FACEBOOK
TWITTER
An Honorable Discharge: Democrats give veterans a pass from ObamaCare.
We’re still sorting through the health-care deal Henry Waxman struck with Blue Dog Democrats recently, but one 11th-hour revision stands out. Namely, veterans will now be "exempt from the requirements of the legislation."
That’s how Mr. Waxman’s staff put it in a memo to reporters earlier this month, announcing amendments that the House Energy and Commerce Committee included before passing the bill 31 to 28. These changes were designed to assuage the "grave concerns" of the American Legion, Amvets and others about how their members could be penalized by new taxes and insurance regulations.
Vietnam veterans enter a hangar at Fort Campbell, Ky., during a ceremony welcoming them home Sunday, Aug. 16, 2009.
Right: Vietnam veterans enter a hangar at Fort Campbell, Ky., during a ceremony welcoming them home Sunday, Aug. 16, 2009.
We’re delighted service members will be let off this particular hook, but why doesn’t everyone else warrant the same dispensation? Or to put it another way, Mr. Waxman is conceding that his plan will interfere with all insurance arrangements that aren’t exempted, including private options that are working well.
Yes, more than a few Democrats will claim that the Veterans Administration health program is the liberal Shangri-la: an integrated single-payer system in which government pays VA doctors directly and owns and runs VA hospitals. Yet the original House bill found even this inadequate. The VA’s benefits package, for example, doesn’t cover maternity care and, with few exceptions, doesn’t cover spouses or children. That could have exposed veterans to a 2.5% tax punishment, while other tax penalties would make it more onerous for civilian businesses to hire military reservists.
The American Legion also worried that the VA system could be "infringed by any national health care organizations or any other departments, agencies or independent organizations of the federal government." One reason the VA works as well as it does is that it specializes in service-related disabilities and the unique needs of combat veterans. Not all veterans qualify as beneficiaries, and it doesn’t focus on basic services—allowing its limited budget to flow to the most urgent priorities.
Essentially, the veterans groups were worried that Democrats would regulate even government-run health care to death. If Democrats won’t force "universal" coverage on vets, they shouldn’t force it on anyone.
Related Posts:
Short URL: http://www.veteranstoday.com/?p=8333
Posted by Veterans Today on Aug 20 2009, With 0 Reads, Filed under Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
COMMENTS
To post, we ask that you login using Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, or Hotmail in the box below.Don't have a social network account? Register and Login direct with VT and post.
Before you post, read our Comment Policy - Feedback
Recently submitted comments, after spending at least an hour writting some in depth comments on this article, I had it rejected due to some security code problem.. I didn’t copy it and I wish you folks could retrive it.
What about the potental impact on VA Benefits where FEDERAL APPEALS COURT RULING RULES FOR VETERAN IN VA BENEFITS as “DUE PROCESS” CASE
Quote
“We conclude that such entitlement to benefits is a property interest protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.”
I think many law makers are going to be in for a surprise when they realize the full impact of this ruling.
The Court added:
Veteran’s disability benefits are nondiscretionary, statutorily mandated benefits. A veteran is entitled to disability benefits upon a showing that he meets the eligibility requirements set forth in the governing statutes and regulations. We conclude that such entitlement to benefits is a property interest protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
An attorney who practices veterans’ law chimed in:
As you may recall, I have been mumbling for some time that the delays in the VA system, including at the Veteran’s Court, are approaching “constitutional dimensions.” This ruling makes it clear (at least to me) that the Constitution protects veterans claimants and the failure to provide due process (i.e., altering documents, shredding documents, failure to process, etc.) is a constitutional violation.
It is now a matter of how long a delay in processing has to be before VA violates the constitution, not whether. Find me someone who has not heard from the VA for 2 years or more and I am prepared to find out the answer.
The same attorney went on to explain how this could impact many veterans:
The Court’s unequivocal statement that Veterans’ Benefits are protected property rights is important because it slams the door on the VA’s defense of last resort that it is a federal agency and no one (not a vet or a court) can tell it how long to take in doing its job. Now that excuse is no longer available. the Constitution requires “due process” and that process is well-established for veterans. It also requires that the process that is due actually gets done at some point.
With backlogs approaching a million, initial processing times measured in years, and total appeal times approaching a decade, the Constitution, not VA, becomes the measure (as it should be) regarding whether VA is providing adequate “process.” Think this is odd or unique? Ever hear of school desegregation, prison overcrowding, or voter rights? Same deal – the government(s) would not enforce the rights of the individuals to attend school, have humane prison conditions, or vote without intimidation. The federal courts gave the states some time to enforce Brown v. Board of Education (ordering desegregated schools) then ordered those who refused to do so under threat of court order. Can you imagine what would have happened if an individual seeking admission to a particular school had been waiting 10 years for a decision on his or her admission and filed a lawsuit to enforce Brown, but the federal court ruled that while 10 years seemed like a long time, you had to keep things in perspective???? All heck would have happened, that’s what.
Well read the very first substantive decision by the Veterans Court, Erspamer v. Derwinski. Mrs. Erspamer filed a petition asking the Veterans Court to make VA issue a decision on her claim for DIC. She had waited more than 10 YEARS without VA action. 10 years!!! The Court stated that while “ten years is an undeniably . . . long time” the court did NOTHING but tell Mrs. Erspamer that she could renew her request in six months if the VA did not issue a decision!!! And what happened – NOTHING.
I do not think that this type of “process” will meet constitutional, rather than VA standards.
This case must also be very sweet for Gordie Erspamer, Mrs. Erspamer’s son, and the attorney in that case, as well as the current PTSD litigation in California. The attorney who argued the Cushman case is a member of Gordie’s law firm.
In sum, as I see it, veterans now have a means to challenge outrageous delays, either at the VARO, the Board, or the Court. VA can no longer just keep pushing everything out until they get around to it. I am sure VA will fight this to the last man or woman, but somewhere, sometime, some court is going to find some period of delay crosses the line of due process into a constitutional violation AND order the VA to do whatever was supposed to be done. That is the big difference.
I suspect that one of the first targets for a challenge may be the new GI Bill process. As I see it, those applying and meeting the eligibility list are guaranteed the benefit of tuition for the upcoming semester. In other words a property right protected by the Constitution. Failure of VA to pay that benefit on time will mean no school unless the school is willing to take an IOU from VA or the student (unlikely as most schools are cash-strapped already). No amount of money later can recover the lost semester. So if VA cannot process the claims on time or will not pay the tuition up front and review the application later, I see a whole lot of process coming due on the Secretary in a few weeks.
The entire Court decision makes for some very interesting reading … and should be read by any veteran who has an active claim.
http://www.vawatchdog.org/09/nf09/nfaug09/nf081409-1.htm
The problem being, will the supreme court uphold the ruling ?
I may as well end my life now.Too much BS for me.I have waited too long for the benefits that I should have received in 1971 after I was discharged from the Marines. Two cadiac arrest,colasped left lung,Organic brain syndrome,and exposure to agent orange etc.