriotic as my husband is, he is determined to take good care of his family. He puts that first and will choose in future career choice decisions based on what is best for us.
To say that using the term “earned” rather than “given” is splitting hairs is absolute bullshit! When someone expects something for nothing, like welfare, that is being given something. When someone, like my husband, works his way through college and attains a set of qualifications that both the military and civilian companies are competing for, they have earned that. Once working for either the military or civilian company, they are still earning their benefits just like they are earning their pay. That is not the same as expecting something for nothing or expecting something more than what you are worth. It’s not the same as being “Given” something up and above what you are worth. I say those that risk their lives to defend us are worth a hell of a lot more than what they are getting.
It really disgusts me to know that there are so many of our best and brightest, who were also raised to be patriotic, and therefore accept not only less of a standard of living and pay than their civilian counterparts, but also accept risks to their lives, health, and future earning potential, just to be shown the attitude you have shown in your posts. I don’t care if it’s a highly educated officer like my husband, or an 18 year old high school graduate joining up to go to the front lines. The relatively uneducated 18 year old in that example still has a certain set of qualifications that the military needs. Patriotism, bravery, mental and physical strength, etc.
I agree, that nobody should expect the VA to take care of their non-service related illnesses, however it is more complex than that. There are things that can go wrong with one system or part of the body that affect others. The amount of disability that is given to disabled vets for their duty related disabilities is deplorable too. A young man or woman who can never see, hear, or walk again has forfeited his or her future earning potential and will live in extreme poverty if left only to what disability pays. Somehow, I have a feeling that’s okay with you too.
What will happen is that we’ll have a lot less high caliber people who are highly motivated to better themselves and the quality of life for their families volunteering to serve. We’ll have to go back to the draft and we know from the Vietnam experience what that leads to. It leads to a lot of men serving who are not patriotic or loyal to this nation and many who even have disdain for it. I’m not saying that pay and benefits are all that motivates one to serve. I’m saying that if they are so unappreciated that they can’t even get basic health care, the same type GIVEN to illegals for free for real, in return for their sacrifices, there will be less and less high caliber people willing to serve regardless of how patriotic they might be otherwise.
“Sounds like you are proud of your hubby, good for you.”
Sounds like you believe that the inferior health care, as part of a benefit package my husbands receives for his family, is more than what he’s worth to the country.
Gee, funny that the govt must not have thought it was more than he was worth to them when he was working with a recruiter. It’s always after the service member is no longer worth anything to the govt and the disabled or sick vet is left with a future of poverty.
Like I said, I don’t think everyone who has ever served in the military should get lifetime healthcare benefits. I sure never expected anything like that for only 6 years. I just get a little pissed off when people start talking about the “free” healthcare vets, military personnel and their dependents get as if they didn’t earn those benefits but rather they were just “given” to them for nothing or something up and above what they are worth to the country. Lots of good, strong, young men out there that hear these sorts of attitudes and rethink what it is they are willing to accept in return for the risks they would be taking by volunteering for combat.
“Sounds like you believe that the inferior health care, as part of a benefit package my husbands receives for his family, is more than what he’s worth to the country.”
The medical care at for profit hospitals is better than any I ever received in the military system. So forget the inferior and stop taking it as an attack against your hubby.
“I sure never expected anything like that for only 6 years. I just get a little pissed off when people start talking about the “free” healthcare vets,”
I’m talking about people who server 4 years and then expect the VA to cover every prescription they need for any reason for the rest of their life.
If you’re active, or its service connected, or you’re retired and its part of the package its fine. If you were healthy when you got out and smoked for 20 years and got lung cancer then no, the govt should not foot the bill.
Sorry I can’t read the book. People need to earn their way in life. Structure benefit programs to be good enough to attract good talent. Its not a free ride for life though.
“Structure benefit programs to be good enough to attract good talent.”
Guess we’re not even agreeing on what the question is. I’m not advocating a “free ride” for anybody. I pointed out the difference. You’re probably either so self-serving or brainwashed that you believe the CEO making hundreds of millions of dollars a year earned it because that’s how much he is “worth” to the company but the 22 year old risking his life in combat isn’t worth more to our country than what their current compensation is. I have no problem with the CEO that makes billions. I just don’t want to encourage a society where nobody wants to pursue a career serving something bigger than themselves or bigger than financial riches because doing so will result in a life of poverty.
I’m not taking it as an attack against my husband, as he provides very well for us and will make FAR more once out of the AF than while in. He’s already received offers to do the exact same thing (minus the combat missions) for a lot, lot more money but stupid him decided to keep active because he felt that he wanted to keep doing his part for this war effort rather than looking at just the $$$$$. That’s what guys like him get for their loyalty and for not serving the all mighty dollar only first and foremost. Those kinds of men and women are who I am taking as an attack against.
“You’re probably either so self-serving or brainwashed that you believe the CEO making hundreds of millions of dollars a year earned it because that’s how much he is “worth” to the company but the 22 year old risking his life in combat isn’t worth more to our country than what their current compensation is”
And your so self serving you are using that kids blood to further your own agenda.
“I just don’t want to encourage a society where nobody wants to pursue a career serving something bigger than themselves or bigger than financial riches because doing so will result in a life of poverty.”
Well as soon as you can go from high school to being CEO you might have a problem. Until then kids have to start somewhere. Starting at the bottom is where most CEOs began. Many CEOs have served.
“And your so self serving you are using that kids blood to further your own agenda.”
Yeah, my “agenda” is to stand up for that guy and those like him when people like you start talking about their “entitlement” mentality for something they earned, rather than something they were “given” the way you like to say.
I’m done with you. Any responses I see from you will be deleted. You’re insane.
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