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hennybogan1953 06-Sep-12, 16:28 |
 THE PRETENDER--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Obama Pushing ObamaCare on Troops, Forcing Them to Pay at Least Triple for Care Katie Pavlich News Editor, Townhall Feb 28, 2012 07:55 AM EST President Obama has already gutted the Army in favor of out of control entitlement programs and now, he's going after military medical benefits in order to get more people on his ObamaCare rolls. In Obama's latest budget, military families will be forced to pay substantially more for medical care through the military while civilian defense union workers will continue receiving the same benefits. The Obama administration’s proposed defense budget calls for military families and retirees to pay sharply more for their healthcare, while leaving unionized civilian defense workers’ benefits untouched. The proposal is causing a major rift within the Pentagon, according to U.S. officials. Several congressional aides suggested the move is designed to increase the enrollment in Obamacare’s state-run insurance exchanges. The disparity in treatment between civilian and uniformed personnel is causing a backlash within the military that could undermine recruitment and retention. The proposed increases in health care payments by service members, which must be approved by Congress, are part of the Pentagon’s $487 billion cut in spending. It seeks to save $1.8 billion from the Tricare medical system in the fiscal 2013 budget, and $12.9 billion by 2017. It seems as if Obama is trying to make joining the military so unenjoyable in order to decrease sign up numbers. First, he reduces their force to a level his own defense secretary says is ridiculous and dangerous, which means military members are spread even thinner for deployments and other duties. Second, his budget would force military members to pay more for medical benefits than their civilian counterparts. Why be a soldier when you can be a defense worker? The administration is also pushing for more expensive Tricare payments for military members in order to force them onto ObamaCare, just like they are doing with private insurance plans. It's all part of the move toward single payer healthcare. Administration officials told Congress that one goal of the increased fees is to force military retirees to reduce their involvement in Tricare and eventually opt out of the program in favor of alternatives established by the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. And just how much more will military have to pay? Significantly, the plan calls for increases between 30 percent to 78 percent in Tricare annual premiums for the first year. After that, the plan will impose five-year increases ranging from 94 percent to 345 percent—more than 3 times current levels. According to congressional assessments, a retired Army colonel with a family currently paying $460 a year for health care will pay $2,048. The military disapproves of the push: Military personnel from several of the armed services voiced their opposition to a means-tested tier system for Tricare, prompting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey to issue a statement Feb. 21. Dempsey said the military is making tough choices in cutting defense spending. In addition to the $487 billion over 10 years, the Pentagon is facing automatic cuts that could push the total reductions to $1 trillion. “I want those of you who serve and who have served to know that we’ve heard your concerns, in particular your concern about the tiered enrollment fee structure for Tricare in retirement,” Dempsey said. “You have our commitment that we will continue to review our health care system to make it as responsive, as affordable, and as equitable as possible.” |
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hennybogan1953 06-Sep-12, 16:46 |
You won't hear them talk about this! No wonder military folks are right wing and listen to Rushbo and Fox News. __________________________________________________________________________ Posted in VETERANSLast updated 08/29/2012 at 4:50 a.m. PDT For disabled veterans awaiting benefits decisions, location matters Veterans in metropolitan areas face longer delays for benefits, Bay Citizen analysis reveals By AARON GLANTZ, SHANE SHIFFLETT on August 29, 2012 - 12:00 a.m. PDT Michael Short/The Bay Citizen Former Marine Adam Fields, 27, of Modesto has been waiting since November 2010 for a ruling on his claim for benefits for traumatic brain injury. Click to compare wait times in the U.S. If you’re a Northern California veteran who has waited a year for a decision on a war-related disability claim, you might consider a move to South Dakota – where the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs typically responds in less than half the time. Returning home from Afghanistan to New York, Los Angeles, Chicago or Atlanta? Veterans who live in Lincoln, Neb., and Fargo, N.D., get their benefits faster. The geographic inequity of