Kerry: Give vets lifetime coverage

[True_Blue]

If John Kerry has his way, any veteran who served two years on active duty or, if mobilized, even less, would be rewarded with lifetime access to health care from Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

That's the logical consequence of Kerry's call for "full, mandatory funding" of veterans' health care, if the Democratic presidential nominee is elected and Congress accepts his plan to open VA health care to any veteran.

"What's critical is that people who served their country and want to go to a veterans hospital will have the ability to choose to do so," said Kerry, in a phone interview Aug. 18, following his address to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Cincinnati.

The Bush administration opposes mandatory funding of VA health care. It would require Congress to finance VA health care to a level sufficient to cover medical needs of all enrollees, using a per capita cost formula.

More.....
http://www.nj.com/news/times/regional/index.ssf?/base/news-1/109324830853827.xml

[slinkerwink]

1. that's excellent!

[MirrorAshes]

2. Wow. Nice move Kerry!!

Brilliant!

[Occulus]

3. While this is a good move on his part,

I can't help but remember the promises made to those who served in, I think, WWII.

If, however, he develops a plan to fund this, a viable plan, he very well may lock up the veterans' vote. As if he doesn't already have a lot of those....

[MirrorAshes]

4. It also underlines the fact that Bush has been screwing vets

It steers the debate back towards the real point. Hopefully so, anyway...

[Old and In the Way]

5. I think they can find the money in a $400BB/Defense Budget, no?

That should be a cost dialed into any war that an American President commits troops for.

[Occulus]

28. Wouldn't that be nice?

[Feanorcurufinwe]

6. Instead of a back-door draft

it's a back-door expansion of health care, as well as strengthening our military because it could dramatically boost recruitment.

[AP]

7. They also need to fund Vet hospitals. In the rush for privatization,

I get the impression that these public sector hospitals are being strangled very intentionally.

[genius]

8. Will it be retroactive?

[oscar111]

9. funding source no problem

how much is Kerry forcasting as the cost? Regardless, it will be tiny compared to the resources below:
--total wealth of the US is 103 Trillion.
---GDP is ten trillion every year.
---entire fed gov budget is only around 2.4 trillion, so VA needs for this Kerry plan must easily be well under one trillion. Entire US healthcare is 1.6 trillion, for whole population.

source on usa wealth===>

http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/current/accessible/l5.htm

at that link page, the bottom line is total wealth. 103 Trillion. Impressive.

Liabilities, $79 T, about line 20, could be "forgiven", just as world bank forgives debts of poor nations.

PS bush has cut the VA system on a per patient basis. {sure, his funding is up forty percent, but patient load is up sixty percent. Math types , how much of a cut is that per patient?}.

[WhereIsMyFreedom]

34. The math

If funding is up 40% and the number of patients is up 60% then there is a 12.5% cut in funding per patient.

per patient cost c = funding d / # patients p
new per patient cost c' = 1.4*d / 1.6*p = (1.4/1.6)*c = .825*c

[Guaranteed]

10. Fucking brilliant.

This guy is just a genius. It's beautiful.

[oscar111]

12. Put Public Health Service in charge of all US healthcare

next, i would like to see Kerry expand the USPHS to run all of our healthcare. PHS has the needed skills to do it. It simply needs to expand, to give us the universal health care that some other nations have.

We must take greed totally out of the healthcare picture. The field is now overrun with greedheads making the family fortune from gouging the desperate sick. Not a pretty sight.

[Democat]

11. Right wing media is already giving the Swift Boat Vets lifetime coverage!

Too bad they don't give as much coverage to the truth.

[luaneryder]

13. The VA system needs a major overhaul

in the process. I spent an overnight at the Durham VA and it was not fit for animals to inhabit. Dried blood was on the wall, gnats were flying all over the garbage can because the liner had not been changed (I had to put it out in the hall), the bedsheets were full of holes the size of half dollars. I asked for a blanket and was told they didn't have any. Not all VA's are this bad, but how can we subject any person to these conditions? Yes, I made a complaint and was told that if I had specifics to address to write again.

[Karenina]

14. KICK!

:kick:

[TheRovingGourmet]

15. I thought Vets and their families already have something like

this?

