This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Veteran Health Care

  • Your free healthcare just got more expensive

    The Defense Department announced a premium increase for your Tricare premiums. Nice of them to wait until they were told to raise premiums by Congress, wasn’t it? The Associated Press likes to refer to the increases as “just a fraction of what civilians pay”, “modest” and “slightly more”;

    Military retirees will pay slightly more for their health care starting Saturday, and more cost increases are on the way.

    Premiums haven’t been raised since 1994 and still will be just a fraction of what civilians pay. Under a change announced by the Defense Department on Thursday, individuals who enroll in the retiree program as of Saturday will pay $260 annually, up from $230, and it will be $520 annually for a family, up from $460.

    Retirees already in the program will not see any increase until next year because they have already paid for this year. But “modest annual increases” are planned in the future, Cynthia Smith, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said.

    It doesn’t matter how much the increase is, it’s 100% higher than “none” which is what the government promised when we decided to make a career out of the military and make the sacrifices we made in exchange for this benefit.

    But don’t worry, DoD has unilaterally decided that you can afford this and future increases, despite what your own budget math might show;

    Gates particularly singled out working-age retirees – those in their 40s who retired after 20 years in the military and can go on to second careers, meaning they are likely to be able to afford a small increase, he said.

    “Likely”? What if it’s “unlikely” that a veteran can’t afford to pay the higher premiums? What benefits are Education Department or EPA retirees willing to sacrifice to balance the budget? Has anyone even asked them?

  • The TriCare fight

    Stars & Stripes’ Tom Philpot reports that “Tricare facing fiscal fight over funding“;

    The White House debt cutting plan, delivered to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, confirms what advocates for Tricare beneficiaries had feared: that they are expected to share in the fiscal sacrifices to be asked of millions of Americans drawing federal entitlements.

    Military associations sound equally alarmed by the rhetoric in the White House recommendations suggesting that key military benefits are just too generous and must be brought nearer to what civilians receive.

    Ya know what? I wrote my two Senators (Rockefeller (WV-D) and Manchin (WV-D) and my Congressman (McKinley (WV-1-R)) in regards to jacking around with veterans’ benefits and I told them I wouldn’t vote for anyone who voted for screwing veterans. I got answers from my senators and nothing from my congressman yet. But neither senator even read my letter – they talked about debt reduction and not a word about veterans’ benefits. So I guess that means I’m screwed.

    As I age, my body is going to shit and i need the medical benefits I was promised. I take 16 pills and one injection every day, so far. And I haven’t even been prescribed anything for my latest malady. One of the main reasons I stayed on active duty for a career was to keep the health benefits, since the pension is pretty anemic. And I know I’m not the only one out here.

    The White House notes that TFL users now pay only the Medicare Part B premium, $110 a month for most, and pharmacy co-pays. Otherwise they face no out of pocket health costs. By contrast, private sector elderly, in 2009, paid on average $2100 a year for their “Medigap” policy.

    The annual TFL fee would save a $6.7 billion over 10 years.

    So that’s what my health is now…a way for the government to avoid shutting down the Education Department or the Commerce Department.

    The unusual structure adopted in August to reach a final debt deal — with the president and Congress conceding to the joint or “super” committee of 12 lawmakers responsibility to shape a take-it-or-leave-it legislative package by November 23 –- almost certainly handcuffs the influence of lobbyists to derail whatever package of cost curbs the committee’s majority embraces.

    “It changes the dynamic considerably,” said a key congressional staff member. “The changes get rolled into a package and all of a sudden it looks like just your fair share. And we shouldn’t take our fair share?”

    Fair share? If I was a medicaid patient looking at a reduced benefit, the media and Congress would be crowded around me at the microphones – but I’m a veteran getting screwed because it’s my “fair share”.

    But Arnold Punaro, a retired Marine major general, strongly supports initiatives to slow Tricare cost growth as well as retirement reforms for new entrants. He applauds the planned retirement commission, urging that a prominent military leader, like retired Gen. Colin Powell, serve as chairman.

    Yeah, that’s what we need – Colin Powell sticking up for us like he did for Bush. Like he did in the last presidential election when he chose race over competence. No thanks. It looks like we already have too many generals turning their backs on the troops ONCE AGAIN in this battle for what we earned once.

    Bonus March, anyone?

  • The New York Times’ James Dao and Mary Williams Walsh eat a big steaming bag of dicks

    Yeah, if you want to piss me off early in the morning, all you have to do is compare military retirement to social welfare programs like James Dao and Mary Williams Walsh did in the New York Times this morning;

    As Washington looks to squeeze savings from once-sacrosanct entitlements like Social Security and Medicare, another big social welfare system is growing as rapidly, but with far less scrutiny: the health and pension benefits of military retirees.

