MaxedOutMama
Monday, March 16, 2009
Congress Alert - VA
You might find yourself in some serious hot water (hellfire!) if you don't bother to contact your Congressional representatives and senators over this proposal to yank VA benefits for service-related injuries. The proposal is to make any private insurance first payer for such medical care. The vet would still receive care at the VA, but the VA would bill the vet's private insurance company (if any).
The result:
We just extended SCHIP coverage to families with median incomes, and in many cases, adults who were covered under SCHIP as children will be able to continue to get subsidized health care as adults. If it comes down to budget, the veteran gets first claim.
It looks like Congress was not too receptive to the idea, but there is a lot of activity at the moment, and this issue should be kept extremely visible to senators and representatives. If costs must be cut, the Priority B group can be cut down. The one thing we must not do is toss injured vets to the vagaries of the private health insurance system. The proposal is odd - on the one hand, they want to grant more benefits to more vets. On the other hand, they expect private insurance companies to cover a significant chunk of the cost.
This link will allow to find and contact your representatives and senators. It's not a partisan issue - it's one of basic fairness. Any person with a significant medical problem who has ever tried to get individual or small group insurance coverage will realize what a nightmare this could be.
The result:
- Some veterans will be priced out of medical insurance,
- Some veterans won't get jobs (small businesses can't afford high health premiums, so they won't hire vets),
- Some small group and perhaps family policies may reach caps over the veteran's treatment costs and then the rest of the group won't have coverage.
We just extended SCHIP coverage to families with median incomes, and in many cases, adults who were covered under SCHIP as children will be able to continue to get subsidized health care as adults. If it comes down to budget, the veteran gets first claim.
It looks like Congress was not too receptive to the idea, but there is a lot of activity at the moment, and this issue should be kept extremely visible to senators and representatives. If costs must be cut, the Priority B group can be cut down. The one thing we must not do is toss injured vets to the vagaries of the private health insurance system. The proposal is odd - on the one hand, they want to grant more benefits to more vets. On the other hand, they expect private insurance companies to cover a significant chunk of the cost.
This link will allow to find and contact your representatives and senators. It's not a partisan issue - it's one of basic fairness. Any person with a significant medical problem who has ever tried to get individual or small group insurance coverage will realize what a nightmare this could be.
