Republicans Want to Kick 1.3 Million Vets Off VA Health-Care to Save the Cost of Keeping Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan

Agent Orange veterans would not be given the boot. From the actual PROPOSAL:

To be

eligible for VA medical services under this option, a veteran

would have to qualify for a higher priority group

by demonstrating a service-connected disability, by

documenting income and assets that were below the

means-testing thresholds, or by qualifying under other

criteria (such as exposure to Agent Orange, status as a

Purple Heart recipient or a former prisoner of war,

eligibility for Medicaid, or catastrophic non-serviceconnected

disability).

More facts from the actual proposal:

In 2007, 90 percent of enrollees

in priority groups 7 and 8 had other health care coverage,

most notably Medicare and private health insurance. As a

result, the vast majority of the veterans who would lose

VA coverage under this option would have continued

access to other sources of coverage, and veterans without

other health insurance options could be eligible to obtain

coverage through health insurance exchanges in future.

I just spent the day with my better half's Motorcycle Club holding a pig roast at a local VA home here in my area. We brought all the food and drinks and music. Had a blast. I spent the day talking to different veterans living there that served in 5 different wars. The stories were good, bad and very sad. Cried a couple of times over what I was told. One Vietnam Vet has spent the previous 25 years living on the streets of Denver before his sister finally found him, brought him home and got him in the local VA. He has PTSD that was never diagnosed or treated and has suffered for decades. He deserves all the care he gets at the VA.

To try and cut funding for ANY of these wonderful people is dead wrong. No if's and's or but's.

According to the Congressional Budget Office "Option 35," the cuts would leave 130,000 veterans with no healthcare alternative.

So Felicitie, Is this what you support? Ending care for Veterans? Really?

How many more times to we need to see how heartless and evil Ryan and the GOP have become? When do we finally stand up and tell them to shove it?

In 2007, 90 percent of enrollees

in priority groups 7 and 8 had other health care coverage,

most notably Medicare and private health insurance. As a

result, the vast majority of the veterans who would lose

VA coverage under this option would have continued

access to other sources of coverage, and veterans without

other health insurance options could be eligible to obtain

coverage through health insurance exchanges in future.

Felicitie,
I am assuming you support cutting VA care for Vets.

Whatever.

VA healthcare is really just a cost of doing business. You break it; you buy it.

Ninety percent of groups 7 and 8 have other health care coverage. The ten percent who don't will get it with Obamacare.

No one will go without health coverage.

Direct question

Yes or No

Do you support cutting funding for the VA as proposed by Ryan?

Yes. I support cutting any funding that is duplicitous or wasteful. Why don't you?

No vet should have to go shopping around for 'other' health coverage.If the Republicans want to continue to fund Afganistan,have them end subsidies to big oil,big pharma,and big ag.Talk about duplicitous waste! Wounded vets earned that,I don't give a damn what it costs.

Yes. I support cutting any funding that is duplicitous or wasteful. Why don't you?

I don't support it because I have a @!$%#ing heart and give a @!$%# about other people.

By the way, dip @!$%# heartless corporate whore @!$%#wit Paul Ryan's plan also does away with the new health reform law. That quote you kept repeating is worthless for those Vets. There would be no health care exchange if we enacted the callous bullhsit Ryan plan. Those Veterans that served our country and cannot afford health care, will be left like the Vietnam vet I met at the VA, @!$%#ing homeless without a hope or a prayer. @!$%# you very much GOP.

Why don't you come with me and the club on our next visit to the VA home. Meet a few of the Vets you feel we are "wasting" tax dollars on, how about it? Tell them to their face how much we appreciate their service, but too @!$%#ing bad and so @!$%#ing sad, we cannot afford to waste money on your care.

@!$%#ing heartless GOP bull@!$%#.

No vet will go shopping around for other health care coverage. Ninety percent of them already have other health care coverage. No vet will be denied coverage. I posted the actual wording of the proposal. Go read it.

and veterans without

other health insurance options could be eligible to obtain

coverage through health insurance exchanges in future.

Ryan's plan and all the GOP plans are to END the health insurance exchanges that the new health care law put in place, leaving veterans without any options. Heartless bull@!$%#.

You wrote......

No vet will go shopping around for other health care coverage.

From the CBO report...

A disadvantage of the option is that veterans enrolled in
priority groups 7 and 8 who have come to rely on VA for
at least part of their medical care might find their health
care disrupted by the change in enrollment rules. Some of
those veterans particularly those whose income was just
above the income thresholds might have difficulty
identifying other sources of care. In addition, because of
the relatively low out-of-pocket cost to veterans for VA
health care, veterans switching to alternative sources of
care might pay more than they would have paid at VA.

