VVA Praises President's Budget Submission for Veterans Affairs; Condemns Ill-advised Revenue Proposal

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "Despite our concerns about the ill-advised proposal to require veterans' healthcare insurers to pay for treatment by the VA for service-connected health conditions, Vietnam Veterans of America hails the budget submission of President Obama for its generosity in assisting all veterans and, particularly, disabled veterans," said VVA National President John Rowan.

"VVA joins fellow veterans' service organizations in condemning the proposal advanced by the Office of Management and Budget to raise revenue by charging a veteran's private health insurer for services provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs for service-connected health conditions.

"However, as far as veterans are concerned, this is the best budget submitted by a President in the 30-year history of VVA." Rowan cited the proposed $25 billion increase above the baseline over the next five years; the restoration of health-care eligibility for veterans of modest incomes, which the administration predicts will enable half a million eligible veterans to access the VA health care system by 2013; and making highly disabled veterans who are medically retired from service eligible for concurrent receipt of disability benefits from the VA, in addition to the retirement benefits they receive from the Department of Defense.

"Given this administration's unprecedented willingness to work with the veterans' community to make sure this budget will be one that all veterans can support enthusiastically," Rowan stated, "we feel comfortable that, with President Obama having met with veteran leaders yesterday in the White House and the willingness of senior staff to conduct follow-up meetings, they are receptive to our ideas on how to make this budget better for veterans.

"We look forward to working with the White House, now and in the future, to ensure that veterans don't have to fight and scrape for every additional dollar in the budget," Rowan added. "We call on Congress to make its adjustments and pass this budget, not only on time for the 2010 fiscal year, but early enough so VA managers will know what they can expect to receive so they can plan to accommodate the needs of the veterans they serve."

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page

Disabled Veterans Leader Presses Issues with Key Lawmakers

/PRNewswire/ -- The National Commander of the Disabled American Veterans begins a series of meetings with key lawmakers seeking their support for budget reform legislation to ensure sufficient, timely and predictable funding for veterans' health care. He also is urging them to reject a contentious proposal that would shift the cost of treating veterans for service-connected conditions from the government's side of the ledger to insurance companies.

"For too long the Department of Veterans Affairs health care system has had to struggle with budgets that were too little, too late," said DAV National Commander Raymond E. Dempsey. "It's time to reform the funding system to enable the Department of Veterans Affairs to work better and smarter in caring for the nation's sick and disabled veterans."

Dempsey has scheduled meetings with Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Daniel Akaka and Ranking Republican Richard Burr, House Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Bob Filner and Sen. Tim Johnson and Rep. Chet Edwards, who chair their respective Appropriations subcommittees that fund veterans programs.

A top priority for the DAV and other groups is passage of the recently introduced Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act. The measure would authorize Congress to approve VA medical care appropriations one year in advance of the start of each fiscal year. The legislation also would add needed transparency to the process by having the Government Accountability Office review and report on the VA budget request.

"This legislation is all about making government more efficient, transparent and accountable. These are three key elements that President Obama, Congress and veterans all agree are needed in these challenging times. And if enacted in conjunction with the fiscal year 2010 budget, advance appropriations for 2011 would not add one dime to the 2010 deficit," Commander Dempsey said.

While urging support for the Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act, Dempsey is raising concerns shared by the entire veterans community that a proposal to shift the cost of treating veterans for service-connected conditions to their insurance companies will worsen the health care affordability crisis.

Dempsey said this "cost shifting scheme amounts to a betrayal of a sacred trust as it abandons our government's moral and legal responsibility to the men and women who have sacrificed so much for our freedoms."

"As a native of Illinois, the Land of Lincoln, I can't help but note the irony of such a proposal. Lincoln's famous quote, 'To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan,' has been adopted as the VA's official motto. But if the current president -- who also calls Illinois home -- expands third-party collections to service-connected conditions, that motto will be rendered meaningless and should be removed from the VA building," Dempsey said.

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
Community News You Can Use
Fayetteville, Peachtree City, Tyrone
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page