Proposal Would Bill Insurance for Costs of Veterans' Service Injuries

[phuloi]

Stand Up for Veterans Update More Info

March 4, 2009



Disabled American Veterans, along with ten leading veterans' organizations sent a letter to President Obama on February 27, 2009 denouncing a rumored proposal that would allow the VA to bill a veteran's insurance for the care and treatment of a disability or injury sustained as a result of military service. This policy would discourage companies from hiring disabled veterans, increase insurance premiums for disabled veterans and renege on the U.S. government's promise to care for all veterans injured during their service to our country. News of the proposal was first reported last week by CQ Today ("Advocate for Veterans Denounces Possibility of Using Third-Party Insurers") and appeared this week on CNN ("Vets object to billing private insurance for service injuries").

Op-Ed by Reps. Bob Filner (D-CA) and Phil Hare (D-IL): "VA Needs Its Budget On Time!"

In an op-ed that appeared in The Hill earlier this week, Reps. Filner and Hare encourage their colleagues to pass the Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act of 2009, noting "... the time for reforming the way we budget for our nation's veterans is now!"

Women Veterans Healthcare Improvement Act Reintroduced; DAV's Joy Ilem Offers Testimony in Support of Legislation

Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD) reintroduced legislation last week that would expand and improve VA health care services for women veterans. The Women Veterans Healthcare Improvement Act previously introduced in November 2007, seeks to address the unique health care needs of the growing number of women who have served in Iraqi and Afghanistan. DAV's Assistant National Legislative Director Joy Ilem testified yesterday before the House Veterans Affairs Committee Subcommittee on Health in support of the legislation. Du ring the hearing, Rep. Herseth Sandlin thanked the DAV for its "continued leadership in the effort to address the needs of women veterans and their support for this important legislation."


About the Stand Up for Veterans Initiative
Stand Up for Veterans is an initiative of the Disabled American Veterans, an organization of 1.4 million disabled veterans who are focused on building better lives for disabled veterans and their families. The initiative seeks to find public policy solutions for all veterans, particularly those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, who have incurred devastating injuries and disabilities, including traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychological wounds of war. Please visit www.standup4vets.org to learn more about this effort.


Stand up for veterans. They stood up for us.

[Arrow]

My bro told me the VA was passing on his service related medical bills to his private insurance and they were paying. He wrote and told them about it but got no response from the VA or the private insurance. He finally just gave up as you know he was way to sick to fight it.

[Packo]

The VA has been billing private insurance for years, if you have it. I'm 100% SC, Total and Perm. They still bill my Fed. Retired BlueCross/Blue Shield for visits, meds, etc. I have no problem with this as it eats up my deductable so when I see my private docs it's already paid. It's a way the VA can recoup some of it's money. Your deductable gets used up and you don't have to pay them the difference. If I use my private doctor, until the deductable is used up, I have to pay...so I always make sure I have appointments in January to eat it up. Years ago, when they first did this, it kinda pissed me off. Then I thought about it and said...hey, my deductables paid. If you don't have insurance and are SC, they take care of you. Non-SC, they take care of you for a very small co-pay. I don't have a problem with them billing insurance at all.

Pack