BUYER HOSTING TOWN HALL

Lets pack the house and have a party!!!

Buyer is a conservative Republican and I would hope is against this socialist takeover of our health care system!

“Buyer is a conservative Republican and I would hope is against this socialist takeover of our health care system!

He is, very much so.

FYI

He’s also done everything he can, as chairman and as ranking member, to kill anything to improve veteran’s healthcare for years.

If you aren’t missing an arm, leg, hand, eye, etc, Buyer doesn’t think you should get a dime.

Further, he spends more time infighting with Bob Filner than he does doing his job. In fact, he seems to think his job IS to stop Filner or anyone else fixing the ungodly mess the DVA is.

I don’t care how conservative he is, what he does to veterans makes him just as much a jackass as any Democrat.

To bad you don’t know what you are talking about.

Posted by: 2005z

I found the following information on a Steve Buyer site online. We need to be really careful what we send on to others as often times it is somewhere between misconstrued information and plain old lying. Some information sent to me is totally inconsistent with the congressional performance of Congressman Steve Buyer who by the way is a veteran. I do not live in his state but it sounds like his constituents are getting their “dollars-worth” from this Congressman.

I know not his personal feelings about veterans or what he feels should be benefits for them BUT as a wife of a totally disabled Korean Veteran...one who suffers daily from his wartime experiences, I can tell you that our men and women that have served our great country deserve the best that we can afford to give them and it would seem from congressional records and other information, Congressman Buyer is working hard on the side of the Veterans of our country.

I have spent many days and weeks at VA hospitals with my husband and there are some Veterans who make every effort to drain the system. They refuse all offers of work they could do, they refused to get any kind of help that would make them productive members of society while demanding money and care for themselves and their families. I have also seen veterans who did serve during wartime and have legitimate injuries who drive Jag’s, and live in manners that the most of us will never see. I am not against their good fortune; I am against them using a free system when there are Veterans who can’t get the service because the system is so strained trying to provide for all...there is just much the American tax payer can afford. The government does not produce money from nowhere...it comes from the workers paychecks

I believe that wealthy veteran’s who have private insurances and incomes in the three digit levels, COULD use their private health plans and be happy with the incomes in order that the system have more funds to help those who truly NEED it.
I think it is the wastes that Congressman Buyer is trying to eliminate...to try to have the best service from the money the American tax-payers can afford to give. Wastes like some of the following:

1) One little bottle of medication being sent in a cardboard box large enough to put a small television in
2) Paying an out-of-state service to answer after hour phone calls
3) Closing whole floors down in VA medical centers the same year as giving several thousands of dollars to the center’s director as a reward for a “job well done”
4) Refusing to pay for in home care when in facility care proves to be much more expensive
5) Creating services for pharmacy through private pharmacies with medications bought in large lots rather than the expensive network of mail order pharmacies from VA centers

Here are some things I found out about the Congressman in about 5 minutes of my time:

At American Legion, National Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah, he said,
“They fought for no bounty of their own...and left freedom in their footsteps.”
Congressman Steve Buyer

Some of the things I found connected to his congressional service:

Creating TRICARE For Life As Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Military Personnel, in 2000, I authored legislation included in the Department of Defense FY 2001 authorization legislation to fulfill the promise to our nation’s soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines of healthcare for life upon retiring from the military, called “TRICARE for Life.”
National Journal reported: “Buyer won enactment of what military officials term the greatest expansion of healthcare benefits for military retirees in at least three decades.” This legislation included a three-year effort to revitalize the prescription drug benefit plan for America’s military retirees, enabling them to receive prescription medications via network pharmacies or
Through mail order at their choice. Improving Healthcare Access and Benefits Concurrent Receipt: Military retirees injured in combat, while training for combat, or who are 50% or more disabled, will for the first time be able to receive retirement benefits concurrently with veterans disability compensation. Improved Access: The VA has reduced waiting time by more than 6 months for primary care, reduced time for the next available appointment from an average of 60 days to 24 days. And, there is now required priority scheduling of care for severely disabled service-connected veterans. Reduced Backlog of Claims: In 2000, the backlog of appeals was a staggering 660,000 claims. Reducing this backlog has been one of Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principe’s and my top priorities.

Today, this backlog has been reduced by two-thirds. Meeting The Needs Of Service Members And Families Servicemen and women deal with a multitude of issues when they receive a permanent change of station or are deployed—from personal finances to retirement benefits. H.R. 3024, legislation that I authored, will provide protections to service members who need to terminate motor vehicle leases entered into before a permanent change of station or deployment orders. This legislative provision, now law, was the first change to the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Civil Relief Act in forty years. It was incorporated into H.R. 100 and signed into law by President Bush on December 19, 2003. Also, I worked to refine the retirement system, pay tables and to allow active duty and reserve components to participate in the Thrift Savings Plan. Funding For Veterans Due to the leadership of President Bush, funding for veterans programs has been going up faster than in the past. Since 2001, funding for the VA has increased 27% and if this year’s budget is approved the increase will be approximately 37%—a larger increase than the 1990s. New VA Clinic In Martinsville To improve veterans’ access to outpatient care the VA will open an outpatient clinic in Martinsville. The clinic is the result of the VA recognizing that an underserved veteran population lives around Indianapolis. Veterans in Martinsville and surrounding communities will benefit greatly from the decision to open a healthcare facility thereby increasing the access to quality care for those who served our nation in uniform. I am committed to build the clinic. Creating TRICARE For Life As Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Military Personnel, in 2000, I authored legislation included in the Department of Defense FY 2001 authorization legislation to fulfill the promise to our nation’s soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines of healthcare for life upon retiring from the military, called “TRICARE for Life.”

