[Vision2020] Budget cuts could slash $1B from vets health care

[Joe Campbell]

Why do we have to cut back on programs? We were fine with the programs. It was the wars that got us in debt, right? 



On Jan 2, 2012, at 9:50 AM, Paul Rumelhart <godshatter at yahoo.com> wrote:

> 
> Well, that's the problem with across-the-board budget cuts, isn't it?  Nobody is going to be pleased.
> 
> We have to cut budgets, and since nobody in Congress can agree on which way is up, this is our only real solution.
> 
> We have to cut back on how much we spend, since our spending is out of control.  It's ridiculous.
> 
> Paul
> 
> On 01/02/2012 09:31 AM, Tom Hansen wrote:
>> 
>> Nice, huh?
>> 
>> Courtesy of the January 9, 2012 edition of the Army Times.
>> 
>> ------------------------------
>> 
>> Budget cuts could slash $1B from vets             health care 
>> Lawmakers may reverse on promises not to cut VA
>> By Rick Maze
>> 
>> As veterans groups face the pos sible automatic, across-the-board cuts in federal spending that could begin in 2013, fear of the unknown is strong.
>> 
>> The Budget Control Act of 2011 is “imprecise,” says a House staff member who has been trying to advise lawmakers on how the Vet erans Affairs Department would fare if $1.2 trillion in automatic budget cuts are ordered Jan. 2, 2013.
>> 
>> Veterans disability, survivor, education and training benefits, and low-income pensions are exempt from the automatic cuts, a process known as sequestra tion. But it is unclear whether veterans health care funds are protected.
>> 
>> A 2 percent cut in veterans health care funding appears possi ble under some readings of the law — and its references back to the 1985 Balanced Budget and Emer gency Deficit Control Act, more commonly known as the Gramm-Rudman Act.
>> 
>> “We have not heard any specifics, only vague references that earlier pledges not to cut VA health care or benefits may not be honored by Congress,” said David Autry of Disabled American Veter ans. “That is worrisome.” With a health care budget of about $51 billion to serve 6.2 mil­lion patients, a sequester could result in a $1 billion cut at a time when the population of Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans seeking treatment for the physical and mental wounds of war is on the rise. 
>> 
>> Some patients, particularly veterans who do not have serviceconnected disabilities, could be turned away, say representatives of veterans groups who have studied the potential impact. 
>> 
>> Fear of devastating cuts from sequestration is partly why leaders of the House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs committees were willing in October to propose cuts in veterans benefits. 
>> 
>> A joint letter signed by Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Reps. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., and Bob Filner, D-Calif., the leaders of the committees, acknowledged that a “plausible legal interpretation” of the budget law puts veterans medical funds at risk for cuts. 
>> 
>> “We would rather make the difficult decisions now so that we may never reach that possibility down the road,” the four lawmakers said in a letter to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction that tried but failed to come up with an overall $1.2 trillion deficit reduction package that would have avoided sequestration. 
>> 
>> The four were so concerned about harm to the VA health care budget that they were willing to take some controversial actions, including capping annual increases in GI Bill benefits at a level below increases in tuition. 
>> 
>> Miller, the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee chairman, said any automatic cuts “would have a negative impact on VA’s health care system and its ability to properly care for our veterans.” He expressed frustration that the White House and VA have not clarified the situation. “I have raised this concern numerous times in the past few months, but I am still waiting to hear,” he said. “It is now incumbent on the administration to clarify this issue immediately for veterans           once and for all.” Ryan Gallucci of Veterans of Foreign Wars said there is still time to fight to protect veterans programs. “Since no one seems to know for sure, we have a year to make our case to preserve our earned veterans benefits,” said Gallucci, VFW’s deputy national legislative director. 
>> 
>> “It’s important for our members to call and write Congress to explain why these programs are important and why our veterans need them to remain intact.” In a Nov. 22 statement to its members, the VFW warns that sequestration could lead to increases in co-payments for medical visits and prescription drugs for veterans, and an increase in the enrollment fee for veterans who sign up for VA treatment but do not have service-connected health issues. 
>> 
>> Signed by Robert Wallace, executive director of VFW’s Washington office, the statement encourages members to contact lawmakers to press for a full VA exemption to sequestration. 
>> 
>> “Over the next year, many in Congress as well as thousands of registered lobbyists will be working hard to protect their special interests and programs,” the VFW statement says. 
>> 
>> “We must all work hard to protect the Department of Veterans Affairs health, benefits and cemetery administrations, as well as all military quality of life programs for the troops, their families and military retirees.” 
>> 
>> ------------------------------
>> 
>> Seeya later, Moscow.
>> 
>> Tom Hansen
>> Spokane, Washington
>> 
>> "If not us, who?
>> If not now, when?"
>> 
>> - Unknown
>> 
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