VA wait times is fully detailed for the first time in an analysis by The Bay Citizen and its parent organization, the Center for Investigative Reporting. Simply put: Veterans in sparsely populated states often encounter quick resolution of their compensation claims for problems ranging from back injuries to post-traumatic stress disorder while those in metropolitan areas languish. In California, veterans who file claims with any of the VA’s three regional offices – in Oakland, Los Angeles and San Diego – wait more than nine months on average. “It’s a slap in the face,” said Adam Fields, a former Marine from Modesto, who has been waiting since November 2010 for a ruling on his claim for benefits for traumatic brain injury. During his two tours in Iraq, Fields said he survived multiple vehicle rollovers and sustained three concussions, which have contributed to persistent short-term memory loss. Michael Short/The Bay Citizen Fields, who served two tours in Iraq, said he survived multiple vehicle rollovers and sustained three concussions, which have contributed to short-term memory loss. “Sometimes I get in the car, and I forget where I’m going,” said Fields, who supports his wife and 5-year-old son by driving a scrap metal truck in Stockton, two hours from the closest VA hospital. “If the VA approved my claim, I could afford to take time off to get regular treatment,” he said. The Bay Citizen’s city-by-city data populates an online interactive map that will automatically update weekly, documenting in real time the progress of recent VA promises to improve. So far, change has headed in the wrong direction, despite increased media and political scrutiny. Nationwide, the VA took an average of more than eight months to process a claim in June – about 50 percent longer than the year before. Veterans in New York and North Texas waited the longest, at more than a year on average. Those who appeal a denied claim wait 3½ years for an answer. Why the dramatic differences? A VA spokesman did not respond to numerous email and telephone inquiries seeking an explanation. Delays have increased despite a new $300 million computer system and 3,300 claims processors hired since 2010 – 765 of them for additional positions. The department has pledged to eliminate the claims backlog by 2015, but VA data shows the number of veterans waiting for a decision is growing – to more than 907,000 as of July 30, with 832,000 of them waiting for disability or survivor benefits, while thousands more seek a pension or GI Bill education benefits. To date, the computer system has been launched at just four of the VA’s regional offices, none of them in California. The vast majority of claims still are in paper file folders, which must be physically passed from one claims representative to another. “If you have ever walked into one of our regional offices, you would see stacks and stacks of paper,” Allison Hickey, the agency’s undersecretary for benefits, told reporters July 11. By 2015, Hickey said, all 58 offices will be computerized. In the meantime, new claims are arriving more quickly than the backlog is being cleared, so without dramatic improvement, disabled veterans will face even longer wait times in the future. At the current rate, for example, it would take the VA three years to resolve every disability claim pending in San Diego – the office with the worst combination of backlog and clearance rate in June – if not a single additional claim were filed. In July, Los Angeles stepped into that worst overall slot. That scenario won’t occur. In 2011, 1.3 million veterans filed claims for benefits, according to VA data, a combination of troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and aging Vietnam veterans, many with new claims based on illnesses the government now acknowledges stem from Agent Orange exposure. Since 2010, the agency has seen the number of new claims filed annually increase by 48 percent, while the number of claims representatives has increased by 5 percent. Improvements in battlefield medicine mean Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are more likely to survive multiple deployments, the VA said in a statement, and as a result, veterans “are returning with triple the medical issues of previous generations, driving the complexity of these claims and their associated workload to an all-time high.” RELATED InteractiveMore coverage: Disabled veterans stuck in backlog limbo InteractiveMap: Disabled vets stuck in backlog limbo VideoVideo: Veterans’ disability benefits delayed Veterans’ advocates say that makes the growing VA delays even more disturbing. “We’re seeing people break and snap like we’ve never seen before,” said Shad Meshad, a Vietnam veteran and former combat medic who heads up the Los Angeles-based National Veterans Foundation. “When soldiers come home from two, three or four tours with post traumatic stress disorder and hit these kinds of walls, they can get frustrated and just give up,” Meshad said. Last May, a federal appeals court