Vets AND active duty military face health care cuts; fact or rumor?

[Louis]

This appeared yesterday on freerepublic.com. This fragment is just part of it; log onto that URL for more details. I cannot vouch for the accuracy of what is reported; it sounds like pretty severe cuts, if true. If they push it, it will create a firestorm of protest.
Regards
Louis

About Obama's Heath Care proposal on Active Duty Military Families and Veterans!


My office just got word today that our new President Obama has proposed a plan to cut military health care benefits! This is great news for the 99.9% Veterans and Active Duty members who are currently using health care benefits. The Congressional Budget Office has made public a proposal stating that Veterans (you know the men and women who have fought in wars and spent 20 plus years in the service) are now going to be paying up to 50% of their medical bill. That¢s a big jump from paying nothing for the past 30 some odd years.

The biggest kicker is Active Duty Military (yep, I said Active Duty) will now! be paying 10% of their total bill. They will now be billed for their kids visiting the doctor. Again, a big jump from being free! Another benefit subject to change is VA medical benefits. Everyone who is receiving a benefit from the VA for a service-related injury will have to be re-assessed and the proposal states this will affect "90% of vets receiving VA benefits and will save the government $53 Billion dollars over 10 years".

 

[Louis]

This appeared yesterday on freerepublic.com. This fragment is just part of it; log onto that URL for more details. I cannot vouch for the accuracy of what is reported; it sounds like pretty severe cuts, if true. If they push it, it will create a firestorm of protest.
Regards
Louis

About Obama's Heath Care proposal on Active Duty Military Families and Veterans!


My office just got word today that our new President Obama has proposed a plan to cut military health care benefits! This is great news for the 99.9% Veterans and Active Duty members who are currently using health care benefits. The Congressional Budget Office has made public a proposal stating that Veterans (you know the men and women who have fought in wars and spent 20 plus years in the service) are now going to be paying up to 50% of their medical bill. That¢s a big jump from paying nothing for the past 30 some odd years.

The biggest kicker is Active Duty Military (yep, I said Active Duty) will now! be paying 10% of their total bill. They will now be billed for their kids visiting the doctor. Again, a big jump from being free! Another benefit subject to change is VA medical benefits. Everyone who is receiving a benefit from the VA for a service-related injury will have to be re-assessed and the proposal states this will affect "90% of vets receiving VA benefits and will save the government $53 Billion dollars over 10 years".

 

[11B Lifer]

The socialists have a history of undermining and vilifying the military. After Vietnam they were responsible for elimination of the GI Bill, elimination of free health care for retirees, the divorce regulation/laws that effect only military people, the double dipping laws that effected only retired officers (until '98) laws eliminating veterans preference in hiring (or that level the field) imposing state income taxes on folks who hadn't lived in their home state for years, and on and on. There are only two enitities that have ever defeated our armed forces-congress and the press. Increasing health care rates on those nasty conservative people who torture and kill our poor misunderstood terrorists is just a begining. When was the last time you saw a news article about a soldier receiving an award?

 

[AJW]

Can't say whether its fact or rumor, or even a Democrat idea, but the same "news" circulated around the military when I was active duty and Clinton was president.

 

[OKFC05]

It's true, the "Hillary socialised health care" plan has been dusted off and is now again being considered.

The key features regarding military and vet health care are essentially the same.

The philosophy behind it is that military and vet health care are not "earned" but rather a form of undeserved welfare that needs to be trimmed.

Absurd? Of course, to average Americans.
But to the liberal elite inside the DC Beltway who run OMB, it makes perfect sense. Rather than "change" this health care "reform" is the same old Clinton anti-military attitude.

 

[GONAVY]

I wished that the Obama and all members of both houses would be honorable and resign in mass, go home. We American's will hold a special election to replace them. It's true. Here is the link to a good article.
http://www.navytimes.com/news/...teinsurance_030909w/

 

[n4zov]

This is gonna be a very, very long four years.

 

[mbgator]

Posted 10 March 2009 09:52 PM Hide Post
This is gonna be a very, very long four years.

If we could just be done with it in four years. The damage he and his administration will do will haunt us for decades.

 

[lcdrdanr]

The Congressional Budget Office has made public a proposal stating that Veterans (you know the men and women who have fought in wars and spent 20 plus years in the service) are now going to be paying up to 50% of their medical bill. That¢s a big jump from paying nothing for the past 30 some odd years.

I'm always reminded of the old cowboy, tired, sweaty, grizzled and dusty, holding his saddle and saying "There's a few things they didn't tell me about this outfit when I signed on".

I'm a retired Navy veteran, 22 years in the cast iron canoe club and I'm here to tell you, there's things they didn't tell me when I signed on. I live in an area where there are few providers for Tricare insurance, I previously lived next door to a Submarine Base where neither Retirees nor thier dependents could go to the base clinic for care.

Although I'm always reading about the "Free" medical care I get, I send off a $165 premium for supplemental health insurance every month, send off a little over $500 a quarter for long term care insurance, I have a $200 deductible and 20% co-pay with Tricare, another deductible and 20% co-pay with the supplemental health insurance and I recently calculated that I spend just over 43% of my retirement pay on Life Insurance, health insurance, medicine, Doctors visits, dental insurance, and eyeglasses.

