thedrifter
03-31-06, 06:45 AM
March 30, 2006
House panel nixes VA enrollment fee plan
By Rick Maze
Times staff writer
The House Budget Committee killed the Bush administration’s plans for charging some veterans an enrollment fee for health care and raising their prescription drug prices, but it left alive a proposal to increase health care fees for some military retirees under age 65.
On a 22-15 party-line vote, the committee rejected an amendment by Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Texas, which would have blocked Pentagon plans to double and triple Tricare premiums for working-age military retirees.
Just minutes earlier, the committee approved by voice vote an amendment, sponsored by Rep. Jeb Bradley, R-N.H., that would prevent the Department of Veterans Affairs from charging an enrollment fee for veterans seeking treatment who have modest incomes and no service-connected disabilities, and a proposed increase in prescription drug co-payments.
To do this, Bradley’s amendment shifted $795 million in 2007 and $3.97 billion over the next five years to the veterans’ health care budget from the foreign aid budget.
“We owe it to those who have served our country to ensure that they have quality health care and benefits,” Bradley said. “With an aging veteran population and a growing number of servicemen and women returning from military service, it is vital that funding for veterans’ health care is sufficient in order to meet increased demand for services.”
But Edwards said the committee had nothing to crow about regarding the Tricare fees.
“Minutes after this committee acted in a partisan fashion and voted down increased enrollment fees and prescription drug co-pays for veterans, my Republican colleagues endorsed a $1,000 annual tax on military retirees’ health care by rejecting my amendment,” he said.
“I believe that keeping our promise of quality, affordable health care for military retirees is the right thing to do and the smart thing to do,” Edwards said. “It is right because our nation has a moral obligation to keep our promises to those who have kept their promise to defend our nation.”
The two votes came on the $2.8 trillion congressional budget resolution that sets broad spending and revenue targets for 2007. The House is expected to take up the measure next week, when Edwards — who has more than 140 cosponsors for a bill blocking the Tricare fee increases — will again try to get money added to the defense budget to preclude any increase in Tricare fees for retirees.
The Senate passed its version of the budget two weeks ago and had a similar debate and outcome. Money was added to the VA budget to make fee increases for veterans unnecessary, but senators defeated an amendment, sponsored by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., to eliminate the Tricare fee increases for retirees.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, said she hopes for a different outcome. After a meeting Wednesday with military and veterans’ groups, Pelosi said she heard “loud and clear” that blocking the Tricare increases “is their number one priority.”
“It is unconscionable to impose a fee increase on the men and women in uniform who bravely sacrificed for our country, especially during a time of war,” she said. “We must demonstrate our commitment to our troops and future veterans by assuring them that just as they protected us, we will take care of them when their service ends.”
Ellie
House panel nixes VA enrollment fee plan
By Rick Maze
Times staff writer
The House Budget Committee killed the Bush administration’s plans for charging some veterans an enrollment fee for health care and raising their prescription drug prices, but it left alive a proposal to increase health care fees for some military retirees under age 65.
On a 22-15 party-line vote, the committee rejected an amendment by Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Texas, which would have blocked Pentagon plans to double and triple Tricare premiums for working-age military retirees.
Just minutes earlier, the committee approved by voice vote an amendment, sponsored by Rep. Jeb Bradley, R-N.H., that would prevent the Department of Veterans Affairs from charging an enrollment fee for veterans seeking treatment who have modest incomes and no service-connected disabilities, and a proposed increase in prescription drug co-payments.
To do this, Bradley’s amendment shifted $795 million in 2007 and $3.97 billion over the next five years to the veterans’ health care budget from the foreign aid budget.
“We owe it to those who have served our country to ensure that they have quality health care and benefits,” Bradley said. “With an aging veteran population and a growing number of servicemen and women returning from military service, it is vital that funding for veterans’ health care is sufficient in order to meet increased demand for services.”
But Edwards said the committee had nothing to crow about regarding the Tricare fees.
“Minutes after this committee acted in a partisan fashion and voted down increased enrollment fees and prescription drug co-pays for veterans, my Republican colleagues endorsed a $1,000 annual tax on military retirees’ health care by rejecting my amendment,” he said.
“I believe that keeping our promise of quality, affordable health care for military retirees is the right thing to do and the smart thing to do,” Edwards said. “It is right because our nation has a moral obligation to keep our promises to those who have kept their promise to defend our nation.”
The two votes came on the $2.8 trillion congressional budget resolution that sets broad spending and revenue targets for 2007. The House is expected to take up the measure next week, when Edwards — who has more than 140 cosponsors for a bill blocking the Tricare fee increases — will again try to get money added to the defense budget to preclude any increase in Tricare fees for retirees.
The Senate passed its version of the budget two weeks ago and had a similar debate and outcome. Money was added to the VA budget to make fee increases for veterans unnecessary, but senators defeated an amendment, sponsored by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., to eliminate the Tricare fee increases for retirees.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, said she hopes for a different outcome. After a meeting Wednesday with military and veterans’ groups, Pelosi said she heard “loud and clear” that blocking the Tricare increases “is their number one priority.”
“It is unconscionable to impose a fee increase on the men and women in uniform who bravely sacrificed for our country, especially during a time of war,” she said. “We must demonstrate our commitment to our troops and future veterans by assuring them that just as they protected us, we will take care of them when their service ends.”
Ellie