in San Francisco found 18 veterans commit suicide every day. Identifying the root of the delays is complicated by political finger-pointing. Democrats and many veterans’ advocates argue that the VA failed to prepare for an onslaught of wounded veterans after the Bush administration began the war in Iraq in 2003. Republicans counter that the backlog of disability claims has exploded under President Barack Obama and has continued to worsen in recent months, despite additional scrutiny from the media and members of Congress. Some Republicans, including U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa of California, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, recently have seized on the issue, holding hearings and demanding results. In response, VA officials have said they are about to turn things around. “We are already implementing our plan and are getting good early results,” Hickey told a House oversight subcommittee July 18. But on the ground, there is little evidence that those steps are making a difference so far. Average wait times at all four offices equipped with the new computer system have increased. At three of the four offices, the number of pending claims also has grown. In Salt Lake City, which has the new system, the average wait time has increased to 236 days – and nearly 20,000 veterans are waiting. Dottie Guy, a San Francisco veteran, has waited since March 2011 for a decision on her claim related to post-traumatic stress disorder. She says veterans want recognition that they did what they were told and ended up injured. “A lot of this is about respect,” said Dottie Guy, a San Francisco veteran who has waited since March 2011 for a decision on her claim related to PTSD, which began after a tour as a prison guard in Baghdad, and a degenerative ankle injury suffered during basic training. “What we want is recognition that this is something that happened to you,” Guy said. “I wasn’t asked to go to Iraq, I was told. And now I am asking them to acknowledge that what they forced me to do jeopardized my physical health.” In April, The Bay Citizen revealed that 80 percent of veterans served by the VA’s Oakland office were waiting more than 125 days for an answer on benefits. That prompted U.S. Rep. Jerry McNerney, a Democrat from California who sits on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, to write a letter to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki. The letter, signed by 15 colleagues, demanded that Shinseki “send immediate help” to the Oakland office. The agency responded by shuttering the Oakland office for four weeks in June while providing “challenge training” to claims processors. In an email, VA spokesman Josh Taylor said veterans served by the Oakland office – those living between Bakersfield and the Oregon border – “were not adversely impacted by this training effort.” Yet the data tells a different story. Four months after The Bay Citizen’s story and pressure from Congress, 90 percent of claims filed in Oakland have been pending at least four months – the highest proportion in the country. An inspector general’s report released in May also revealed that staff at the VA’s Oakland office failed to process 39 percent of claims correctly and did not inform veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan that they are entitled to free mental health care. One disability claim, the inspector general found, had languished for 8½ years. In separate reports also released in May, the inspector general found the VA made mistakes on 53 percent of claims at the San Diego office and 71 percent of claims at the Los Angeles office. “We voted for these additional resources, we expected to see results; we’re not seeing them,” McNerney said. “I used to take them at their word. I can’t do that anymore.” This story was edited by Amy Pyle and copy edited by Nikki Frick and Christine Lee. |
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hennybogan1953 06-Sep-12, 16:58 |
Tears of a Clown ___________________________________________________________ Obama Campaign Sues in Bid to Suppress Military Vote Friday, 03 Aug 2012 07:51 PM By Todd Beamon In a move that could have an impact on the final result of the presidential election, Barack Obama’s campaign has sued Ohio to block a measure which extends early voting for members of the military. The action brought quick responses from Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and as many as 15 military groups. DeWine told Fox News on Friday that he found the July 17 action by Obama campaign, the Democratic National Committee and the Ohio Democratic Party “quite shocking." The tradition for allowing special circumstances for military personnel in voting dates back to the civil war, he said. Republicans traditionally have had the lock on the military vote, and with Ohio being a key battleground state especially this year — Obama leads GOP challenger Mitt Romney there by only 6 points in the latest Quinnipiac University poll — these military