    Yeah, I understand that many of the recipients of Social Security and Medicare paid tens of thousands of dollars each into those programs, but, then they’re not “social welfare programs” in the traditional sense of the word. And military retirement isn’t either. There are scads of Social Security and medicare recipients who haven’t paid in a penny into the system. You fucknuts need to find something else to compare to military retirement benefits.

    Is the retirement that autoworkers or teamsters get from their respective unions social welfare programs? Then neither are retirement benefits from the military.

    But the idiots on whom they’re reporting are just as stupid;

    Advocates of revamping the systems argue that they are not just fiscally untenable but also unfair.

    […]

    Those critics also argue that under the current rules, 83 percent of former service members receive no pension payments at all — because only veterans with 20 years of service are eligible. Those with 5 or even 15 years are not, even if they did multiple combat tours. Such a structure would be illegal in the private sector, and a company that tried it could be penalized, experts say.

    “It cries out for some rationalization,” said Sylvester J. Schieber, a former chairman of the Social Security Advisory Board. “Why should we ask somebody to sustain a system that’s unfair by any other measure in our society?”

    Unfair? Unfair for whom? You idiots who didn’t retire from the military at 20 years? What’s unfair is making a promise with no intention of keeping up your end after the intended recipient has contributed his part.

    And, oh, by the way there are scads of us who didn’t finish twenty years and are still retired, so don’t toss out that unfair canard without doing a little research first.

    A wild-card factor in the debate is the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, which some experts say could avoid the stigma of cutting benefits while troops are at war.

    “The fact that you are getting out of Iraq and Afghanistan does make it easier,” said Lawrence J. Korb, a senior Pentagon official in the Reagan administration who was a co-author of a recent proposal for reducing the cost of military health care. “When the war in Iraq was in terrible shape, it was hard to get people to join the military, and no one wanted to touch any military benefits.”

    Oh, yeah, that way the nimrods won’t look like they hate the troops engaged in combat. I’ve got news for you…there’s going to be another war, you’re going to need the troops again, so no matter what you do between wars to stigmatize service will still rub off on your creamy smooth pale skin.

    And now insult me by comparing me to state and municipal employees;

    Last year, for every dollar the Pentagon paid service members, it spent an additional $1.36 for its military retirees, a much smaller group. Even in the troubled world of state and municipal pension funds, pensions almost never cost more than payrolls.

    “Almost never?” That means that there instances of pensions costing more than payroll, so why say it? And, by the way, state and municipal employees go home every night to their families and never spend a night away from home without recompense. They don’t sleep on the ground for months, pick ticks out of the crack of their asses, sit on scorpions, fight off herds of monkeys in the dark and any number of other things that are almost a daily inconvenience to the troops…things that would have state and municipal employees running screaming for their union rep.

    If you want people who will put up with the shit that soldiers put up with, there’s a price you have to pay for that type of person. Calling that price “unfair” after the fact is petty and small and proves that with all of your vast experience, you know nothing about that which you are speaking.

    “At some point, the cost pressures by the retirement benefits will really start to impede military capabilities.”

    Not like having a hollow force will.

  • How Far Would YOU Go?

    It’s taken me a coupla days to calm down enough to post this one. I kept reading about the thing and getting pissed. For something different each time, mind you, but even as semi-literate as I am a post with little more than WTF! said over and over seemed a waste of time.

    So here goes: Army vet with PTSD sought the treatment he needed by taking hostages – but got jail instead

    Fifteen months of carnage in Iraq had left the 29-year-old debilitated by post-traumatic stress disorder. But despite his doctor’s urgent recommendation, the Army failed to send him to a Warrior Transition Unit for help. The best the Department of Veterans Affairs could offer was 10-minute therapy sessions — via videoconference.

    So, early on Labor Day morning last year, after topping off a night of drinking with a handful of sleeping pills, Quinones barged into Fort Stewart’s hospital, forced his way to the third-floor psychiatric ward and held three soldiers hostage, demanding better mental health treatment.

    “I’ve done it the Army’s way,” Quinones told Henson. “We’re going to do it my way now.”

    Aside: As a ‘Nam vet watching friends and others trying to get help before there even WAS a diagnosis of PTSD around; and watching civilians who had watched one too many movies about Crazy Vietnam Vets cringe away from me when it became known I’d visited the place I reckon I’m just a bit sensitive.

    The story of  “Q” gets worse as it unfolds:

    He saw an Army therapist twice a week, and he was prescribed high doses of medications to treat anxiety, panic attacks, insomnia and depression. In March 2009, his psychiatrist completed the Army’s Warrior Screening Matrix, a tool implemented by the service to determine when a soldier should be assigned to a Warrior Transition Unit, a medical unit for injured soldiers.

