Obama drops proposal on wounded vets
WASHINGTON — Amid a firestorm of criticism from lawmakers — including several from New York—the Obama administration on Wednesday abandoned its consideration of a controversial proposal to bill private insurance companies for treatment of veterans with combat-related injuries.
“The president listened to concerns . . . that this might, under certain circumstances, affect veterans and their families’ ability to access health care,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said. “Therefore, the president has instructed that its consideration be dropped.”
The proposal was intended to save taxpayers $530 million a year, but veterans groups saw it as a betrayal of the government’s duty to care for those wounded in war, and lawmakers vowed to stop it in its tracks.
“I am totally opposed to it,” said Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N. Y., who simultaneously was proposing a bill expanding Veterans Administration health care coverage for veterans with post-traumatic stress syndrome. “It is DOA—dead on arrival.”
Reps. Chris Lee, R-Clarence, and Eric Massa, D-Corning, also disagreed sharply with the proposal.
In a letter to Veterans Secretary Eric Shinseki, Lee called the idea “an affront to this nation’s long-standing tradition of providing for the care of the men and women who have put themselves in harm’s way in its defense.”
Noting that President Obama had proposed the biggest increase in veterans spending in 30 years, Gibbs said the idea was considered because “the administration was seeking to maximize the resources available for veterans.”
But he acknowledged that the opposition of veterans groups prompted the administration to reconsider.
Meanwhile, Schumer offered legislation that would allow veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to get veterans benefits for post-traumatic stress syndrome if it resulted from their service in a combat zone. Current regulations limit such benefits to those who engage in “combat with an enemy,” a stricter standard that excludes many troops.
“We need to remove the barriers that prevent our soldiers and veterans from receiving care,” said Schumer, who noted that there are 125,270 veterans in Western New York, including approximately 8,700 who served in Iraq or Afghanistan.
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