votes could swing the Nov. 6 election to either candidate. And as the Buckeye State is considered one of the key marginals, a victory for either candidate there could end up being the difference between taking the White House and losing it. “I’m just outraged by this,” DeWine told Fox on Friday. “I can’t believe that the Obama campaign [and] the state Democratic Party are actually saying there’s no rational basis for a distinction between someone who is in the military voting, and somebody not in the military. “Our whole history in this country, we’ve made a distinction between the two, recognizing the difficulties, and the unique situation that people in the military are in.” The Obama campaign sued Republicans DeWine and Secretary of State Jon Husted, contending Ohio’s two-tiered early voting process violates the U.S. Constitution’s guarantees of equal protection under the law. Ohio is among 32 states that allow voters to cast an early ballot by mail or in person without an excuse. In 2008, about 30 percent of the swing state's total vote — or roughly 1.7 million ballots — came in ahead of Election Day. In addition, state law allows families of armed forces members and civilians overseas to vote through the Monday before an election, while early voting for all other Ohioans ends the preceding Friday. The Nov. 6 election falls on a Tuesday. The Obama lawsuit said that the latter part of the Ohio law is “arbitrary” with “no discernible rational basis” — and that all voters should be able to vote on those days. The campaign seeks a court order invalidating the statutes. In his response, filed late on Wednesday, DeWine noted that all Ohioans have numerous voting options, which include casting an absentee by mail starting 35 days before the election, casting an in-person ballot on other days, and voting at their polling location on Election Day. Ohio, with 18 electoral votes, has been critical to U.S. politics, and no Republican has been elected president without a victory there. Obama won the state in 2008 with 51.5 percent of the vote. But remaining ahead of his Republican opponent is proving tougher for Obama this time around. A survey by Quinnipiac University earlier this week shows the president leading Romney by only 6 points, 50 to 44 percent. The military vote has traditionally gone Republican. In 2008, Obama lost among veterans to Arizona Sen. John McCain, a Vietnam War hero, 55 to 45 percent. Four years earlier, GOP President George W. Bush outdistanced Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry, another Vietnam veteran, among former service personnel by 57 to 41 percent. In addition, military members and their families generally tend to vote in higher percentages than the general public, according to federal election data. The Obama for America lawsuit comes after several election-law changes cleared Ohio’s Republican-controlled legislature and GOP Gov. John Kasich signed them. Before the changes, local election boards had the discretion to set their own early, in-person voting hours on the days before the election. People were allowed up until the day before the election to vote in person. Weekend voting varied among the state's 88 counties. With the changes, most Ohioans now have until the Friday evening before the Tuesday election to cast a ballot in person. But military voters can continue to vote in person until Monday. Separately, the National Guard Association of the United States and more than a dozen other fraternal military groups asked a U.S. judge for permission to intervene and oppose the Democrats' lawsuit. “Members of the U.S. Armed Forces risk their lives to keep this nation safe and defend the fundamental constitutional right to vote,” the military groups said in in their request. “The Obama campaign’s and Democratic National Committee’s argument that it is arbitrary and unconstitutional to afford special consideration, flexibility, and accommodations to military voters to make it easier for them to vote in person is not only offensive, but flatly wrong as a matter of law,” the groups said. They’ve asked U.S. District Judge Peter Economus for permission to join the case on the side of the state, and to oppose the Obama campaign’s request for injunctive relief. A hearing is scheduled for Aug. 15. © 2012 Newsmax. All rights reserved. |