[Liberal Veteran]

17. Think again. There is "something" but it falls way short...

...and there is a HUGE waiting list.

[TheRovingGourmet]

18. The husband of one of my employees served twenty years

in the Air Force and I often hear her say that she is going to the base for her medication and other things. Is this some sort of reduced cost deal or part of a health plan? What about for general goods?

[Liberal Veteran]

19. Well, no. There is a different plan for retirees.

Those who just served honorably a term or two (basically, official definition of a veteran is anyone who has served 2 years on Active Duty), leaves with little benefits at all.

Military retirees get pretty much full medical benefits.

[Philostopher]

21. I don't know if it's changed since 1988,

but I'll take 'medical benefits that were provided to honorably discharged non-retiring veterans and their families when they got out in 1988' for $500, Alex.

'What would be none?'

That would be correct.

None.

And the GI Bill sucked back then, too.

V.A. insured loans for housing and starting a small business were about all most vets of the DOD got back in the '80s. This was during the big gung-ho militaristic Reagan era, just to be precise.

Retirees got lifetime VA coverage for themselves, but their families weren't covered. Oh, yeah -- you could continue your life insurance for more money than you had to pay for it when you were active duty, but that's the only benefit I remember following my ex out. And we busted our butts for several years just to get along -- I'm sure if there'd been any additional benefits for a non-retiree, we'd have taken full advantage of them.

This may have changed since, but back then there wasn't anything.

[Liberal Veteran]

23. Yeah, I fell into that same "wonderful" GI BILL of the 80's.

Somedays I wonder how I can keep up with all the benefits lavished on me. (yeah...I am being sarcastic).

[TheRovingGourmet]

26. Thanks all. This is making some sense then. I guess it is

comparable to the plans some large companies offer for retirees but not for shorter term employees. So Kerry is talking about improving things for the shorter term vets and improving things for the retirees?

[TheRovingGourmet]

29. Ooops. I forgot the first sentence, so I partially agree with this.

[JohnKleeb]

16. Thats awesome

I think that his committment to veterans will be one of the things that will have him remembered as a great president. So damn simple and he is right on, he's very smart to focus on vets issues because we all know at least one veteran, my grandfather is one, etc. Keep it comin Kerry.

[aquart]

20. We DON'T have that? Outrageous.

We ask them to risk their lives, minds, and body parts, and we don't think that might affect their future health?

Damn straight we owe them lifetime medical care.

[bearfan454]

24. No, we don't aquart

I luckily got in because of a law the Big Dog signed in 1996. Since then bush has not only cut funding to the VA, but also they are not accepting any new enrolees.

[aquart]

32. "New enrollees" would mean the people being maimed right now?

In Iraq?

[lebkuchen]

22. This was in Stars and Stripes a couple of days ago

Stripes seems to be more than ready to get rid of Bush. I know that generals in the Pentagon are.

[SoCalDem]

25. I partially agree..

I cannot completely agree though.. An 18 yr old who serves 2 years, and sees no combat or dangerous duty, should not NEED "lifetime coverage".....But anyone who sees actual combat or is wounded while serving in any capacity , should receive it..

The obvious solution is National Healthcare for EVERYONE, and it would not even matter then..

[TX-RAT]

27. Much better idea, thank you.

National Healthcare for EVERYONE

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

30. We have something like that in Canada.

Unfortunately, like everything else here, the feds don't put nearly enough money into it. Unless you can afford good private insurance, the only improvement is you get to bleed to death in the waiting room instead of in the alley.

[oscar111]

31. National Health for all : and socaldem, answer to that

Hi,
Socaldem, i think ANY vet deserves VA healthcare. They all lost time they could have been advancing a career or college. PS i REALLY liked some of your other posts in other threads.. keep on posting!

NATIONAL HEALTHCARE: for details on that, and how to fund it, see my two posts about midway up this list of replies.

Amazing how bush clobbers vets and so little of it is in the media.
"where is the outrage?" as bob dole said in general....not that i think much of that #$#%#!!.

[krkaufman]

33. Yep.

And then, as well, one "good citizen" corporation wouldn't be at a competitive disadvantage to companies shirking their civic responsibilities.