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Posted on 01/16/2003 4:24:40 PM PST by RCW2001
SUZANNE GAMBOA, Associated Press Writer
Thursday, January 16, 2003
©2003 Associated Press
URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/01/16/national1606EST0711.DTL
(01-16) 16:13 PST WASHINGTON (AP) --
The Veterans Affairs Department will suspend enrollment Friday for higher-income vets seeking health care for non-military related ailments ranging from routine care to heart disease and diabetes.
The suspension, scheduled to last through 2003, goes against VA policy set in 1996 when Congress ordered the agency to open health care to nearly all veterans. The change is expected to affect about 164,000 veterans.
The chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., said the decision was disappointing but "underscores the need to develop long-term solutions to VA's health care funding problems."
In an interview with The Associated Press, VA Secretary Anthony Principi said the agency has been struggling to provide adequate health care to a rapidly rising number of veterans. The VA's patient population ballooned from 2.9 million in 1996 to 6.8 million today, Principi said.
"People might say, 'Well Mr. Secretary, what kind of message does this send to people who may deploy to the Persian Gulf?"' Principi said.
"I have a son in the Gulf, who may deploy to Iraq, who may fight a war if the president chooses. I think it sends a positive message that the VA is there for those who are disabled in uniform. The VA is there for men and women who come back and within the first two years need VA health care."
Ronald Conley, American Legion national commander, agreed with Principi that Congress has not provided the agency enough money to fulfill its mandate to provide care to nearly all veterans.
"The Congress of the United States has to properly fund it and this is the bottom line. And the president has to go to Congress and tell them they have to fund it," Conley said.
Principi said he expects President Bush to propose a 7.7 percent increase in the VA's health care budget for 2004, but he said it would not be enough.
The enrollment suspension applies to those considered the lowest priority for benefits, veterans with the highest incomes and no military service-related health problems, known as Category 8 veterans.
How much a veteran can earn to be considered Category 8 depends on where the veteran lives and the size of the household. For instance, unmarried veterans making more than $38,100 in Atlanta or more than $29,200 in New Bedford, Mass., would be considered Category 8 veterans.
The 6.8 million veterans already enrolled in the VA, including 1.4 million Category 8 veterans, would not be affected by Principi's decision. The VA estimates that about 164,000 Category 8 veterans would have enrolled this year.
About 18.2 million U.S. veterans do not use VA health care.
Principi, who is mandated by law to review enrollments every year, had warned Congress last session that he might be forced to limit enrollments if lawmakers did not approve a proposed $1,500 deductible for higher-income veterans.
Congress balked at the proposal, which was heavily criticized by some veterans groups.
Principi said the VA needs the enrollment "time out" to get a handle on its current workload and reduce waiting times that can be as long as six months.
Sen. John Rockefeller, the outgoing Democratic chairman of Senate Veterans Affairs committee, agreed. "Blocking health care for our nation's veterans is not the answer. The answer is providing the necessary funding for VA, and the administration is going to have to make that a priority."
Meanwhile, he said he and Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson would try to work through regulations to allow the VA to be reimbursed for services provided to Medicare-eligible veterans, generally those over 65 years old.
Principi said he hopes the enrollment limit and Medicare changes will help meet an end-of-the-year goal for veterans to wait no longer than 30 days to see a primary care physician and slightly longer for a specialist.
©2003 Associated Press
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This catagory of vet, and I was one, should not be getting VA care. They need to, and I did, provide for their own, non-service connected needs. Taking care of disabled vets & their families should be the first concern of the VA. If there is room for the rest of us, OK.
Hallelujah! I agree wholeheartedly. The perfect is the enemy of the good.
BTW, I have a service connected disability and don't expect to ever go back to a VA hospital. (unless they try to draft me which would cause my disability to actually be disabling :-)
1.There was no means test when this was promised to all veterans.I sincerely doubt large numbers of veterans are scamming this particular benefit.VA hospitals are not usually considered to be in the same league as John Hopkins, or similar advanced hospitals.
2.What possible difference does it make if the veteran is single or not?If the he/she does not have a service connected disability,his/her eligability does not extend to family members anyway.
3.I have no problem if the VA wants to change benifits-for future servicemembers, but I have a major problem with making those changes retroactive.
I have never used the VA medical benefits I have supposedly earned by virtue of my military service, but God forbid someday I may need to do so.BTW,since illegal immigrants are "entitled" to things like free kidney dialysis, and are allowed to use the ER rooms of this country as free clinics, by what twisted form of evil logic can the Feds justify saving a few bucks by screwing veterans?
If anyone who agrees this is a good idea, also believes in adding prescription drug benefits to Medicare, go directly to the nearest mirror and call that image a hypocrite of the worst kind!
Rant off
The VA is a mess I'll admit, but veterans organizations are not helping IMO. The new Legion Commander has been on a mission to get every elgible veteran to sign up for VA health care wether they need it or not. In this he has been sucessful and attracted a lot of attention with the "I am not number" campaign.
His goal is admirable but not the method. Some of us veterans are in fine health and also have company health care plans. When the completely healthy sign up for these benefits, they are taking resources away from those that really need it.
Ron Conley has been smoouching with the likes of Tom Dashole and has spent his non military career as a union official. Go Figure.
Please, pass along the disgust this brings to Congress from all veterans when the Democrats come to town. Maybe they will raise enough of a fuss that they can get the rules obeyed.
Am I, as a veteran, entitled to VA care for life?
(Frankly, no way. I would rather die on the floor.)
How much of taxpayers dollars do you think this bloated bureaucrat puts in his pockets every year? I have listened to these VA overpaid jerk offs ever since returning from Vietnam...
He can screw over vets all he desires because "He has a son in the gulf who may be deployed to Iraq"...
Notice the SOB even prefaces his idea of how care should be allocated to "within two years of returning from war"....how many complications take longer than that to manifest themselves?
The radiation experiments done on our guys is a great example of this....the VA and Govt. fought this for years...and when nearly all the vets had died off...(some leaving their families with massive medical bills) then and only then did they step up and pretend to do the right thing by those veterans...of course by then it was too late...
The fact that this administration has the balls to CUT VA medical care while demanding more kids sacrifice life and limb ..eyes and God only knows...what kinds of chemicals biologicals or radiation will be used..deny our kids medical care...or Throw the old ones out to make room for the new ones......
Disgusting...I am against going to war while vets get screwed at home...different prez...same ole crap.....(at least as far as vets are concerned)
Meanwhile the peace creeps step up their demonstrations and gulf war vets have to sue in order to get the care they need.....
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