VFW Action Corps Legislative Alert:Veterans Health Care And Benefits: Brink of Disaster

VFW Action Corps Legislative Alert:Veterans Health Care And Benefits: Brink of Disaster

President Bush recently released his VA budget request for next year. The proposal is completely unacceptable. It provides just four-tenths of one percent increase in veterans health care funding at a time when thousands of young men and women are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. VFW recommends $3.5 billion increase above the President's budget request for veterans health care.

Further, it would require hundreds of thousands of veterans to pay a yearly $250 enrollment fee just for the right to continue to go to the VA hospital. Those same veterans would see the co-payments more-than-double from $7 to $15 for each prescription they receive.

If this budget is passed:

220,000 veterans would stop receiving treatment for their injuries and disabilities at VA hospitals. 28,000 fewer veterans would receive long-term care, such as in nursing homes, and it eliminates funding for construction of care facilities throughout the country. Waiting times for health care would skyrocket because VA would not have enough funding to provide care. Funding for prosthetic research would be slashed by $9 million, despite the many wounded soldiers returning from overseas. Over 3,000 health care workers would be eliminated. 700 veterans benefits staff positions would be cut. Hundreds of thousands of veterans would have to pay hundreds of extra dollars out of their own pocket because of increased co-payments and the enrollment fee. The tiny four-tenths of a percent increase in medical care would be less than the required increase in salaries for VA employees. VA would be forced to collect more money from veterans and from their insurance companies to make up for the funding shortfall. Proposed VFW-supported increases in the death benefits for surviving family members of servicemembers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are not funded. WHAT CAN YOU DO TO FIGHT THIS BATTLE? Contact your Representative and two Senators to express your outrage with the President's budget for veterans health care. Let them know the devastating effect it would have on veterans seeking their earned health care and that all veterans expect them to fully fund the VA health care system, by providing $3.4 billion more than the president requested, as called for by the VFW and the Independent Budget. We have a short time until Congress sets the budget. To get them to increase veterans health care funding, you must call their local district offices soon. (Phone numbers should be available in your local phone book.) Next week Congress is on recess, it would be a great time to schedule an appointment or visit their local office. They really care about what the people back home think. With your efforts at home, together, we can make a huge difference in the lives of thousands of veterans and returning servicemembers. For your legislator's contact information, check your local phone book or click here. For background information on the budget, click here to read veterans' groups remarks. Click here to read VFW press release. Click to read the Independent Budget, the VFW's version of what the VA health care budget should be.