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pants on fire Obama Not Trying to Curb Military Early Voting Posted on August 7, 2012 Mitt Romney wrongly suggests the Obama campaign is trying to “undermine” the voting rights of military members through a lawsuit filed in Ohio. The suit seeks to block state legislation that limited early voting times for nonmilitary members; it doesn’t seek to impose restrictions on service members. In an Aug. 4 Facebook posting, Romney called the lawsuit an “outrage,” and said that “if I’m entrusted to be the commander-in-chief, I’ll work to protect the voting rights of our military, not undermine them.” He painted the court filing as an attack on the ability of service men and women to vote: “The brave men and women of our military make tremendous sacrifices to protect and defend our freedoms, and we should do everything we can to protect their fundamental right to vote.” Conservative blogs and opinion pieces have also misrepresented the case, claiming in headlines that President Obama was suing to “restrict military voting.” A fundraising email appeal from a group called Special Operations Speaks — which wants to “remove Barack Obama from the White House” — wrongly says that Obama “deploys army of lawyers to suppress military’s voting rights,” claiming that “Obama needs the American military to not vote, so he has set out to make it as difficult as possible for them to do so.” But that’s not what the Obama lawsuit aims to do at all. The lawsuit, filed by the Obama campaign, Democratic National Committee and Ohio Democratic Party in July against Ohio’s secretary of state and attorney general, asks for an injunction to block implementation of state laws that modified in-person early voting regulations. In the last presidential election, all Ohio residents — military and otherwise — could cast their votes in-person early up through the Monday before Election Day. But contentious legislation passed by Ohio’s GOP-controlled Legislature in 2011 limited early voting for nonmilitary residents, giving them a deadline of 6 p.m. Friday before the election. Military members and overseas civilians could still vote through Monday. Both parties have squabbled, with Democrats saying the law is a suppression of nonmilitary votes and Republicans arguing that they are just easing a burden on polling places and guarding against fraud. (Mail-in absentee ballots are not affected; the new regulations affect in-person early voting.) Contrary to conservative claims, the Democratic lawsuit seeks to restore early voting “for all Ohio voters.” factcheck.org |
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a huge pack of lies. |
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obama signs order Posted : Friday Aug 31, 2012 President Obama has signed an executive order aimed at reducing the rate of suicide and mental health disorders in veterans and troops by improving access to behavioral health care. Addressing soldiers at Fort Bliss, Texas, on Friday, Obama said the initiative is part of an overall effort to maintain U.S. military superiority. “We may be turning a page on a decade of war, but America’s responsibility to you has only just begun,” Obama said. “Just as we give you the best equipment and technology on the battlefield, we need to give you the best support at home.” The order directs cabinet agencies, including the departments of Veterans Affairs, Defense, Health and Human Services and Education, to work together to expand suicide prevention efforts and to fill vacancies for mental health jobs. The “Improving Access to Mental Health Services for Veterans, Service Members and Military Families” order also includes actions to improve access to mental health services for service members and veterans, including enhanced partnerships with community providers, increased VA staffing, and mental health research. “If you are hurting, it’s not a sign of weakness to seek help; it’s a sign of strength. And we are going to help you remain strong — ‘Army Strong,’ ” Obama said, referencing the service’s advertising slogan in his speech before more than 5,000 service members at the 1st Aviation Support Battalion hangar at Fort Bliss. Under the directive, VA must expand its veterans’ crisis line capability by 50 percent by Dec. 31 and ensure that veterans who identify as being a danger to themselves or others connect with a trained mental health professional within 24 hours. VA also is required to partner with DoD in developing and implementing a nationwide year-long suicide prevention campaign aimed at veterans. The order also authorizes VA to expand programs based on veterans helping veterans, directing the department to hire 800 more peer-to-peer counselors, and it also directs VA to work with HHS to establish a pilot program that leverages community mental health resources to reduce the waiting times veterans often face when seeking mental health services. VA has faced criticism for not doing enough to help veterans who need mental health treatment. |
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to repeat, henny but you just lap it up, doncha... spooning out sweeeeet, sweeet pablum with no nutritional value.... lap lap lap..... mmmmmmmm.... right wing pablum.... come join usssss.... it is sooooo peacfullllllll hee hee |
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hennybogan1953 06-Sep-12, 17:37 |
This is not a political issue this is our returning veterans waiting more than a year for their cases to be adjudicated! This is not OK, VA is woefully mismanaged and you don't hear a peep from the mainstream media! Just the first lady and a few soundbites. pretendcommander, Thank you for such insightful commentary. |
