Cheryl Seal
Bush Brags About Screwing Veterans
Mon Feb 27, 2006 13:44
and he's aided and abetted, as always, by Congress!
Bush Brags About Screwing Veterans
By Cheryl Seal
The Bush administration routinely relies on lies and statistical fraud to create an illusion that is doing something constructive when, in fact, it is carrying on colossally destructive schemes. We saw evidence of that just last week when Department of Human Services czar Michael Leavitt was caught lying about the Medicare prescription benefit plan. Leavitt claimed 25 million seniors were benefitting from the dandy new Bush scheme, when in reality, barely 5 million had signed up - most of whom already had other plans in place.
In a February 24 speech made at the Capital Hilton Hotel, Bush's fraudulent claims re: help for disabled veterans were so insultingly transparent they amount to bragging about how he plans to screw veterans.
"We have made health care a top priority for my administration. With my 2007 budget, we'll increase VA's medical care budget by 69 percent since 2001. Our increased funding has given almost a million more veterans access to the VA medical care system."
Bush's increased funding HAS NOT given a million more veterans access to the VA medical care system. In fact, the only thing that has increased is the number of claims. The percentage of veterans actually seeing any help each year is in fact near-static due to systematic delays and errors that have been "designed into" the Bush VA system. It works very similarly to the way the Medicare prescription benefit scam works. In the latter, seniors fail to access the benefits (and thus the Bush administration doesn't have to actually pay out) because the plan is intentionally made so complicated that most seniors are daunted and don't sign up.
The VA scam is of the same stamp. Bush increased the number of people taking claims - ie. people filling out paper work, thereby allowing him to make the claim that the VA has taken more claims. However, the number of actual disability claims workers has DECREASED. Thus the waiting time for having a decision actually made on your claim has gone from six months to nearly THREE YEARS. In short, yeah, sure, 1 million more claims have been filed. And most are sitting in limbo because of the intentionally manufactured bottleneck.
In fact, the DAV testified to Congress that between 2004 and 2005, the percentage of PENDING claims increased by a whopping 33%! The DAV also testified that the number of full-time VA employees has been steadily trimmed since 2001. That's part of the Bush scam, ya see - claim you have MORE workers, when in fact, you have more part-time employees, while the net number of man hours expended is dramatically cut.
But, because some claims under the Bush system are now old enough to have reached the desks of workers, the Bush "braintrust" has come up with other ways to keep from actually paying out. There are two main schemes currently being used:
1. Claim that the vet's records were destroyed in a "fire" at some military records facility and as a result, the claim is basically "dead." Think I'm making this up? Ask ANY VA claim worker he/she will tell you that they get paper work back all the time from the military with this bogus claim. I mean, if there are THAT many fires at military records facilities, then why haven't we heard about it? Seems like it would be some national phenomenon - at least good material for "unsolved mysteries!"
2. Falsely deny claims. This is the current favored scam. At present, nearly ONE IN SEVEN (as in about 15%) vets are falsely denied disability benefits. This percentage is staggering. And many vets, after going through three years of waiting and frustration, once denied, just give up, even though they are entitled to the help.
The situation is going to get worse and worse....and worse. Look at the facts:. The number of disabled US vets from all wars is growing steadily. From 2000 through 2004 (five years) the number of new VA disability claims rose by 36% - that's a tad over 7% per year. If you take 2000, a prewar year, out of that series, the percentage of new claims between 2001-2005 is probably closer to 10%. In any case, the number of claims is going to keep on escalating and here's why:
**The number of very elderly, chronic care vets from the WWII and Korean War eras is at its greatest and growing (nearly all are over 70 now, many in their 80s and 90s).
**The number of vets from Vietnam era who are reaching the age when they require more healthcare is rising and will skyrocket steadily from now on. The average age of Vietnam era soldiers was 19. The oldest age range (in Vietnam around 1965) are hitting sixty about now. That means from here on out, progressive waves of these vets will be hitting the post-60 age range.
**Meanwhile, we now have a minimum of 40,000 vets (from several reliable estimates) from the current war who will qualify for some level of disability benefits. And many of these soldiers are going to need more intensive and/or chronic care than any previous veteran group due to the nature of the most common injuries (head wounds, loss of limbs, blindness, etc.).
