Dakota Beacon

Massive health care overhaul is a “done deal” despite its unpopularity.

One group is particularly concerned about their future medical care and the impact of the health care overhaul bill. These are the men and women of the armed services including veterans, retirees and active duty personnel -- the people who actually did something for their country. Unbelievably, medical compensation for their service is now at risk.

After the fact, House lawmakers had second thoughts on March 20 and voted 403 to 0 on HR 4887 to protect TRICARE military beneficiaries from unintended consequences of the national health care overhaul bill (HR 3590) signed into law by President Obama on March 23. This is what happens when congress doesn’t read a 2700 page bill.

HR 4887 would clarify the tax code to ensure that TRICARE coverage provided by Department of Defense is treated as minimal essential coverage. This clarification would secure service members, retirees and their families from requirements to purchase additional coverage or pay penalties to meet the new health insurance requirements.

With passage of the national health care reform bill, skepticism and anxiety among military veterans and retirees has never been higher. That uneasy feeling is justified. Here’s why.

Efforts were made early on to include corrective language in both the health care overhaul bill and the reconciliation bill addressing issues for veterans and retirees from all services. However, recommendations and suggestions provided to the House and Senate by The Military Coalition were patently rejected.

The Military Coalition (http://www.themilitarycoalition.org) is an alliance of 34 organizations representing 5.5 million members of the uniformed services -- active, reserve, retired, survivors, veterans -- and their families. The unified efforts of these organizations including the Association of the US Army, the Air Force Association, the Association of the US Navy, the National Association of the Uniformed Services, the Marine Corps League and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, among others, give voice to a broad cross section of military veterans and retirees. TMC may be one of the most formidable lobbying forces ever to fight on behalf of service members.

Nevertheless, the House and Senate chose not to honor any change in language and rejected amendments to “fix” HR 3590, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and HR 4872, the Health Care Reconciliation Act.

It is unknown what the Senate will do now with the House-passed HR 4887. Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) has introduced companion legislation in the Senate.

Both houses of congress chose not to adopt clarifying language in the original bills and this does not sit well with veterans groups. Why should they trust White House and congressional leaders who rejected amendments to the bills’ language and who now “assure” veterans and retirees that the health care reform law will not adversely affect VA and TRICARE beneficiaries? Without the explicit language in the law, assurances from the highest levels leave room for doubt, a lot of doubt. Concerns remain high among millions of active and retired military and veterans of all services despite the continuing sales pitch by congressmen and senators on Easter recess.

Who’s looking out for the military veterans and retirees? Certainly not the North Dakota congressional delegation. Given the opportunity, Senators Conrad and Dorgan and Congressman Pomeroy did not act to protect the health care needs of the military, the same military that protects them.

Undoubtedly, health care for everyone must be paid for. At what cost? Broken promises to veterans in order to fund the health care bill? The budgets of the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs are easy targets for cutting funds to pay for the health care overhaul.

At the current rate, military veterans and retirees can look forward to fighting over budget scraps doled out by an ungrateful congress after “higher” priorities are funded. It was never supposed to be like this. It is ethically and morally correct that promises made to veterans and retirees decades ago be kept.

If military veterans and retirees must do battle with other government departments for a diminishing slice of the health care pie, then they are up for one more fight.

Game on!

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at P. O. Box 337, Stanley, ND 58784 or (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).