Cost of Treating Veterans Will Rise Long Past Wars

The time to debate the price of war is before they begin. After that, the price being paid by the men and women sent, should never be open to discussion. They should just be taken care of. War causes death. War causes wounds. While the congress may be able to easily accept the price of replacing equipment they should never, ever debate the price of taking care of the veterans. Anyone in congress even suggesting that funds should be cut from them as more and more are added to the ranks of combat veterans, should resign from office. They don't belong there. Any congressional district with a member of congress defending tax cuts for the wealthy at the same time they talk about cutting anything to do with veterans, should recall them and get them out of office. They have shown their loyalty is with the wealthy and they don't care about the men and women serving this nation with their lives instead of their mouths delivering yet one more speech on how much they "support the troops" when they turn around and take away from the veterans.

Cost of Treating Veterans Will Rise Long Past Wars
By JAMES DAO
Published: July 27, 2011

WASHINGTON — Though the withdrawal of American military forces from Iraq and Afghanistan will save the nation billions of dollars a year, another cost of war is projected to continue rising for decades to come: caring for the veterans.

By one measure, the cost of health care and disability compensation for veterans from those conflicts and all previous American wars ranks among the largest for the federal government — less than the military, Social Security and health care programs including Medicare, but nearly the same as paying interest on the national debt, the Treasury Department says.

Ending the current wars will not lower those veterans costs; indeed, they will rise ever more steeply for decades to come as the population of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan expands, ages and becomes more infirm. To date, more than 2.2 million troops have served in those wars.

Studies show that the peak years for government health care and disability compensation costs for veterans from past wars came 30 to 40 years after those wars ended. For Vietnam, that peak has not been reached.

In Washington, the partisan stalemate over cutting federal spending is now raising alarms among veterans groups and some lawmakers that the seemingly inexorable costs of veterans benefits will spur a backlash against those programs.

Though there is currently strong bipartisan support for veterans programs, some budget proposals, including from Senator Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma, and Representative Michele Bachmann, Republican of Minnesota, have called for trimming benefits for veterans and military retirees.
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Cost of Treating Veterans Will Rise Long Past Wars