Mar 18 2009
Obama backs off of billing Veterans for medical care
I huge win for veterans today as the Obama Administrations backs off of its asinine suggestion billing private insurance companies for veterans care.
Congrats to all vets and people who truly support them for a job well done.
Obama drops disputed vet medical plan
The Obama administration dropped a proposal to require some disabled veterans to pay for medical treatments through their private insurance companies, heeding a chorus of outrage from veterans groups and Capitol Hill lawmakers who said the idea was immoral, unconscionable and un-American.
The White House decided to scrap the plan after meeting with a contingent of veterans and military advocacy groups on Wednesday for the second time this week.
“In considering the third-party billing issue, the administration was seeking to maximize the resources available for veterans,” said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.
Translation: They were seeking to be cheap skates and penny pinch a half billion dollars.
“However, the president listened to concerns raised by the [veterans groups] that this might, under certain circumstances, affect veterans and their families’ ability to access health care.”
That is such a horrible understatement.
The proposal, which the administration said was never a certainty, called for generating an estimated $540 million in savings by tapping veterans’ private insurance for service-related injuries and ailments that for decades the government has been obligated to pay.
Opponents of the plan said they were concerned it would cause insurers to increase premium rates to cover service-connected disabled veterans and their families. They also worried that some employers, especially small businesses, would be reluctant to hire veterans with service-connected disabilities due to the negative impact their employment might have on obtaining and financing company health care benefits.
This is certainly great news but for some reason I do not think this is a dead issue. I think that the liberals have tipped their hands to what they really see in the veterans. Rather than see warriors in need of respect, gratitude and care, they see them as a burden, a drain on society, like some spoiled ungrateful children who are faced with the obligation of paying for their parents long term elderly care, and all they can do is whine that they don’t have the time.
The military community is vast, and I hope they have a long memory. This will not be the last assault on them by this administration.
The plan by Obama was so ridiculous that even Jon Stewart who is totally in the tank for Obama was outraged.
Last night’s segment on the “smaller outrage” that is the announced plan to ask our military veterans to use their private insurance to cover combat related injuries won’t garner the ire of the AIG bonus baby bailout or the hype of last week’s tete-a-tete with Jim Cramer, but Daily Show host Jon Stewart made sure to say his piece about the matter, and, chances are, it’s even dearer to his heart than beating up CNBC on a daily basis.
“You know veterans? Men and women who risk their lives protecting our country?,” Stewart asked, explaining, “When they get injured, you know who foots the bill? You. The taxpayer. I know! It’s incredibly FAIR. COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY FAIR.” That led to a segment called “That Can’t Be Right,” in which Stewart ridiculed the Obama plan, saying: “I guess what the government is saying is that if you still need a little bit of rehab from when you got your leg blown off in Iraq, the government will cover you…unless your wife has a little COBRA left over from her previous substitute teaching gig, in that case, you’re going to have to go with her and the deductible and the whole thing. Unless your spouse in in Congress, and then you can go with their sweet, sweet government plan.”
Stewart offered his own cost-saving ideas, like medals with product placement and turning Arlington Cemetery into a water park, but I think that Stewart summed up his position with concision and clarity when he stated: “WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU GUYS THINKING?”
I had a ton of links proclaiming this today:
Vets Get Victory over Obama on Veterans Health Care by Macsmind
Pat yourselves on the back vets, we did it. Yesterday the White House switchboard was literally off the hook as well as Senate and House phones and faxes as veterans responded to email and blog calls to arms and showed Obama that he doesn’t have the “metal” for this fight.
TPMDC | Talking Points Memo | Obama Nixes Plan to Charge Veterans
The proposed move ignited a firestorm on the right in recent days, with the Drudge Report picking up on a critical press release from the American Legion and sparking a letter of protest to the administration this morning from 61 House members.
What do veterans think of President Obama now?
This is nothing but a slap in their faces and if President Obama values his political capital and future, he would be advised to think twice before he implements such a plan. If he doesn’t, I hope he gets a fight he will not soon forget.
Hot Air: Obama administration ditches soak-wounded-veterans policy
Give Barack Obama his due. He said he wanted to bring unity and bipartisanship to Washington DC … and he succeeded beyond his wild dreams with a hare-brained scheme to charge wounded vets for their service-related injuries.
Obama drops controversial plan
But the American Legion, the nation’s largest veterans group, said the president’s plan would have increased premiums, made insurance unaffordable for veterans and imposed a massive hardship on military families. It could have also prevented small businesses from hiring veterans who have large health care needs, the group said.
The list goes on but I think you get the point.
One overlooked aspect. If Obama wants to push national health care, isn’t this a mixed message? Why push for nationalized health care despite the insane costs it will require when you cannot even allow the existing government health care to stand on its own?
In the socialist nirvana of national universal health care, will he be billing back to private insurance too?
Makes you wonder. TANSTAAFL folks…
Previously:
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3 Responses to “Obama backs off of billing Veterans for medical care”
[...] Obama drops plan to bill private insurance companies for veterans medical care. [...]
Doesn’t the government force businesses to provide health insurance for their employees ? Then , here is the same government trying to get out of the responsibility to provide health insurance for THEIR employees. ie: soldiers.
Can anyone spell H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-S-Y ?
Veterns who have served their country deserve much more than just health care, they are the ones that have kept our country free and they have earned the respect of all , as all american know the cost of defending our nation is great and the goverment has promised to take care of the veterns and their widows, let us remember the wounds of war and the cost of freedom is not cheap for the price of freedom is blood shed from those who have stood in the gap to keep america a free nation, we all owe the veterns of all ages more than we could ever repay those that has sacrficed their blood their limbs their eyes their arms their blood and often their lives.. need i say more?