Yet Bush bragged this week how he will raise VA benefits by a total of 69% from 2001 through 2007,inclusive (i.e., seven years). That works out to an increase of about 9.8% per year.
Now, take the minimum 7% per year increase in the number of claims now being filed. If there is no change in the current benefit rates, it can be assumed that the VA will pay out about 7% more in new benefits annually to cover this increase in claims.
Now. take into account the annual increase in the cost of living, which Social Security sets currently at 2.7%, and what you get, in terms of what is annually NEEDED in terms of a minimum increase to the VA's disability benefits budget is 9.7%. You must, of course, add to that the inflation rate for medical services not covered by the VA unless your disability percentage is over 50% (the cost of retail prescriptions alone is rising by about 8% per year). Then, of course, there's the increased cost of gas and heating oil between now and 2007, an increase which hasn't even yet been fully accounted for by the statistics wonks. It is easy to see that just to adequately cover the needs for new VA disability claimants, an annual increase of at least 10% in the VA's payout budget will be required. So what does Bush offer? 9.8%.
In short, Bush's boast of an "increase" was in fact a boast about how he planned to make underfunding of the VA a chronic condition.
As for long-term care, demand for which is going to escalate in the coming decades, Bush has yet to even effectively implement plans Clinton signed into law in 1999. The Veterans Millennium Health Care Act (Public Law 106-117, Section 101) was created to insure long-term care for US veternas. But under Bush, the program has, like all programs Bush likes to brag about, had its funding manipulated so that it is always a tale of "too little too late." In 2001, Bush was only talking about "progress" in even implementing the Act. In 2003 the Fleet Reserve Association testified before Congress that it "disagrees with the methodology used in collecting funds for the Millennium Act and transferring that money to the Treasury. VA’s rationale for this is to allow more discretionary VA spending under the current caps set in the Balanced Budget Act. The Association views this a slight of hand rather than a reliable business practice and firmly believes any money collected from veterans for veterans' health care should stay within the VHA. "
Here's another statement Bush made in the same speech. "For more than a century, federal law prohibited disabled veterans from receiving both their military retired pay and their VA disability compensation. Combat-injured and severely disabled veterans deserve better. I'm the first President in more than 100 years to sign concurrent receipt legislation. "
Sounds good and generous, eh? Well, look between the lines.
A high percentage of the severely disabled, combat-injured vets in the current war are NATIONAL GUARDSMEN AND RESERVISTS. They never HAD the same retirement package as active duty soldiers. In fact, most of them won't ever be eligible to receive it, anyway! The Rod Powers Military Service Guide states that for a guy or gal in the Reserves or National Guard to collect retirement pay, they had to have:
* Be at least 60 years of age [this lets Bush off the hook for every Afghanistan and Iraq war vet - let the future generation clean up his mess, is his motto!]
* Performed at least 20 years of qualifying service computed under Section 12732, Title 10, United States Code [most Afghan/Iraq war soldiers hadn't even started kindergarten 20 years ago]
• Have performed the last eight years of qualifying service while a member of the Active Reserve. (NOTE: If you completed your service requirement between 5 October 1994 and 30 September 2001, you need only have performed the last 6 years of qualifying service while a member of the active Reserve). (Added Note: Effective 1 October 2002, and on, the eight year requirement was changed to six years). [a high percentage of Afghan/Iraq war vets had only been in the Guard/reserves for a few years or less]
Powers goes on to try to explain the military's complex point system used to qualify guardsmen and reservists for retirement pay - a system which amounts to jumping through several progressively narrowing hoops.
So, ironically, the vets who will receive the most benefits under the new Bush plan are NOT the ones who served in the current war and will need it most in the future. In fact, the way it is shaping up, the vets from the current war be the most shabbily treated, underfunded, most seriously injured (percentagewise) of all US vets.
And Bush wants them to THANK HIM!??