I'm so pleased that everyone thinks my medical care is free.

Dan R

edit to add "Oh, yeah, and I'm just under 60 years old, have type II diabetes and am not considered to be disabled".

 

[DJINCO]

Concur with above post. 24 years in the Navy. No free medical care here either. Free is a joke.

Is this the change you hoped for?

 

[MADISON]

If Obama does away with the VA Hospitals and drops veteran's care by 75% the American Military will be non existant.

 

[GONAVY]

Let's see, They tax me 40-45% of my income via income, medicare, ssc, not to mention property taxes etc, want my 2nd amend rights, ask for my daughter and son for military duty/war, some never to be whole or come home, and make so many laws that constantly threaten our freedoms. What else is there to give?

 

[AKtinman]

Originally posted by OKFC05:
Snip

The philosophy behind it is that military and vet health care are not "earned" but rather a form of undeserved welfare that needs to be trimmed.

Snip

I remember being told that one of the reasons active duty pay was less than for "comparable civilian jobs" was that we were receiving "free" health care as part of our compensation/retirement package.


lcdrdanr stated it well.

None of the bases in my area will see Retirees. I'm glad I have health insurance from another career, but that will run out when I'm eligible for MediCare.

I really don't mind sacrificing a bit to help pay for Queen Nancy's air travel

 

[deadin]

Don't forget those Federal Income Taxes and SocSec that the military doesn't pay either.

 

[Texas Star]

I'm about due to go on Medicare. If I have that, can I still use the VA hospital? I'm getting prescriptions there for MUCH less than in other pharmacies, and get an annual exam.

T-Star

 

[ABC]

Anybody connected with DoD or the Federal government is very stupid if they voted for the democrats. A lot of them did!!!

Just like n4zov said, This is gonna be a very, very long four years.

 

[SmithEC]

I guess whether it's a good deal or not must just depend on what your needs are.

Paying only $460 a year to cover my daughter and I for a year seems like a pretty good deal to me. I know folks that pay that much each month.

$12 for a doctor's visit and only $20 a month for a non-formulary drug? I can live with that.

The on-base clinics stopped seeing retirees many, many years ago. I believe that's the way it should be.


.

 

[rayb]

Posted 11 March 2009 03:36 PM Hide Post
I'm about due to go on Medicare. If I have that, can I still use the VA hospital? I'm getting prescriptions there for MUCH less than in other pharmacies, and get an annual exam.
T-Star
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill, KG

When I was forced into the socialist crap called medicare, I went from 110 a quarter for a Tricare supplement to 150 +/- a month for the medicare, and lost prescription coverage in the process.

Seems I'm still working, so I get to pay more....based on my last income tax return from 2 years ago. They're supposed to use the one for the previous year. I asked Social Security to relook the ytax return thing, the person I was refered to told me "They can't do that".

Bunch of BS

Meidcare sucke, find a way to get out of it if you can.

rayb

 

[billhud]

Originally posted by lcdrdanr:

Although I'm always reading about the "Free" medical care I get, I send off a $165 premium for supplemental health insurance every month, send off a little over $500 a quarter for long term care insurance, I have a $200 deductible and 20% co-pay with Tricare, another deductible and 20% co-pay with the supplemental health insurance and I recently calculated that I spend just over 43% of my retirement pay on Life Insurance, health insurance, medicine, Doctors visits, dental insurance, and eyeglasses.

I'm so pleased that everyone thinks my medical care is free.

I'm retired military too. My health care isn't free but it is as close as you can get to it, and we don't step into military hospitals anymore (thank GOD). My TRICARE premiums are $460 a year for my family. My copays are $12 a visit and prescription copays are either $3 or $9 depending on the drug. Only once have we needed a drug not in the formulary.

I had two surgeries in the last couple of years for a total cost of $37. My wife had major in-patient surgery last year, and our cost was less that $50. She just had shoulder surgery, and it cost us $12.

No, it ain't free, but it is dang close to being free. When I joined in 1981, there was no claim that I'd have free healthcare the rest of my life.

 

[safearm]

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, but was told by lawmakers that it would be "dead on arrival" if sent to Congress.

Washington Sen. Patty Murray used that blunt terminology, telling Shinseki that the idea would not be acceptable and would be rejected if formally proposed. She made the remarks during a Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs hearing about the 2010 budget.

No official proposal to create such a program has been announced publicly, but veterans groups wrote a pre-emptive letter last week to President Obama opposing the idea after hearing the plan was under consideration. The groups also noticed an increase in "third-party collections" estimated in the 2010 budget proposal—something they said could only be achieved if the VA started billing for service-related injuries.

Asked about the proposal, Shinseki said it was under "consideration."

"A final decision hasn't been made yet," he said.

A second senator, North Carolina Republican Richard Burr, said he agreed that the idea should not go forward.

"I think you will give that up" as a revenue stream, if it is included in this April's budget, Burr said.