Research - Rehabilitation - Re-Employment

Sgt. Shaft 08/12/2002

Dear Sgt. Shaft: 
Legislation recently introduced in the House of Representatives by House Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Christopher Smith (R-N.J.) is a bold step toward providing dependable, stable, and sustained funding for veterans health care. The Veterans Health Care Funding Guarantee Act of 2002 (H.R. 5250) calls for a fundamental change in the way government funding is provided for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical care system. 

Shifting VA health care from a discretionary to a mandatory funding program would guarantee adequate annual budgets to meet the health care needs of America's sick and disabled veterans, a move supported by all the major veterans organizations.

Many of America's sick and disabled veterans can't get the medical care they need because for decades policy makers and politicians in Washington have short-changed the veterans health care system budget.

According to recent VA estimates, more than 300,000 sick and disabled veterans are either waiting for their first VA appointments or have been waiting for longer than six months for care.

In introducing H.R. 5250 Chairman Smith and co-sponsor ranking Democrat Lane Evans (D-Ill.) have taken a bold step toward eliminating the year-to-year uncertainty about funding levels that has prevented the VA from being able to adequately plan for and meet the constantly growing needs of veterans seeking treatment.

Members of Congress are being asked to sign a pledge to actively support and work for the prompt passage of guaranteed mandatory health care funding for our nation's sick and disabled veterans. As Chairman Smith said, America's sick and disabled veterans deserve no less from a grateful nation.

Sincerely, 
GEORGE H. STEESE, JR. 
National Commander 
Disabled American Veterans 

Dear Commander,
Two years ago, the Congress passed TRICARE for Life, a new program to guarantee lifelong health care for military retirees and their families. This legislation assured hundreds of thousands of military families free health care services sponsored entirely by the government. H.R. 5250 would extend the same kind of guarantee to the remainder of America's veterans, to assure their continued access to the VA health care system. 

It would establish a formula to fund the VA health care account directly from the U.S. Treasury with a method similar to that used by Congress to provide funding for TRICARE for Life. Veterans' disability compensation payments are already funded through mandatory formulas, and this legislation would apply the same priority to meeting the health care needs of our veterans.

This bill would establish a base-funding year, calculate the average cost for a veteran using VA health care, and then index the cost for inflation. Multiplying this average cost by the number of veterans who are enrolled each year on July 1st, would determine the funding allotment for the Veterans Health Administration for the next fiscal year.

It should be noted that H.R. 5250 would neither take away the Secretary's power to manage the VA health care system nor to curtail the Secretary's control of enrollments in VA. And unlike TRICARE for Life, it would not extend benefits to family members of veterans. 

We have a sacred obligation to ensure that our nation's veterans receive the honors and benefits that they have earned through their service to this nation In the past decade, more and more veterans have turned to the Department of Veterans Affairs for medical services particularly World War II and Korean War veterans. The demand for services, however, continues to outpace the supply of federal funding of VA health care. In the supplemental appropriations bill recently passed in Congress, included $417 million for additional health care funding to try to meet the current year's shortfall, and that was based upon the older workload estimates.

It is becoming increasingly clear that Congress needs to look at new methods and sources for veterans' health care funding, and to seek additional ways to match resources to the growing demand such as the amendment that was attached to the Department of Defense authorization bill that seeks to increase health care resources sharing between the DoD and VA health care systems. Hopefully we will see final passage this year. VA continues to struggle each year to provide all the funds needed for the tasks it faces in caring for millions of frail, elderly veterans.

I urge all members of Congress to sign the pledge and actively support this vital piece of legislation, which will guarantee adequate health care funding for our nation’s veterans. We should not let down the needs of the heroes who won the Battle of the Bulge, endured as prisoners of war in Bataan and Corregidor and survived human-wave assaults in the frozen Chosin Reservoir. Let us also not forget those who are courageously fighting the current war on terrorism.

SHAFT KUDOS
The Sarge is looking forward to joining other members at the National Press Club Luncheon featuring the Honorable Leslie Lenkowsky, CEO, Corporation for National Community Service.

Dr Lenkowsky, who will speak on protecting the homeland and what volunteers can do, was appointed by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the Senate in October 2001. The Corporation, created in 1993, engages more than a million Americans of all ages in improving local communities through three initiatives: AmeriCorps, Learn and Serve America, and the National Senior Service Corps. 

Dr Lenkowsky will also highlight President Bush's new initiative, the USA Freedom Corps. The Corps will be responsible for the emergency mobilization of retired health care professionals and the recruitment of volunteers to help police, fire, utility and transportation personnel.

For information and reservation for the luncheon, which will be held at 12:30 p.m. on August 27, contact Pat Nelson at (202) 662-7539 or e-mail: pnelson@press.org. Lunch prices are as follows: members, $15; students with ID $16; guests of a member or the speaker $28.00; and general public, $35.

Send letters to Sgt. Shaft, c/o John Fales, P.O. Box 65900, Washington, D.C. 20035-5900; fax to 301-622-3330; call 202-462-4430 or email sgtshaft@bavf.org.

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