Veterans score one more undo of Bush policy

I received this from a member of NAMI

VA Reopening Health Care Enrollment to Thousands of Veterans
On June 15, The Department of Veterans Affairs is poised to welcome nearly 270,000 more Veterans back into medical centers and clinics across the country by expanding enrollment.

Under a new regulation, VA will enroll Veterans whose income exceeds current means-tested thresholds by up to 10 percent. These Veterans were excluded from VA medical care limits were imposed in 2003 on Veterans with no service-connected disabilities. There is no income limit for Veterans with service-connected disabilities. (see my comment below on this)

Veterans who have applied for VA health care at any point in 2009 will have their applications reconsidered under the new formula. Those who applied before 2009, but were rejected due to income, must reapply. VA will contact eligible Veterans through a direct-mail campaign, Veterans Service Organizations, and a national and regional marketing campaign.

Information about enrollment and an income and assets calculator is available at www.va.gov/healtheligibility.

The calculator provides a format in which Veterans enter their household income, number of dependents, and zip codes to see if they qualify for VA health care currently or under the change effective June 15. In addition to applying online, Veterans may also contact VA’s Health Benefits Service Center at 1-877-222 VETS (1-877-222-8387).

Each VA Medical Center across the country has an enrollment coordinator available to provide Veterans information about this program.

Notice the date this rule was in place? It was 2003 under President Bush. This is one more step in the direction to undo some of the damage done to this nation's veterans.

As for the comment about "service connected" not being charged, that all depends on if they have a VA rating and approved claim. Otherwise, the term "service connected" does not apply unless the VA approves the claim. This is one more thing that Congress needs to undo. In the 90's a rules change allowed the VA to collect for any "non-service connected treatment" if the veteran had income. This rule changed allowed the VA to collect for treatment on any real service connected disability if the claim had not been approved. Considering the huge backlog of claims, this is doing a lot more harm to veterans than anything else. Those claims in the pile are from veteran seeking treatment and compensation for what happened in service and they are being charged for the treatments.