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dmaestro 06-Sep-12, 17:39 |
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hennybogan1953 06-Sep-12, 17:49 |
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dmaestro 06-Sep-12, 19:24 |
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hennybogan1953 06-Sep-12, 19:48 |
I see how they love taking credit for killing OBL but no so much about taking care of veterans when they come home despite all the fake tears. |
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dmaestro 06-Sep-12, 20:03 |
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hennybogan1953 06-Sep-12, 20:32 |
Most people have never been in the military and have no idea about the dismal VA, maybe if the liberal media wasn't in the tank they could actually bring it to the forefront. I saw a lot of dems cry on TV today but I question their real commitment to veterans besides parading them around to get votes. ONE YEAR! WAITING FOR CARE! THIS IS WHAT THEY DO TO OUR HERO'S...WHOSE PANTS ARE ON FIRE! Maybe fixing the VA won't get the many votes! Never let the truth get in the way of really good convention "I know that the hypnotized never lie" |
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dmaestro 06-Sep-12, 20:43 |
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hennybogan1953 06-Sep-12, 20:52 |
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Maybe he considers them the "hired help" of the Government. |
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hennybogan1953 06-Sep-12, 21:57 |
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henny • He announced a new VA budget of $112.8 billion, a 15.5-percent increase over the previous year. Among other things, the higher budget calls for hiring more staff, treating 122,000 more patients, and beginning the switch of patient records to an electronic system that can be accessed by all VA facilities. The increase will also pay for an uptick in education claims by veterans who are taking advantage of the Post-9/11 GI Bill, passed last year. • The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act added another $1.4 billion to the VA budget, to be used toward improving services, including grant money to states to build extended care facilities for vets, and the hiring of 1,500 new claims processors to speed up delivery of benefits. • The Joint Virtual Lifetime Electronic Initiative mandates that the DOD and VA work together to build a coordinated computer system that will provide accessible patient information from the day an individual enters military service throughout the rest of his/her life. This will remedy one of veterans' main complaints about the VA. • In a related issue, the Obama administration is pushing for a measure that would let Congress approve VA money a year in advance, thus avoiding the delays for budget reasons that have plagued the agency. • The VA and DOD held a joint Mental Health Summit in Washington, designed to "harness the programs, resources and expertise of both departments to deal with the aftermath of the battlefield." The initiative will include removing the stigma many soldiers feel about admitting to PTSD symptoms, and, finally, treating PTSD and traumatic brain injuries more fully, rather than how it's been dealt with in the past, as something to be merely contained enough to keep it from causing major social (or political) problems. • With more than 100,000 veterans going homeless on any given night, Obama proposes pilot programs with non-profits to specifically target vets' homelessness and its related problems. A more concrete plan is expected within a few months. while bush sent our soldiers into harms way on a whim, and neglected to care for them, obama brought them home, and has made it a priority to care for them. you think because a few glitches occur that means he doesn't care? wow! you really think anything short of perfection and instant success is failure? tell me under what president EVERY vet got the full care he needed promptly. go on. i wait.... |
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The military! Rove knew they weren't allowed to boo. Have some pity on them. |
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hennybogan1953 07-Sep-12, 05:16 |
The left wing spin machine is as pure as the driven snow. The right wing spin machine is pure evil. Everything bad is Bush's fault. Everything good is Obama's fault. |
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dmaestro 07-Sep-12, 06:00 |
You falsely think the world reset when Obama was inaugurated and claim he created the problems he inherited is actually trying to solve. You deny or do not give any credit to Obama for the steps he has taken. You consistently minimize the difficulties in solving long term problems. The fact is Bush never fought in a war. He decimated out military by repeated deployments which will cost trillions in long term commitments to our war fighters, but did nothing significant to improve the VA. Obama has done a better job of taking care of the military. |
