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JustRalph
07-17-2004, 08:25 PM
Thursday, July 15, 2004
Open Letter Signed by Twenty-one Medal of Honor Recipients


[Open letter signed by twenty-one Medal of Honor recipients]

Dear fellow Veterans:

We have listened to Senator Kerry falsely attack President Bush for months over funding for veterans, and it's time to set the record straight. The truth is President Bush has led the way on improving veterans’ benefits, supporting our troops and restoring honor and dignity to the White House.

Since 2001, President Bush has increased veterans funding by over $20 billion, and funding for veterans' health care has increased by 40 percent since he took office. Funding for veterans has gone up twice as fast under President Bush as it did under President Clinton, and those who accuse the President of cutting funding are simply not being honest with veterans.

Meanwhile, John Kerry voted against a $1.3 billion increase in veterans health care, skipped votes on concurrent receipt and voted against funding for our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. And while he talks a good game, Kerry's record shows he is out of the mainstream. The American Flag symbolizes our ideals, our history and our values. President Bush shares this belief and supports a Constitutional Amendment banning desecration of the Flag. John Kerry believes this is "an attack on free speech."

We are disturbed that John Kerry would try to scare veterans with his false accusations, and we are disappointed in his lack of support for today's troops. Please join us in setting the record straight and showing your support for President Bush -- a leader who has proven his support for those who have served, backs our troops defending our nation and shares our values.

Sincerely,

http://www.georgewbush.com/emailimages/MOHLetter-small.gif

ponyplayer
07-17-2004, 09:32 PM
Far out. Right on.

Suff
07-17-2004, 09:36 PM
But it just goes on and on

From Veterans of Foriegn Wars

VFW Terms President's VA Budget Proposal Harmful to Veterans
VFW Appeals to Congress for Relief


Washington, D.C., Feb. 2, 2004--"The president ignored veterans in the State of the Union Address and with today's release of his 2005 budget, it is further evident that veterans are no longer a priority with this administration," said the leader of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S., expressing dismay at the disgraceful 1.8% increase in veterans' medical care funding. "We look to Congress to reject the president's inadequate proposal and to provide a budget that fully acknowledges the debt our nation owes its veterans."

VFW Commander-in-Chief Edward S. Banas Sr., of Voluntown, Conn., said that with only a $500 million increase in medical funding, the administration's budget falls $2.6 billion short of what the Independent Budget recommends is needed to fully meet the demands for quality veterans' health care. "This funding package is a disgrace and a sham," Banas said.

"This deplorable budget will do nothing to alleviate the many thousands of veterans who are waiting six months or more for basic health care appointments with VA. Instead, the budget seeks to drive veterans from the system by realigning funding, charging enrollment fees for access and more than doubling the prescription drug copayment. This is inexcusable, especially when no member of this administration or Congress would wait this long for their health care.

"What the administration is proposing for veterans is a shell game. Veterans are being asked to pay for their own health care to make up for shortages in the budget. We are adamantly opposed to charging veterans an enrollment fee and we are opposed to increasing payments that veterans make for prescriptions and for other health care services, especially when millions of this nation's veterans are already locked out of the system," Banas said. "To ask this nation's veterans to subsidize their health care is outrageous. They have already paid for their health care with their sweat and with their blood.

"This budget indefensibly will not meet the increasing health care needs of our veterans, nor will it lessen the many months they wait for disability benefits.

"As our veteran population ages and service men and women return from Afghanistan and Iraq, we must have a system that meets the health care needs of all veterans. It is clear that, just as we fought on the battlefields, we must now bring the fight to the halls of Congress to rectify this disgraceful budget. Having traveled throughout the nation, I know that the American people will not tolerate this shoddy treatment of America's veterans, especially at a time of

Suff
07-17-2004, 09:37 PM
http://www.vfw.org/index.cfm?fa=news.newsDtl&did=1576

Suff
07-17-2004, 09:43 PM
Military veterans have already played a prominent role in the 2004 presidential campaign, helping to propel one of their own -- Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts -- close to the Democratic nomination. If he is the nominee, Kerry is counting on strong support from his fellow veterans in the general election battle against President Bush.



And Kerry may be getting an unintended boost from the Bush administration's proposed budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs in the next fiscal year.


In a statement issued shortly after the budget was released, Edward S. Banas Sr., commander in chief of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, called the VA's health care spending proposal "a disgrace and a sham."

VA officials reply that spending for health care will increase under the budget, but that tough choices had to be made because of the soaring budget deficit and limits on spending.

According to John Gage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, the VA is calling for a reduction of 540 full-time jobs in the Veterans Benefits Administration, which handles disability, pension and other claims by veterans.

"VBA is under such pressure to get the caseload down, and now they are going to cut the staff," he said. "These things don't make sense on their face."

.



The more contentious issue involves the VA's sprawling health care system. The budget calls for spending $29.5 billion for veterans' health care in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, a 4.2 percent increase over current spending.

[B]But critics in the veterans' organizations say the budget would effectively cut health care spending because about $2.4 billion of the total would not come from congressional appropriations but from fees and other charges collected from third parties and from veterans themselves. [B]

Under the budget, some veterans would have to pay $250 a year to use the VA health care system; their co-payments for a 30-day supply of a prescription drug would also more than double, from $7 to $15. The proposed changes would affect only the veterans with no service-related health problems whose relative high income places them in the two lowest priority classifications.

VA officials estimate that the new "user fee" would produce about $268 million a year and that the higher pharmacy co-payment would add about $135 million a year in revenue. They also project that these higher costs will prompt about 200,000 of the affected veterans to drop out of the system and get their health care elsewhere.

kenwoodallpromos
07-18-2004, 01:40 AM
I am a service-connected disabled vet who uses the VA.
There is copays depending on your income. I wasd raised from 10% to 20% under Bush.
A democrat benefitg rep screwed me twice on qualifying for exemption because when he illegally told me I should vote Dewmocrat and Bush was no good for vets I made the mistake of telling him I vote 3rd party. He then screwed me by messing up my exemption application twice. So far I am still screwed out of $80 because of that asshole. I think I like the ZRepubs better for vets.
Maybe the fellow Viet War Criminals will vote for Kerry.

PaceAdvantage
07-20-2004, 11:35 PM
Wow JR, your post brought out a 3 bag reply from Suff. Must have cut him deep for that kind of return volley!

Are you saying that the Medal of Honor recipients are lying Suff?

JustRalph
07-20-2004, 11:49 PM
I notice no more replies to the "Wilson Lied " thread, from anyone........hmmmmmm ......curious.


I give up..........going fishin.........

Steve 'StatMan'
07-20-2004, 11:51 PM
I don't know of any employer right now that isn't trying to cut costs for their employees and retirees medical care, and often co-pays and services get cut, and deductibles go up. I wish this didn't happen to our veterans too. It sure as hell better not happen to those injured in action.

Every administration has had to cut costs at some point or another. I can't imagine any President we've ever had, or ever will have, wanting to cut veterans benefits. Thats why I can't buy arguments over which President's were better or worse. It's really all dictated by the ecomomics of the times, and the price of health care. Sure, maybe major policy changes would free up funds for other things, but there always has been, and always will be, too much to do with too little funding, esp. without raising taxes. No matter who is President, it will never ever be enough.