August 14, 2002

A BuzzFlash Message to Military Veterans: Part 2

A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL

Are contracts to military suppliers who contributed to the Bush/Cheney campaign more important than the health and economic well-being of our nation's veterans?

Are tax cuts for the wealthy more important to the Bush/Cheney cartel than medical care for our veterans?

The answer to both questions, in a nutshell: Yes.

In our first BuzzFlash Message to Military Veterans (see http://www.buzzflash.com/editorial/2002/07/23_Burned.html), we noted with disgust that the Bush administration was financially shortchanging disabled veterans:

According to the Sunday, July 21, 2002, print edition of "Parade Magazine":

Some military retirees are hopping mad at the Bush Administration....Their beef? The Bush Administration supports the policy that now deducts a retiree's disability benefits from his retirement pay.... Many combat vets think the deduction is unfair and penalizes them....Some veterans are so angry that their letters include threats to vote against Bush in 2004.

The online edition of "Parade" notes that Bush will veto any attempt by Congress to give the vets their due for serving their nation.

Shortly after our editorial, various news stories noted that the VA had sent out a memo mandating that its staff no longer "recruit" veterans for healthcare services. According to an August 1st Boston Globe article (http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/213/nation/
Memo_urges_VA_staff_to_stop_pushing_services+.shtml):

A top official at the US Department of Veterans Affairs has ordered local VA administrators across the country to stop marketing their health care services and recruiting new veterans to use them because of tight finances and the risk of increasing already long waiting times for services.

According to the Globe, Bush Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony J. Principi rejected withering criticism of the memo by Senator John Kerry, a decorated Vietnam War Veteran, with the following response:

"We have a serious situation in the VA, and I think it is irresponsible to strongly recruit for new enrollees when we cannot meet the expectations and the needs for the people currently enrolled. ... To me it would just be irresponsible and lead to unfulfilled expectations,'' Principi said.

In another article, in the Washington Times, Principi was a bit more candid:

We're having a very difficult time nationally caring for the veterans who have enrolled..." Principi said. He added that the health system is still open to any veteran who wants to enroll in its programs, but it will no longer "actively recruit" veterans because thousands of veterans are already on a waiting list for services. (emphasis by BuzzFlash)

A BuzzFlash reader responded to our posting of the Boston Globe article with her own personal experience with the VA system under Bush:

I did not know if I should laugh or cry when I read the link about the VA 'health care system'. My husband is a 100% disabled veteran and the sad truth is the VA is a nightmare. We have to fight for everything and even then they fall far short of what veterans deserve. At the moment he is in a VA hospital where it took SIX days for them to operate on a broken leg. Older veterans have it even worse. If the democrats had any guts they would draw attention to the horrible state of affairs at our VA hospitals.

Thank You for trying to spotlight the issue.

D.

John Kerry, who served in Vietnam (unlike Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney), has been fighting against the Bush Administration's efforts to limit VA services.

Bush had a chance to rectify the injustice done to our veterans by allocating more money for their care. But he needs the money to build a useless missile defense system and to finance his tax cut for the wealthy -- on the backs of veterans.

On Tuesday, August 12, Senator Paul Wellstone blasted the Bush Administration for "President Bush's decision to block $275 million in federal emergency funding for veterans health."

According to a Wellstone statement:

The funding, passed in the supplemental appropriations bill last month, was requested by Wellstone in a bipartisan letter to appropriators, and co-signed by a bipartisan coalition of 27 Senators. The bill included $417 million to help VA hospitals and clinics nationwide dealing with a budget crisis stemming from increased demand for VA services, and rising medical costs. Bush announced earlier today that he will withhold over half - $275 million - of the $417 million in funds designated for veterans' medical care in the supplemental.

"We made a promise to the men and women who served our country that we would provide them with high quality health care and decent services. Cutting funding to improve veterans' health care is no way to make good on that promise," said Wellstone.

"Veterans should not have to wait over a year to get health care," said Wellstone. "I wonder how many of the corporate CEOs the President met with today in Waco have to wait a year for a doctor's appointment?"

It is crystal clear that veterans are getting the shaft from the mannequin in the White House.

When will our former military men and women realize that the Bush cartel is only interested in a healthy bottom line for their contributors (military contractors and civilians alike), not in the health of veterans?

A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL

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July 18, 2002 Memo from Department of Veterans Affairs to the Network Directors