FOR FURTHER READING: (to access embedded clickable links, go to http://cherylsealreports.com/bushscrewsvets.html
Testimony of Rick Surratt of the Disabled American Veterans on Feb. 8,2006 before Congress
About Reservist/Guard Retirement Benefits
Complete Text of Bush's 2/24 Speech
High Rate of Vet Claims Wrongly Denied
Fleet Reserve Association Testimony before Congress 2003
Bush Brags About Screwing Veterans
By Cheryl Seal
The Bush administration routinely relies on lies and statistical fraud to create an illusion that is doing something constructive when, in fact, it is carrying on colossally destructive schemes. We saw evidence of that just last week when Department of Human Services czar Michael Leavitt was caught lying about the Medicare prescription benefit plan. Leavitt claimed 25 million seniors were benefitting from the dandy new Bush scheme, when in reality, barely 5 million had signed up - most of whom already had other plans in place.
In a February 24 speech made at the Capital Hilton Hotel, Bush's fraudulent claims re: help for disabled veterans were so insultingly transparent they amount to bragging about how he plans to screw veterans.
"We have made health care a top priority for my administration. With my 2007 budget, we'll increase VA's medical care budget by 69 percent since 2001. Our increased funding has given almost a million more veterans access to the VA medical care system."
Bush's increased funding HAS NOT given a million more veterans access to the VA medical care system. In fact, the only thing that has increased is the number of claims. The percentage of veterans actually seeing any help each year is in fact near-static due to systematic delays and errors that have been "designed into" the Bush VA system. It works very similarly to the way the Medicare prescription benefit scam works. In the latter, seniors fail to access the benefits (and thus the Bush administration doesn't have to actually pay out) because the plan is intentionally made so complicated that most seniors are daunted and don't sign up.
The VA scam is of the same stamp. Bush increased the number of people taking claims - ie. people filling out paper work, thereby allowing him to make the claim that the VA has taken more claims. However, the number of actual disability claims workers has DECREASED. Thus the waiting time for having a decision actually made on your claim has gone from six months to nearly THREE YEARS. In short, yeah, sure, 1 million more claims have been filed. And most are sitting in limbo because of the intentionally manufactured bottleneck.
In fact, the DAV testified to Congress that between 2004 and 2005, the percentage of PENDING claims increased by a whopping 33%! The DAV also testified that the number of full-time VA employees has been steadily trimmed since 2001. That's part of the Bush scam, ya see - claim you have MORE workers, when in fact, you have more part-time employees, while the net number of man hours expended is dramatically cut.
But, because some claims under the Bush system are now old enough to have reached the desks of workers, the Bush "braintrust" has come up with other ways to keep from actually paying out. There are two main schemes currently being used:
1. Claim that the vet's records were destroyed in a "fire" at some military records facility and as a result, the claim is basically "dead." Think I'm making this up? Ask ANY VA claim worker he/she will tell you that they get paper work back all the time from the military with this bogus claim. I mean, if there are THAT many fires at military records facilities, then why haven't we heard about it? Seems like it would be some national phenomenon - at least good material for "unsolved mysteries!"
2. Falsely deny claims. This is the current favored scam. At present, nearly ONE IN SEVEN (as in about 15%) vets are falsely denied disability benefits. This percentage is staggering. And many vets, after going through three years of waiting and frustration, once denied, just give up, even though they are entitled to the help.
The situation is going to get worse and worse....and worse. Look at the facts:. The number of disabled US vets from all wars is growing steadily. From 2000 through 2004 (five years) the number of new VA disability claims rose by 36% - that's a tad over 7% per year. If you take 2000, a prewar year, out of that series, the percentage of new claims between 2001-2005 is probably closer to 10%. In any case, the number of claims is going to keep on escalating and here's why:
**The number of very elderly, chronic care vets from the WWII and Korean War eras is at its greatest and growing (nearly all are over 70 now, many in their 80s and 90s).
**The number of vets from Vietnam era who are reaching the age when they require more healthcare is rising and will skyrocket steadily from now on. The average age of Vietnam era soldiers was 19. The oldest age range (in Vietnam around 1965) are hitting sixty about now. That means from here on out, progressive waves of these vets will be hitting the post-60 age range.
**Meanwhile, we now have a minimum of 40,000 vets (from several reliable estimates) from the current war who will qualify for some level of disability benefits. And many of these soldiers are going to need more intensive and/or chronic care than any previous veteran group due to the nature of the most common injuries (head wounds, loss of limbs, blindness, etc.).