National Journal reported:

“Buyer won enactment of what military officials term the greatest expansion of healthcare benefits for military retirees in at least three decades.” This legislation included a three-year effort to revitalize the prescription drug benefit plan for America’s military retirees, enabling them to receive prescription medications via network pharmacies or through mail order at their choice. Improving Healthcare Access and Benefits Concurrent Receipt: Military retirees injured in combat, while training for combat, or who are 50% or more disabled, will for the first time be able to receive retirement benefits on currently with veterans disability compensation. Improved Access: The VA has reduced waiting time by more than 6 months for primary care, reduced time for the next available appointment from an average of 60 days to 24 days. And, there is
now required priority scheduling of care for severely disabled service-connected veterans. Reduced Backlog of Claims: In 2000, the backlog of appeals was a staggering 660,000 claims. Reducing this backlog has been one of Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi’s and my top priorities. Today, this backlog has been reduced by two-thirds. Meeting The Needs of Service Members and Families Servicemen and women deal with a multitude of issues when they receive a permanent change of station or are deployed—from personal finances to retirement benefits.

H.R. 3024, legislation that I authored, will provide protections to service members who need to terminate motor vehicle leases entered into before a permanent change of station or deployment orders. This legislative provision, now law, was the first change to the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Civil Relief Act in forty years. It was incorporated into H.R. 100 and signed into law by President Bush on December 19, 2003. Also, I worked to refine the retirement system, pay tables and to allow
active duty and reserve components to participate in the Thrift Savings Plan. Funding for Veterans Due to the leadership of President Bush, funding for veterans programs has been going up faster than in the past. Since 2001, funding for the VA has increased 27% and if this year’s budget is approved the increase will be approximately 37%—a larger increase than the 1990s.
New VA Clinic In Martinsville To improve veterans’ access to outpatient care the VA will open an outpatient clinic in Martinsville. The clinic is the result of the VA recognizing that an underserved veteran population lives around Indianapolis. Veterans in Martinsville and surrounding communities will benefit greatly from the decision to open a healthcare facility thereby increasing the access to quality care for those who served our nation in uniform. I am committed to build the clinic.

Like I said...let’s be careful what we spread on the internet...we need hard workers in the government to fight for our rights...there are people out there who will read the negative and the result could be to loose a positive member of congress who might be fighting for your rights...find out the truth before you spread the rumor.

Mary Grace,
Proud wife of a disabled American Veteran

Thanks for the heads up, but it’s a little far for me to go on such short notice. ;-)

And I thought you were a “BIG” Buyer supporter. ;-)

I am, but it really *is* short notice! ;-)

How did you ever remember that from how many years ago?

There are not that many Buyer supporters on FR. And no ping list for him, that I know of.

You should start one!

Are you a constituent of his?

You’ll love this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rRE5UK6NQU

Mary Grace...

Instead of pulling up all the small-time pettifogging and self-serving information on a Pro-Buyer site, I suggest you do a search on the words ‘Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans’ and see how your paragon of conservative-ism has stood in the way of the DVA’s unilateral revision of the 1991 Agent Orange Act. The DVA excluded Navy and Air Force veterans who couldn’t PROVE by military records that they put ‘Boots on the Ground’ in Vietnam. This includes those who went ashore at in-country ports of call, and the like.

Buyer has stood in the way of legislation to correct this since George Bush the younger’s Secretary Principi instituted it, throwing hundreds if not thousands of Vets with cancers, particularly Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma off of the benefits they earned by their service.

Don’t believe me? Ask him. He hasn’t hidden his opinion or his opposition.

Trust me, mam; I’ve been fighting this battle since 2004. I KNOW EXACTLY what I’m talking about.

Oh yeah; you know how they’re reducing the backlog?

They simply deny the claim. Letter goes out, file closed. Veteran has 1 year to appeal, assuming he survives whatever he’s claiming for.

Sure, his wife could appeal his claim under DIC, but how many bother?

One last thing; just because you were a veteran, or married one dosen’t mean you’re pro-veteran. Mary Lou Keener, the General Council for the DVA who came up with the idea of excluding Navy and Airforce veterans from the 1991 Agent Orange Act? She served 3 tours as a nurse at China Beach.

Go Figure...