Here, go volunteer at a VA in your area. Get to know the "waste" as you put it.

I'm sure veterans who love this country enough to put their lives on the line for it would want wasteful spending cut as well. Again ninety percent of these veterans already have other coverage and the ten percent that don't will get coverage through other means. No veteran will lose coverage.

If you want to make this an "I hate veterans" meme you are sorely mistaken. My Father served in WW2 and assorted uncles, aunts, cousins, brothers, and sisters served in the military. It ain't about that. It's about wasting money that is not needed. It's a shuffling of numbers because those veterans will use medicare/medicaid and other entitlements to fund their medical care. The money isn't disappearing, it's just being shuffled around.

I don't think I'm going to defuse your anger, though. Be well.

Go volunteer, meet one of the veterans this will impact, face to face. Tell them. how you give a @!$%#.

Veterans in priority

group 8 do not have service-connected disabilities, and

their annual income or net worth exceeds both VA’s

means-testing thresholds and VA’s geographic income

thresholds, which are updated annually. Veterans enrolled

in priority group 7 have no service-connected disabilities,

and their income is above the VA’s means-testing threshold

but below the VA’s geographic index. About 2.3 million

veterans who are currently enrolled in the VA health

care system have been assigned to priority groups 7 and 8;

not all of those veterans seek medical care from VA in any

given year.

Those you would have me volunteer with are not in groups seven or eight.

I get it. You hate republicans. I get it. But this is not the hill you want to die on. Find a relevant republican travesty and get onboard the hate republican bandwagon for that one. This is a non-starter.

Those you would have me volunteer with are not in groups seven or eight.

Wrong again!

Oh, but there are many that receive care at the VA in my area that have 0% rated disabilities when they separated from service.

One guy I know from there has incredible back pain that has never been rated as a problem by the VA. Others in the same boat have PTSD that was never diagnosed.

So really, go tell these guys, thanks for your service, but due to fake assed calls of "waste", you are @!$%# out of luck.

These are real people with real problems, not some inconvenient little waste of a budget item. These are our American Heros the GOP is tossing aside.

Again, heartless GOP bull@!$%#.

They are not unfounded calls of waste. A veteran simply needs to prove that the injury is service connected and they can then be put into higher categories that aren't proposed to be cut.

At any rate, I can see that you are steadfast in your beliefs. Thank you for the debate.

Be well.

A veteran simply needs to prove that the injury is service connected and they can then be put into higher categories that aren't proposed to be cut.

You really do not understand this issue do you? Seriously, go volunteer, meet these people, help them.

Last week in Lusby, Maryland, an inactive U.S. Marine thought to be suffering from PTSD was involved in a police standoff when he threatened suicide and refused to leave his house. This week it was announced that the suicide rate among Army National Guard and Reserve soldiers nearly doubled last year.

.....

Walker herself cares for a disabled veteran -- her son, who served in the Iraq war. In her experience, the first problem is that obtaining veterans disability benefits through the VA can be difficult and time-consuming. VA delays in eligibility determinations can keep vets from getting the help they need early enough to prevent such tragedies.

More alarming is that the 41% jobless rate may be a conservative estimate. That's especially true for veterans who return with two signature disabilities of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq: post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI), which frequently go undiagnosed.

According to statistics compiled in a recent study by Cornell University researchers, nearly 20% of recently returning service members from Iraq and Afghanistan screened positive for depression or PTSD, while some 19% of troops received a probable TBI during deployment. Moreover, about 30% have more than one disability, further complicating veterans' diagnoses and treatment.

Recent estimates report nearly 300,000 veterans currently suffer from PTSD or major depression, and that 320,000 veterans experienced a traumatic brain injury in deployment (RAND, 2007). Only about half of those who meet criteria for PTSD or major depression have sought treatment.

The GOP's plans are heartless, hopeless and will lead to more suffering among our nations hero's.

This is not a debate, this is a big part of my life. I am a better person for having them in my life. To cut funding to people like these folks is NOT a "debate" and helping them is NOT a "waste".

That's what you don't get. Too bad.

Go volunteer.

VA delays in eligibility determinations can keep vets from getting the help they need early enough to prevent such tragedies.

This is a fault of bureaucracy, not a fault of funding.

Done. Sorry.

Done. Sorry.

Paul Ryan is that you?