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

Mon Jan 2 10:49:51 PST 2012

Because the Congressional "super-committee" couldn't agree on budget 
cuts and we've since defaulted to across-the-board cuts.  That was all 
part of the deal that was passed when we were trying to shave the 
smallest amounts off a small piece of the debt during the whole "debt 
ceiling" fiasco.

We did this to ourselves by electing such a contentious Congress.

Paul

On 01/02/2012 10:09 AM, Joe Campbell wrote:
> 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 
> <mailto: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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