    The doctor answers questions about a soldier’s ability to perform his duties, his behavioral health, treatment needs, drug or alcohol abuse, suicide history, medical compliance, life stressors such as divorce and whether the illness or injury affects self-worth.

    Each answer gets a corresponding number, which are all totaled for a score.

    Less than 29: no need for the WTU.

    Between 30 and 199: Possible need for the WTU.

    Between 200 and 999: Needs to go to the WTU.

    A score of 1,000 or above: Failure to assign a soldier to the WTU is likely to hurt treatment.

    Quinones scored 2,331. The psychiatrist underlined it twice on the paperwork.

    He left a voicemail for Quinones’ company commander, but in the Army’s system, medical professionals are largely consultants. The decision on how to proceed is up to the commander.

    Quinones was never sent to the WTU. 

    There’s a lot of Army terms I’m unfamiliar with, but the story DOES come from S&S. The comments offer further validity.

    And it pisses me off! Not quite sure what to do next, but it’s for certain that this story needs to get out there.

     

  • Tom Coburn’s plan to screw military retirees

    Washington Post reports that Senator Tom Coburn is coming for our Tricar. I read the article yesterday, but I was so pissed, I had to wait until this morning to write about it. I tried to call Coburn’s office to verify these statements, but the call went straight to the vmail which is apparently full.

    Here’s what the Post quoted;

    Former defense secretary Robert M. Gates proposed raising Tricare Prime enrollment fees for single retirees from $230 a year to $260 a year and fees for retiree families from $460 a year to $520 a year. Coburn wants the fees to be much higher and more in line with private-sector health plans.

    Another comparison he makes is to other federal government workers whose plans are not as cheap. A medical doctor, Coburn told reporters last Monday: “Nobody in the country, as a single person working 20 years for the government, should be able to get health care for $250 a year. Nobody was ever promised that, and nobody should be able to do that.”

    You’re right, Coburn, nobody was promised healthcare for $250/year. We were promised free health care. For life. In exchange for our health and our youth. That’s why I stayed in the Army when I was being paid $256/month. that’s why I reenlisted for the Army when I was promoted to Sergeant and got a whopping $22/month raise for my family of four. It was the free health care that kept me in – knowing my wife and I were covered for life.

    [H]e wants to increase the enrollment fee for single retirees to “approximately $2,000 per year and $3,500 for a family.” At the same time he would limit out-of-pocket expenses at $7,500 for those retirees with families. He thinks these changes could save $11.5 billion a year.

    His Tricare for life would require retirees to pay up to $550 for half the initial cost not covered by Medicare and then up to $3,025, after which all costs would be paid by Tricare. This change could save $4.3 billion a year.

    How can the government get away with changing the contract they made with us 40 years ago after we paid off our portion of the contract? I don’t see anyone proposing the same increases in Medicaid – people who have never paid a penny, or a minute of their lives, for their health care expenses.

    I understand that the government is in debt and I understand that they need to save money, but why is the focus on the folks who have no real voice and have no way to retaliate? Why isn’t Coburn looking at the savings of shutting down or drawing down the redundant functions of the Commerce Depart or the Education Department?

    Whenever anyone is looking for savings in government spending, it’s always retirees, military or otherwise, who get hit. Clinton’s “balanced budget” was on the backs of military retirees’ healthcare and DoD’s manpower and training costs. Carter slashed military funding and didn’t “come to Jesus” until his last month in office. We’ve already been hit with co Cost of Living increases for two years in a row in our military pensions and Social Security. Our income taxes on those monies went up and now they want to take even more by hiking our health care costs? Where do we go to justice?

    And where are the Democrats? They’re always quick to jump on anyone who goes after the benfits of welfare queens and drug dealers. So where is their support for the troops that I hear about so often?

    Coburn’s number is 202-224-5754 if you can get through.

  • The “Gang of Six” is coming for defense money – and retirees

    Yeah, that plan that the “Gang of Six” (or Seven) Senators who are proposing an alternate to the spending bill which passed the House yesterday are relying heavily on cuts to Defense and restructuring payments to military and Social Security retirees. in the National Journal is a report that Buck McKeon, Chairman of the House Armed Service Committee isn’t very happy with their proposals;

    Seizing on an analysis of the bipartisan Senate group’s plan released on Tuesday by the House Budget Committee, McKeon said the proposal would cut $886 billion in security spending over the next 10 years.

    A summary of the gang’s proposal circulated on Tuesday contained little detail on defense or other security cuts. But the gang has said its plan is consistent with suggestions made by the Simpson-Bowles fiscal commission, which recommended trimming security accounts by $886 billion over the next decade.

    Defense is easy to cut, it takes no real skill to cut the pay, benefits and war fighting material for a minority of Americans, as opposed to slashing eligibility for SSI or welfare…or slashing operations costs for Congress.

