Posted on 03/12/2009 10:18:30 AM PDT by euram
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Bookmark for later study....
Trial balloon.
My blood pressure shoots through the roof every time I come here these days since I no longer watch television. This thread has sent my blood pressure through the roof. The Zero is out of his mind.
ZERO promised to do a lot of things for our veterans during his campaign. However, now that ZERO has become this country's first BOGUS/POTUS, it's time to revisit them. But, first, no lie is complete without the feel-good rhetoric that usually precedes it:
As President, I will ensure we honor the sacred trust to care for our nation’s veterans. In an Obama administration, the VA will provide benefits and care that will be accessible, high-quality, reliable, responsive and fair, year after year. We will care for our wounded soldiers; improve the transition to civilian life; fully fund VA medical care; improve the quality of VA health care; fix the Veterans Benefits Administration; honor veterans with the benefits and services they have earned, and rebuild and repair the military. Not only is this the right thing to do – it is a necessary investment for a great nation to maintain an all volunteer force.
Now, here are all of the specific promises made that he has already broken, intends to break, and not yet kept:
As one of his "first acts" as president, Obama will sign an executive order "ending the unfair ban on healthcare enrollment of certain groups of veterans, including 'Priority 8' veterans who often earn modest incomes." Currently, veterans who have no service-connected disability and make above a certain amount of income are not allowed to enroll in the VA health program. (Breaking his promise to issue an EO is like a groom saying, "I don't")
Fully fund "the VA so it has all the resources it needs to serve the veterans who need it, when they need it."
"Given the amount of time required for a service member to adjust to civilian life, Obama would also extend the window for new veterans to enroll in the VA from two to five years."
Increase "the VA budget to recruit and retain more mental health professionals."
"Make the VA a leader of national health care reform … This includes efforts to improve electronic records interoperability, expand effectiveness research, promote wellness programs, and instill more accountability for performance and quality improvement initiatives."
Increase "the VA budget to recruit and retain more mental health professionals."
Will put "additional resources into enforcement and investigation in order to crack down on employers who are not following the letter and spirit of the law" in regards to military reservists.
"Expand proven homeless veteran housing vouchers to assist those already on the streets."
"There are currently over 400,000 claims pending within the Veterans Benefits Administration, and over 800,000 claims receipts are expected in 2008 alone. … Obama will hire additional claims workers and convene our nation's leading veterans groups, employees and managers to develop an updated training and management model that will ensure that VA benefit decisions are rated fairly and consistently, and stem from adequate training and accountability for each claims adjudicator."
Expand the number of "centers of excellence for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), PTSD, vision impairment, prosthetics, spinal cord injury, aging, women's health and other specialized rehabilitative care." (PTSD should also include "buyer's remorse" if a vet voted for ZERO, and "sticker shock" for realizing they have to pay for their care.)
"Make the VA a leader of national health care reform … This includes efforts to improve electronic records interoperability, expand effectiveness research, promote wellness programs, and instill more accountability for performance and quality improvement initiatives." (aka, Big Brother and loss of personal privacy)
"Obama will meet early in the budgeting process each year with congressional leaders and the nation's leading Veterans' Service Organizations (VSOs) to ensure the VA budget is always given 'must-pass' status."
"Will ensure that more of our veterans can enter the new energy economy. They will create a new 'Green Vet Initiative' that will have two missions: first it will offer counseling and job placement to help veterans gain the skills to enter this rapidly growing field; second, it will work with industry partners to create career pathways and educational programs."
"Given the amount of time required for a service member to adjust to civilian life, Obama would also extend the window for new veterans to enroll in the VA from two to five years."
Expand "Vet Centers in rural areas so that veterans and their families can get the care they need where they live."
Increase "the VA budget to recruit and retain more mental health professionals."
Require "individual, face-to-face post-deployment mental health screenings."
After seeing that there weren't any earmarks going to vets, ZERO fell back on Plan B: "tax them." (or was it Plan A all along?)
There’s a special place in hell for someone that thinks it’s ok to charge vets for medical treatment for wounds caused by serving our country.
Informative post - bump. :-0
I think even the anoited one knows this won't fly (oh but he'd love for it to work). But he still needs to put it on the table so we can be distracted as the real harm is done elsewhere. If he throws enough sh@t at the wall some of it will stick.
Good point :)
That makes me mad enough to spit. To think of what our troops go through and then ... @#$%!
I bet we don’t see another Democrat in the White House for 50 years after this putz is finished.
He wouldn’t dare. This would have to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, surely.
bttt
How long is this guy going to be in office?
How much damage can he do to America?
Not even two months, and look where we are.
Shameful!
0 and his Washington elites can go to the clinic.
Look at what the S.S. Dip Ship is doing now.
(My face is so red over this, I might as well have a sunburn!)
Why doesn’t Obama charge illegal immigrants for healthcare?
The more I think about this the more I get p!ssed off.
To even suggest or think about doing this is unfathomable. This truly disgusts me. Let’s see he can spend money on some mouse in San Francisco or pay for abortions and kill babies for women over seas, but he wants to make disabled vets pay for their own care.
Make no mistakes whether it’s private insurance paying it or not...the private insurance isn’t free and it will jack up the rates for other vets seeking private insurance.
As I said earlier there is a special place in hell for people that agree with this policy.
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