Thursday, March 12, 2009

Proposal to Have Soldiers Pay for Service-Related Injuries with Their Own Private Insurance

I'm not much for government spending, but asking soldiers to pay with private insurance for their service related injuries would be about the last thing I would do.

But, according to CNN:

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki confirmed...that the Obama administration is considering a controversial plan to make veterans pay for treatment of service-related injuries with private insurance.

No official proposal to create such a program has been announced publicly, but veterans groups wrote a pre-emptive letter last week to President Obama voicing their opposition to the idea after hearing the plan was under consideration.

Apparently, the plan has been worked into the budget. There is an increase in "third-party collections" estimated in the 2010 budget proposal, under veterans care. Veterans group say this couldn't be achieved unless Veterans Administration started billing for service-related injuries.

Asked about the proposal, Shinseki said it was under "consideration."

"A final decision hasn't been made yet," he said.

Bernie Madoff has a better chance of raising a billion from his jail cell for a get rich scheme than this proposal does of getting anywhere, but who the hell is this Obama guy?

27 comments:

  1. How many times do we have to express how it - this is an outrage! This admin is throwing everything at us so fast & furious we don't know which end is up. Don't think that's not part of their well oiled machine. It is getting more difficult evryday to try to keep on top of the latest outrage but we must not give up - especially for our soldiers & vets! Get in the game to win back the America we all know and love!

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  2. General Eric Shasheki is a kiss-up! I've seen pitures of him pinning medals on his wounded soldiers. I have even seen him in a self-portrait on the net. This man has no shame. NO SHAME!
    It is okay for the Gov't to spend billions of dollars on: a dog park in San Francisco, a Frez-bee golf course in Texas, on honey-bee research and why pig farms stinck.
    I know why pig farms stinck, it is because that is where the general got this crazy plan.
    I AM MAD AS HELL, AND I AM NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!
    I demand that the general resign immediately!

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  3. Look at the bright side: this should discourage people from signing up for military service. My sympathy with volunteer soldiers is very limited. Yes, it may have been the easiest way for them to make a living - but soldiering is and remains an immoral occupation.

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  4. The finance candidate delivering for those who got him elected. He is delivering has much to the insurance industry as possible. Here in this scheme just as in his "solution" to lack of health care - more insurance payouts.

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  5. Maybe the morons should read a private health insurance contract which in plain English EXCLUDES any injury, sickness or health issue directly or indirectly related to any act of war either declared or undeclared. All military service related injury and/or sickness is also EXCLUDED.

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  6. This is not a good idea. Now soldiers will concentrate more on not getting hurt and not getting injured than accomplishing the mission, and justifiably so. But what will that mean to the guys overseas? If you are shot by an insurgent or hit by an IED, better make sure your insurance is paid up? That's an insult to anyone facing hostile fire, I would think. I think it would be a better idea to persuade the bailed-out banks and the oil companies to provide insurance for these guys. After all, it is their profits that our troops are fighting for!

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  7. In regards to James Rothfeld comment, you enjoy your freedom in this country due to this veterans who volunteer their lives. Maybe you should live in a different country since you have no patriotism.
    Veterans take care of everyone in this country and the very least we can do is take care of them when they are injured.

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  8. Hon. Stephen Smith
    Minister for Foreign Affairs
    Canberra, ACT, Australia

    Dear Minister

    This is, to say the least, disgusting.
    http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2009/03/proposal-to-have-soldiers-pay-for-war.html

    How can we, as a nation, support such a corrupt regime? As a veteran, I urge you on behalf of all veterans, both here and in the US, to use what influence you have with the US Government to try and have this proposal stopped. It is bad enough that families of soldiers fighting in the US military are close to the poverty line, (http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Politics/story?id=7067528&page=1), but veterans having to pay for their own medical care from war caused injuries is too much. It’s just another chance for “corporate America” to make a bundle and screw its servicemen and women at the same time. God bless free enterprise!

    It also reeks of the same potential corruption as the Pennsylvania Private Prison scandal! (http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22189.htm)

    Thank you Sir, for considering my submission. I look forward to hearing from you in due course.

    Brad Golding
    PO Box 6061
    Kincumber
    NSW 2251

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  9. There is absolutely no credible source for this story. It is a rumor designed to spark outrage and detract from the serious issues the country is facing. I suspect that it was also designed to create hostility for the Obama administration. Please read and think before responding to inflammatory stories! Who wrote the story and why. What is the agenda. Is there any basis in truth? Please remember that the major news media are controlled by special interest groups who created the economic situation we now face.

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  10. How can you possibly say there is no credible source when the CNN is referenced with a quote from Shinseki and a reference in the budget? Are you saying CNN made up a quote from Shinseki and reported something as fact from the budget that isn't there? Duh, I don't think so.

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  11. The VA has been charging Medicare and private insurance for many years now. Check this out with Blue Cross/Blue Shield and medicare.

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  12. To the anonymous character who thinks I should be grateful to soldiers who protect my freedom: soldiers are trained killers whose only purpose is to defend the interests of the state. There is no need for soldiers to defend my freedom - provided I have the freedom to own weapons in any shape or form, and the freedom to cooperate with others to beat back any attack on my life and property.

    Of course, the most likely people to threaten my life and property on a regular basis are - state officials in various shape and form, ultimately backed-up by the soldiers you think you owe your freedom to.

