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Obama backs down on vets insurance billing
Okay. Let's see how much coverage this gets...The Obama administration waved a white flag of surrender Wednesday, dropping a budget proposal that would have billed private insurance companies for treatment of service-connected medical problems at Veterans Affairs Department hospitals and clinics. It was total capitulation, one participant said at a meeting Wednesday with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in which 11 veterans groups vowed they would fight to the end to kill the proposal. AmVets Executive Director Jim King said he was glad the White House promised to kill the idea, which was distracting from the good news of the Obama administrations proposed $4.9 billion increase in the VA budget, and which would have hurt disabled veterans, their families and maybe even employees at the same companies. Billing private insurance to pay for veterans health care would make disabled veterans less desirable employees for companies worried about holding down health care costs, and could have led to veterans and their families paying higher premiums even raising premiums for everyone working for the same company, King said. Veterans groups met Monday with President Barack Obama to discuss the controversial proposal, but Obama promised only to look at the issue. On Wednesday, Emanuel said he was wrong in his earlier support of the proposal, King said. The 11 groups spoke with one voice, and he accepted that. The announcement of the reversal came from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., not from the White House. I feel something good happened for veterans, King said, adding that the White House deserved criticism for proposing the idea in the first place but also credit for quickly dropping it. Disabled American Veterans also commended the reversal. The president was very open and candid when he met with veterans groups earlier this week, and we are pleased that he has heard our concerns and taken them to heart, said David Gorman, executive director of DAVs Washington office. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs confirmed the White House had changed its position. In considering the third party billing issue, the administration was seeking to maximize the resources available for veterans, Gibbs said in a statement. However, the president listened to concerns raised by the VSOs that this might, under certain circumstances, affect veterans and their families ability to access health care and agreed with them. The president has instructed that its consideration be dropped. In an effort that could be viewed as making up for some of the political damage caused by the controversy, Gibbs said that President Barack Obama wants to continue a constructive partnership with military and veterans groups and is grateful to the groups that worked with him on the proposal, even in opposition. The White House is not talking about reversing current policy, which does bill the private insurers of some veterans for treatment not directly related to a service-connected injury, illness or disease. If anything, billing for nonservice-connected care could become even more aggressive in an effort to generate money for health care, which is what Emanuel told veterans groups was the whole reason for even considering expanding insurance billing. The White House idea was not getting support in Congress. On Wednesday morning, before the change was announced, Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., the House Veterans Affairs Committee chairman, issued a statement saying he would not even consider such legislation. The Obama administrations proposal to charge third-party insurance companies for service-connected medical treatment will not be taken up by the Veterans Affairs Committee, Filner said. Our budget cannot be balanced on the backs, or legs, or kidneys or hearts of our nations combat-wounded heroes, he said. The proposal gave Republicans an opening to question whether the Obama administration really wants to help veterans. Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Texas, a decorated Air Force veteran and former prisoner of war in Vietnam, called the insurance billing idea sad and shameful. As a combat-wounded fighter pilot who served in two wars, I find the White House idea of charging wounded war heroes for care absurd, abhorrent and unconscionable, he said in a speech on the House floor. Posted by: tu3031 2009-03-19 |
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