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henny but so what? that is not the discussion here. you brought up the issue of treatment of vets. the record on this is very, very clear. in spite of all their talk, the republicans have done little in this regard. meanwhile, obama has made improvement of treatment of vets a priority. no, he has not fixed everything. duh! no one could. but he has made strong improvements in this area. your inability to see and recognize this only demonstrates that you are more interested in partisan sniping than in reality. too bad. |
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hennybogan1953 07-Sep-12, 07:44 |
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henny |
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hennybogan1953 07-Sep-12, 08:59 |
Liberal Press seems to be dancing around this issue and not really reporting it. Maybe they think it is a necessary evil to reduce military benefits in favor of everyone, who knows! __________________________________________________ spectator.org news.yahoo.com militaryadvantage.military.com www.offthegridnews.com www.breitbart.com |
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hennybogan1953 07-Sep-12, 09:15 |
But how would any of you know this? MSNBC, CNBC, NBC, CBS, CNN, or even FOX is not reporting it! TRUTH: TRICARE payments are being increased for military families because of Obamacare, and our veterans are being hurt! I wonder how many of them are going to vote Obama this year? |
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hennybogan1953 07-Sep-12, 09:28 |
I report you decide www.whitehouse.gov |
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teleprompter as for tricare, that document you posted says: Protecting Access to Quality, Affordable Health Care that Veterans, Service Members, and their Families Have Now Preserving VA Health Care o The Act does not impact VA health care. Veterans eligible for VA health care remain eligible under health reform - nothing in the legislation affects veterans’ access to the care that they currently are receiving. The Department of Veterans Affairs retains full authority over the VA health care system. Preserving TRICARE and TRICARE for Life Benefits o The Act does not affect TRICARE or TRICARE for Life. There is nothing in the legislation that leads to increases in co-pays, changes in eligibility requirements, or in any way modifies how TRICARE is administered. Those who are covered by TRICARE would meet the shared responsibility requirement for individuals to have insurance, thereby exempting such members of the uniformed services and dependants from being assessed any sort of penalty. The Department of Defense maintains sole authority to operate TRICARE. Meeting the shared responsibility requirement o Those covered by VA health care, TRICARE, or TRICARE for Life will meet the individual responsibility requirement. This means that veterans and service members and their dependents will be exempt from any penalty. Offering Greater Flexibility and Choice to Veterans Expanded Options for Affordable and Improved Care o The Act includes provisions to ensure that veterans are provided additional choices for high-quality and affordable care. The legislation allows veterans receiving VA health care to also enroll in an insurance plan through the bill’s health insurance exchanges. Enhanced Flexibility o The Act does not require anyone to change their health insurance coverage, but it does ensure increased health insurance options as well as expanded consumer protections to prevent insurance companies from denying or setting limits on coverage. Lowering Costs, Providing Choices and Assuring Stable Health Care for Veterans Not Enrolled in the VA Health Care System Improved Care for Veterans o Uninsured veterans will have access to quality, affordable health insurance choices through health insurance Exchanges, which will foster competition and increase choice. They may also be eligible for premium tax credits and cost sharing reductions. The legislation will improve the private health care market and will help millions of America’s veterans as well. Expanded Coverage for Veterans o Harvard researchers found that nearly 1.5 million veterans lacked health care coverage last year - with thousands suffering and dying prematurely because of reduced access to care. The Act will help these veterans gain access to much-needed care through access to coverage through health insurance Exchanges and premium tax credits and cost sharing reductions. what part of this do you have a problem with? |
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hennybogan1953 07-Sep-12, 10:24 |
If implemented as planned I have no problem with. You could at least give me a pat on the head on the head like you do Chez and say "good boy Henny, your a good boy for sort of admitting you facts were wrong" |
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