Military.com: VA Budget: Praise and a Warning

[SemiCharmedQuark]

President Obama is drawing high praise from veterans' service organizations for proposing a Department of Veterans Affairs budget that would exceed by $1.3 billion what even VSOs suggested be spent next year.

No president before ever offered a VA spending plan that surpassed in size the "Independent Budget" presented to Congress by major veterans groups. Obama seeks to fulfill several high-profile promises made to veterans during his presidential campaign including a big increase in VA healthcare budgets. But it was a new and unpopular proposal being studied by the administration that created uncomfortable moments for VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki when he made separate appearances Tuesday before the House and Senate veterans' affairs committees.

Obama's VA budget outline, with full details promised by late April, would raise VA spending to $112.8 billion in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. That's an increase of $15 billion, or 15 percent, over the current budget.
"This is the largest dollar and percentage increase ever requested by a President for veterans," Shinseki told lawmakers.

The plan allows the VA health care system to enroll up to 550,000 new Priority Group 8 veterans by 2013. These are veterans who have no service-connected ailments and have incomes deemed adequate based on family size and geographic location. The total for new enrollees includes 266,000 Group 8 veterans already slated to enroll in VA health system starting this summer under a funding initiative Congress passed last fall.
...

Shinseki received a warm welcome when he presented the budget outline to the Senate and House veterans' affairs committees. But he also got a string of strong warnings from committee members over a cost-saving proposal that Shinseki conceded is under study. The administration is considering charging veterans' health insurance plans earned through civilian employment for VA's costs in treating service-connected injuries or ailments...Shinseki emphasized that this is only "a consideration" and not yet part of Obama's budget request. But members of the veterans' committees wanted Shinseki to know they won't support the proposal.

http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,186747,00.html

Thanks to wmbrew0206 who found the article

[bluestateguy]

1. All the conservative veterans that voted for McCain can take the private insurance

Since they seem to think that private insurance is so much better than government run health care.

[ProSense]

2. Unconfirmed report with pieced together word in qoutes as facts

There has been no proposal. The consideration doesn't even appear to have anything to do with the rumored: Veterans paying for their own health care. With no full quote from Shinseki, it's impossible to validate the claim in this piece.

Here is the link to the March 10 hearing. In fact, Shinseki did not respond to Senator Murray directly during the hearing, and it appears his "consideration" is eliminating the existing third-party revenue stream from the budget.

Here is the proposal Obama addressed today.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

3. I posted the article because it focused on all aspects of the plan.

The plan is a huge improvement for the VA. But nobody is paying attention to that. I thought this job did a good job of highlighting this.