    I owe nothing to soldiers of any country. I preferred a world without soldiers, and I would fully support my own country to make the first step and disband its army (provided citizens are in turn allowed to raise volunteer militias).

    The "thank a soldier" meme is just another form of state-worship, right after "taxes are the prize we pay for civilization"....

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  13. Oh, and yes - I have no patriotism. I take that as a point of pride.

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  14. Wow, James Rothfeld...You seem like your a miserabe man. Yes, you have every right to your opinion, thanks to the freedoms we have like" free speech" the freedom your exercising was fought by our military and is protected by our military. A militia type as yourself in a
    3rd world country,with opposing views are usually killed.
    You are lucky you can have such an opposing opinion and speak freely about it,thanks to our men and women in our military who fight to have these freedoms.

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  15. Rothfeld,
    What you described as your preference is exactly the situation in places like Sudan, and Iraq a while ago.
    When you have no strong military presence then many factions rise up to try and grab power and the bloodletting begins. Brilliant idea. If that is what you want move to Sudan.

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  16. Rothfeld-

    Do you live on a compound?

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  17. This has nothing to do with helping insurance companies. Indeed, it's quite the opposite. It's part of Obama's plan to raise taxes and spending without having to include the costs in his budget. And it adds to the cost of private health insurance plans, thus making his socialized and politicized medicine scheme seem better to the weak minded. That is its real purpose.

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  18. What Vet in their right mind would be treated at a VA hospital if he could afford to go elsewhere with insurance? These wounds are inflicted while in service to our country. It's ludacris to want to save 500 million by spitting on wounded vets and then send billions to the Gaza strip to rebuild it. There is your savings Mr B. Hussein. Don't send billions to Gaza. Leave the Vets alone.
    This will close the VA hospitals. Why should I go there and be treated like so much cattle, and then be further insulted by having to pay for it.

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  19. Just another back door attempt to move to government health care by trying to bankrupt the private system. Obama is a communist not a socialist, if you speak against him he will have you disgraced, or killed. He is our president but he wants to be our dictator. As I am not gay I do not want anyone shoving their dick up where it doesn't belong.

    With every stroke of his pen, and the ideas of Nancy, and Harry we move closer to the call for arms.

    As for the current economic situation of the country it is an attack by China.

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  20. Hey Rothfield,

    So, soldiers are an immoral occupation eh?

    Tell ya what, when the NAZIS invade your part of the country, do not call the military.

    Call a hooker!

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  21. If we didn't have soldiers, how would we kill people we don't like? As Americans, it is our right to kill foreigners who piss us off.

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  22. I can tolerate all the stuff about spending, big government,etc. The left has been given the keys to the candy store. But this is, quite simply' immoral.

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  23. I assume I'm not the first to wonder about a plan to give Universal Health Care, except to people who've EARNED it.

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  24. This article is balderdash.

    I’ve been hearing about this problem on NPR, the news, and elsewhere for years. Here’s a 2008 article on it. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14928333/ and this 2004 online article:

    "Bush to Veterans: Pay More, Wait Longer, Receive Less Health Care (flag)
    March 1, 2004 President Bush has not submitted an adequate budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs since he took office. Year after year, he has offered budgets that have sought to make veterans pay more and more out of their own pockets for health care. Not only has the Bush ..."(http://democrats.senate.gov/dpc/dpc-new.cfm?doc_name=sr-108-2-56)

    FACT: The Bush administration didn’t budget enough to care for Iraq war injured vets and the poor vets were having to pay for their own medical care. Options to deal with this are being looked at by the Obama administration. Among the many choices is one to have vets pay for their care through private insurance. Not a good idea in anyone’s view, but it’s **one of** the options since it’s how Bush handled it.

    Folks, get a grip.

    If something sounds ridiculous, preposterous, and absurd, it probably is. Obama is no fool and is very pro military. I suspect this is a conservative effort to raise a stink over nothing.

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  25. James Rothfeld....

    Even GOD has ARMIES!! LOL wow! Even God is laughing at you!

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  26. I can't believe someone on this blogg actually said that "soldiering is and remains an immoral occupation." All I have to say to that person is--soldiering sure has kept your sorry ass free. Your sensibilities may be affronted by all that fighting, but you sure have reaped the benifits. "Look on the bright side," you say! You better hope this insurance thing doesn't discourage people from signing up for the military, unless you like your women in berkas and decapitation as a popular form of punishment and/or entertainment. Maybe you should try to find that utopian society that never has to fight for its freedoms and go live there. Yeah, right, more likely you and people like you will try to turn this country into a place where we all lay down our arms and let truely immoral people walk all over us. I wish there was a place to which all blearry eyed liberal could be sent. I'd like to see how long they would last without someone to do their fighting. Maybe they haven't heard, but freedom is not and never has been free.

    Oh, and just a word to the guy who thinks he can hold back the barbarian hoard all by himself. Delusional comes to mind. I too believe we have the right to bear arms, but when it comes to tanks, aircraft, war heads and invading armies, I'll go with an American standing army instead of a few brave citizens with pistols any day, but that is just me, I could be wrong.

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  27. As a Vietnam Combat Veteran, I don't think anyone in this administration has ever worn a uniform or fought for this Country. They talk about freedom--they don't have a clue how much freedom really cost. I'm a Purple Heart recipient and proud to have served----they should hang their heads down in shame for suggesting such an outrageous concept!

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