Health care reform may hurt vets, groups warn - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Health care reform may hurt vets, groups warn

Six major veterans groups have warned House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., that they will oppose a national health care reform bill unless major changes are made to protect veterans and their families.

In a July 30 letter, the groups said that HR 3200, the America’s Affordable Health Care Choices Act of 2009, could increase veterans’ health care costs, limit their treatment options, deny coverage to their families and “threaten the quality of health care offered to veterans through the VA health care system.”

A spokesman for Pelosi’s office did not comment on the specifics but said nobody was trying to hurt veterans. The Democrat-controlled Congress “is committed to our nation’s veterans,” said Nadeam Elshami. “We will continue to work with all stakeholders as the legislation moves forward.”

The concerns are not new. Democratic and Republican lawmakers have expressed concern about the health reform bill’s possible unintended consequences for active, reserve and retired military members, as well as veterans and their families.

They worry that military and veterans’ health benefits could be taxed as employer-provided benefits, and that the types of treatment covered might be subject to oversight by a government board that has no experience with military or veterans’ health care.

At a minimum, they have called for military and veterans benefits to be specifically exempt from some parts of health reform, while making sure families — especially the families of disabled veterans — are not excluded from health coverage or forced to pay a higher rate for coverage as a result of a being enrolled in VA’s health system.

Representatives of AmVets, Blinded Veterans of America, Disabled American Veterans, Jewish War Veterans, The Military Order of the Purple Heart and Vietnam Veterans of America — organizations that have worked together on veterans budget and health care issues in the past — signed the letter to Pelosi that expresses “grave concerns” about how veterans might fare under HR 3200.

“By virtue of their service and sacrifices, veterans have earned special benefits that are separate [from] and in addition to benefits the government provides to other citizens,” the letter says. “Enrollment in VA health care, especially in the case of service-connected disabled veterans, should never become a bar or obstacle to the receipt of benefits that non-veteran citizens receive in this or any other bill.”

The veterans groups want to ensure that any national health reform allows veterans and their families to enroll in any public or cooperative health insurance program or other benefits plan, just like other Americans.