Obama demands veterans pay for their service-related health care.
President Obama’s plan to require private insurance carriers to reimburse the Department of Veterans Affairs for the treatment of troops injured in service is more proof that Obama pays only lip service to the Armed Forces and in reality has a low regard for them. The reimbursement plan is a slap in the face to every veteran who has ever served their country.
A spokesperson for the American Legion called the president’s plan to raise $540 million from private insurers unreasonable, unworkable and immoral.
This reimbursement plan would be inconsistent with the mandate ‘to care for him who shall have borne the battle,’ given that the United States government sent members of the Armed Forces into harm’s way, and not private insurance companies.
Craig Roberts, media relations manager for the American Legion said that the plan will raise premiums, make insurance unaffordable for veterans and impose a massive hardship on military families. It could also prevent small businesses from hiring veterans who have large health care needs. Service-related injuries currently are treated and paid for by the government. The American Legion has proposed that Medicare reimburse the VA for the treatment of veterans.
Private insurance is separate for troops who need health care unrelated to their service. The VA currently only pays for veterans needs that arose from service to their country. A wounded warrior coming back from Afghanistan or Iraq who needs ongoing treatment could run up to the max of their coverage in a very short time, leaving their family with nothing.
A letter of protest was signed by the head of the American Legion and the heads of 10 service organizations. It read that “there is simply no logical explanation” for the plan to bill veterans’ personal insurance “for care that the VA has a responsibility to provide.” It is unconscionable to shift the burden of the country’s fiscal problems on the men and women who have already sacrificed a great deal for this country.
But what make this plan of Obama’s so reprehensible is the fact that while he is trying to squeeze money out of veterans he is wasting billions on bailouts and pork filled stimulus packages. It has recently been shown that the Treasury Department knew of the $165 million in bailout money that was going towards bonuses for AIG executives. In addition to that there are the hundreds of millions if not billions in earmark spending going towards some very questionable projects and causes. For a taste of how well-spent some of this money is check out some examples at Propublica.org.
The bottom line is that the $540 million that Obama is trying to steal from our veterans could easily be taken from the wasteful spending that is part of the stimulus package. I don’t think the health and welfare of the people who served our country in time of war should be of less worth than renovations to the Washington, DC. sewage system or the California Bay-Delta Restoration Act (two of the pork items in the current stimulus package)
President Obama or any member of Congress who votes for this despicable bill does not deserve to be called an American.
Comments
By Dean on April 7th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
He later backed down but the fact that he even floated this idea was damage enough and proof of where his heart lies. Even the backpedaling by Emanuel smacked of “they just didn’t know what was good for them” and suggested this idea is not dead.
Deans last blog post..Still so many unanswered questions
Like or Dislike:
0 
0