March 10, 2009
Highlights from VA News Briefing for
March 10, 2009
Veterans Groups Concerned About Private Insurance Proposal.
In continuing coverage, the
Marine Corp Times (3/10,
Maze) reports, "Major veterans and military groups like the Obama
administration's proposed $4.9 billion increase in the Veterans
Affairs Department budget for next year, but they don't like some
details, especially a proposal to raise money by billing veterans'
private health insurance for some of the cost of treating
service-connected injuries, illnesses and disease." Eleven
veterans groups complained about the proposal "in a Feb. 27 letter
to President Barack Obama, administration officials and
congressional leaders." The White House "has not responded to the
letter. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki, who is
scheduled to testify Tuesday" before the House and Senate Veterans
Affairs Committees "about the 2010 budget, is expected to be asked
by lawmakers to explain why VA thinks billing private insurance is
a good idea."
Advance Appropriations A Goal For Vets Groups.
The Hill (3/10, Tiron)
reports, "Veterans groups have already approached committee staff
members and lawmakers to ask that they press Shinseki" on the
proposal. Shinseki, however, "could already be in hot water over
another issue paramount to veterans groups: advance appropriations
to insure predictable medical care funding, particularly for
veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Veterans groups see
Shinseki, a former chief of staff of the Army, as backtracking
from statements he made during his confirmation hearing that
clearly supported advance appropriations.
In a related story, the
Wahpeton (ND) Daily News
(3/10, Hevern) reports, "Wahpeton resident Carroll Quam returned"
from Washington, DC, Thursday, "where he lobbied for veterans and
their families." Quam, the North Dakota American Legion Department
Commander, "joined a delegation of North Dakota Legionnaires also
vying to fight for funding to care for the nation's veterans of
past wars and to protect benefits for men and women currently
serving." During his trip, Quam "connected most with a
presentation given by American Legion National Commander David
Rehbein," who stressed that through President Obama's budget
funding for the VA, healthcare "should be granted in a timely and
sufficient manner. 'Therefore, the American Legion wants approved
advance appropriations of discretionary funding,' Rehbein said in
a press release."
Impact:
VA Budget
Clinic Official Says VA Facilities Are Waiting For Portraits Of
Obama, Shinseki.
In a letter to the editor of the
Redding (CA) Record Searchlight
(3/9) Basil Privitt, the site director for the Veterans Affairs
outpatient clinic in Redding, wrote, "Department of Veterans
Affairs hospitals and clinics across the country are awaiting
delivery of the official photograph for both President Obama
and...newly appointed" Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki.
The Government Printing Office is currently mass-producing these
photos to distribute them to all federal agencies, and I can
assure you" that the Redding "clinic will proudly display our
president's image as soon as it arrives."
Impact:
Official Portraits
Damage Done To Vets' Hearing Raises Profile Of Tinnitus.
The
Washington Post (3/10, HE01,
Wilkinson) says that after Nathan Green "was knocked unconscious"
by a rocket blast in Iraq last year, he began hearing the
"high-pitched whine and static buzz of an AM radio. All the time."
Nobody "knows quite how big a group Green," who suffers from
tinnitus, "has joined. Based on a 2007 survey, the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention estimates that some 23 million
people in the country hear something when there is no external
sound present." The Post says tinnitus "has drawn increased
attention lately because the Department of Veterans Affairs
counted about 400,000 veterans affected by the condition through
2006 and reported in 2008 that just over 93,000 returning Iraq
veterans were affected."
Impact:
OEF/OIF issues