Yet Bush bragged this week how he will raise VA benefits by a total of 69% from 2001 through 2007,inclusive (i.e., seven years). That works out to an increase of about 9.8% per year.
Now, take the minimum 7% per year increase in the number of claims now being filed. If there is no change in the current benefit rates, it can be assumed that the VA will pay out about 7% more in new benefits annually to cover this increase in claims.
Now. take into account the annual increase in the cost of living, which Social Security sets currently at 2.7%, and what you get, in terms of what is annually NEEDED in terms of a minimum increase to the VA's disability benefits budget is 9.7%. You must, of course, add to that the inflation rate for medical services not covered by the VA unless your disability percentage is over 50% (the cost of retail prescriptions alone is rising by about 8% per year). Then, of course, there's the increased cost of gas and heating oil between now and 2007, an increase which hasn't even yet been fully accounted for by the statistics wonks. It is easy to see that just to adequately cover the needs for new VA disability claimants, an annual increase of at least 10% in the VA's payout budget will be required. So what does Bush offer? 9.8%.
In short, Bush's boast of an "increase" was in fact a boast about how he planned to make underfunding of the VA a chronic condition.
As for long-term care, demand for which is going to escalate in the coming decades, Bush has yet to even effectively implement plans Clinton signed into law in 1999. The Veterans Millennium Health Care Act (Public Law 106-117, Section 101) was created to insure long-term care for US veternas. But under Bush, the program has, like all programs Bush likes to brag about, had its funding manipulated so that it is always a tale of "too little too late." In 2001, Bush was only talking about "progress" in even implementing the Act. In 2003 the Fleet Reserve Association testified before Congress that it "disagrees with the methodology used in collecting funds for the Millennium Act and transferring that money to the Treasury. VA’s rationale for this is to allow more discretionary VA spending under the current caps set in the Balanced Budget Act. The Association views this a slight of hand rather than a reliable business practice and firmly believes any money collected from veterans for veterans' health care should stay within the VHA. "
Here's another statement Bush made in the same speech. "For more than a century, federal law prohibited disabled veterans from receiving both their military retired pay and their VA disability compensation. Combat-injured and severely disabled veterans deserve better. I'm the first President in more than 100 years to sign concurrent receipt legislation. "
Sounds good and generous, eh? Well, look between the lines.
A high percentage of the severely disabled, combat-injured vets in the current war are NATIONAL GUARDSMEN AND RESERVISTS. They never HAD the same retirement package as active duty soldiers. In fact, most of them won't ever be eligible to receive it, anyway! The Rod Powers Military Service Guide states that for a guy or gal in the Reserves or National Guard to collect retirement pay, they had to have:
* Be at least 60 years of age [this lets Bush off the hook for every Afghanistan and Iraq war vet - let the future generation clean up his mess, is his motto!]
* Performed at least 20 years of qualifying service computed under Section 12732, Title 10, United States Code [most Afghan/Iraq war soldiers hadn't even started kindergarten 20 years ago]
• Have performed the last eight years of qualifying service while a member of the Active Reserve. (NOTE: If you completed your service requirement between 5 October 1994 and 30 September 2001, you need only have performed the last 6 years of qualifying service while a member of the active Reserve). (Added Note: Effective 1 October 2002, and on, the eight year requirement was changed to six years). [a high percentage of Afghan/Iraq war vets had only been in the Guard/reserves for a few years or less]
Powers goes on to try to explain the military's complex point system used to qualify guardsmen and reservists for retirement pay - a system which amounts to jumping through several progressively narrowing hoops.
So, ironically, the vets who will receive the most benefits under the new Bush plan are NOT the ones who served in the current war and will need it most in the future. In fact, the way it is shaping up, the vets from the current war be the most shabbily treated, underfunded, most seriously injured (percentagewise) of all US vets.
And Bush wants them to THANK HIM!??
FOR FURTHER READING: (to access embedded clickable links, go to http://cherylsealreports.com/bushscrewsvets.html
Testimony of Rick Surratt of the Disabled American Veterans on Feb. 8,2006 before Congress
About Reservist/Guard Retirement Benefits
Complete Text of Bush's 2/24 Speech
High Rate of Vet Claims Wrongly Denied
Fleet Reserve Association Testimony before Congress 2003
Message Board by American Patriot Friends Network [APFN]