    And they’re coming for your retirement checks, both military and Social Security;

    In his memo, McKeon said the proposal would require changes to military retirement and other benefits – a difficult issue on Capitol Hill, where many lawmakers are reluctant to scale back compensation and benefits for current and retired service personnel.

    “It is our belief that this proposal raises serious implications for defense and would not allow us to perform our constitutional responsibility to provide for the safety and security of our country or keep faith with men and women in uniform,” McKeon wrote.

    And in the Marine Corps Times, they report that that the Cost-of-Living-Allowance (COLA) that you haven’t got the last two years, well, it’s been too much, so the Gang of Six (or Seven) wants to cut that, too;

    A bipartisan group of a half-dozen senators Tuesday presented a deficit-reduction proposal that would mean smaller annual cost-of-living adjustments for federal and military retirees.

    The so-called Gang of Six said the government should switch to the so-called chained Consumer Price Index to set all inflationary adjustments, including COLAs, for federal and military pensions and Social Security payments.

    I suppose it’s because we’ve always just sat back and taken it in the ass whenever they want to save money on the political cheap. It’s never cost them anything, so why not take a whack at the old fucks again – those of us who’ve already paid off our part of the contract.

  • Those nutty vets

    Olga sent us a link last week about James Hackemer, the legless iraq veteran who fell to his death from a roller coaster in my old stomping grounds at Darien Lake amusement park. I thought that it was a tragedy, but there wasn’t much I could say about it. Until today when our buddy David Bellavia linked a Democrat and Chronicle article on Facebook. the title of the article is “Roller coaster death shows risks of veterans’ thrill-seeking”;

    Combat veterans are known to come home from war hungry for adrenaline, taking up things like motorcycle racing or sky diving to satisfy their cravings. And some who come home without arms or legs are simply determined to do the things they did before war redefined normal.

    James Hackemer’s family insists the father of two who lost both his legs to a roadside bomb in Iraq was no thrill-seeker, but his fatal fall from a roller coaster highlights the challenge of balancing the desire for excitement and even normalcy with the reality of new disabilities.

    Yeah, it’s because of the Iraq War that he was on the rollercoaster. And why were the other people on that same ride? And why do hundreds of thousands of Americans ride roller coasters every year in this country despite the fact that most of them have never been to Iraq? Why couldn’t James Hackemer have been on that roller coaster because he wanted to be normal and spend time with his family? Why does it have to be because he needed an adrenaline rush to replace the one he had in combat? Why couldn’t he just want to be like everyone else in spite of his injuries?

    “Going on a high-speed roller coaster is not the same as getting shot at and the danger involved with it is next to nothing, but it’s just the intensity of the high speed, the curves and everything else that are just so exciting,” said Dr. James Tuorila, a psychologist who’s worked with veterans and their “adrenaline addiction.”

    Fuck you, ya ignorant asshole pseudo-intellectual fuckstick. Why can’t we take our kids on an amusement park ride without being accused of being nutty rush-junkies who can’t put the war behind us? I’ll bet James Tuorilais is one of those faggots who won’t ride a roller coaster because it’s too scary for his pussy ass.

    I used to deliver the Democrat and Chronicle during the days of the Vietnam War when it was good newspaper that reported the facts, but I wouldn’t line a bird cage with it now. If that’s the kind of tripe they print now, letting a bird or a dog shit on it would be redundant.

  • White House sends condolence letters to suicide NOK

    Tman sends us a link to a Stars & Stripes article which announces that the White House has begun sending condolence letters to military suicide next-of-kin after being prodded by Senators Boxer and Burr, the chairs of the Senate Military Family Caucus.

    Previously, the White House would send presidential condolences to the families of those who died either in combat or as a result of noncombat incidents in a war zone. Condolence letters were not sent to the families of those who commit suicide, either at home or at war. A White House official said Tuesday the new policy was adopted this week.

    Yeah, OK, good, but this is a bandaid to make voters feel better about voting for the President. If they really wanted to do something about it, the White House would do something about preventing suicides in the first place.

    Parachute Cutie/Tankerbabe credits me with saving a young soldier from committing suicide. I don’t know if that’s true or not because all I did was talk to him comparing our experiences and saying the same things to him that COB6 told me after our war. Do I think the White House should pay me for that? No, but they need to provide more veterans the opportunity to talk to soldiers who are at risk.

    I think this is the idea behind this video that Medal of Honor awardees made last year;

    But, I think there needs to be a direct channel from veterans to at-risk soldiers and only the White House and the DVA can provide that channel. I’m sure there are thousands of us who would volunteer our time and experience if it meant saving a few lives, but the resources spent on letters to grieving families could be spent on bringing the real experience to bear on the problem.