[Vision2020] Bush's Budget for Vets Draws Fire

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (February 16, 2005) Spokesman Review -

Just another indication of King George's support (or lack thereof) for our
veterans.

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Bush's budget for vets draws fire 
Lawmakers say more money needed for medical care 

E. Katherine Underwood
Staff writer

February 16, 2005

WASHINGTON - Key Northwest lawmakers criticized President Bush's spending
plan for veterans Tuesday, saying it doesn't provide enough money for
medical care and veterans homes. 

The budget would require some veterans to pay an annual fee of $250 for
health care, would raise their co-payments for prescription drugs, and would
cut nearly $300 million in funding for state veterans homes.

Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, said he is concerned about potential cuts in
health care, but would consider a proposal to charge drug co-payments and
health-care fees.

 
Craig, chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, signaled he
might support a $250 annual fee for veterans who are eligible for VA medical
treatment but don't have service-related disabilities and earn $25,000 or
more. Congress has twice rejected that idea. 

"Isn't a $250-a-year fee by far the cheapest access to the finest health
care system in the world?" Craig asked at one point in the hearing.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., along with other Democrats on the committee,
pronounced the proposed fee "dead on arrival" and predicted it would not
pass Congress.

"These veterans have already paid the price" by serving in the military,
Murray said. "We shouldn't be asking them to do it again."

This same group of veterans would also face an increase in drug co-payments
from $7 to $15, a proposal Craig indicated he might also support. The Bush
administration estimates that the co-payment and enrollment fee increase
would generate $424 million in revenue. 

While Craig took a cautious approach to analyzing the $70.8 billion budget
for the Department of Veterans Affairs, Murray pressed newly confirmed VA
Secretary Jim Nicholson to point out deficiencies in the budget.

Nicholson called the proposal "a matrix" with many complexities, but refused
to identify any weaknesses.

"It's a tight budget, and people are going to have to operate that way," he
said. "It is going to be challenging to make that transition, but it is
doable."

One way the budget proposes that the VA save money is to revise the
eligibility requirements for long-term care services at veterans' homes. It
would cut $293 million that now goes to state veterans' homes.

Under the new guidelines, the VA for the first time would have to decide
which disabilities or injuries are eligible for long-term care at VA,
community and state nursing facilities. 

Those injured or disabled while on active duty would not be turned away, nor
would those catastrophically disabled or requiring hospice care.

Tina Basel, a policy adviser at Idaho State Veterans Services, said most of
the veterans who require long-term treatment have disabilities that are
somewhere in between. The VA currently pays states $59.36 a day per patient
for skilled nursing care, she said. Without that payment, millions would be
without care nationwide.

"There is a huge concern at state veterans homes," Basel said. 

Washington received $9.8 million from the U.S. Department of Veterans
Affairs last year to help operate three homes, including the Spokane
Veterans Home. The eligibility requirements could affect thousands of
Washington veterans, including the 122,000 from World War II.

"The initial proposal would make significant changes in eligibility
requirements resulting in a reduction in funding for the care of veterans in
state veterans homes," said John King, director of the Washington State
Department of Veterans Affairs in a statement, adding that he hopes to work
with the federal VA to develop alternative approaches.

The proposed change in long-term treatment is part of the Bush
administration's broader plan to shift care from institutional to
non-institutional settings. One VA official told senators that shift is "the
wave of the future."

Nicholson said the budget would save the VA $590 million by consolidating
its operations and making them more efficient. 

Murray will continue her battle with the administration over veterans
funding today, during a hearing on Bush's proposed $82 billion for the war
in Iraq and Afghanistan. She said in an interview that budget has "not one
dime for veterans" and will offer an amendment seeking $2 billion to cover
veterans' care.

"We have 4,000 National Guard and reserve folks coming home (to Washington
state) in a few short weeks, "Murray said. "At a minimum 20 percent of them
will need post-traumatic stress syndrome help of some kind . We need to make
sure they get the support they need because it will impact them, their
families, their employers and their communities."

As the VA budget stands now, she said, "We don't have the ability to take
care of them."

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Take care, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil
and steady dedication of a lifetime." 
 
--Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.