I just got this from DAV re Health Care

[Jay]

Clarification of Effects of Health Insurance Reform Legislation on Veterans

More Info
March 30, 2010

A number of DAV members and others have asked how the new health insurance reform law (Public Law 111-148, approved on March 23, 2010) would affect our nation's veterans. As many of you know, in general the new law requires most U.S. citizens and legal residents to obtain private health insurance coverage by 2014 or they (or their employers) will face financial penalties through the US Tax Code.

Under this new law, we interpret that all veterans enrolled in Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care and their dependents and survivors under CHAMPVA, and all military families, military retirees and dependents enrolled in military health care, TRICARE, and TRICARE for Life, are deemed to have the minimum essential coverage that satisfies the individual requirement for health insurance coverage. As such, we believe these veterans and military families are not required to buy private coverage in addition to their government-provided health services, as the DAV had insisted to Congress and the Administration.

Furthermore, under the new law but outside VA and the Department of Defense (DOD), veterans and their family dependents, the same as all other Americans, may gain the option to buy a private plan through state-run insurance exchanges, beginning in 2014. Based on income limits, they may also be eligible for financial assistance in purchasing insurance coverage.

With all the misinformation that has appeared in the media and on the Internet, we can understand why some veterans and their families have become concerned about what they think might happen to them under the new law. One specific and unintended problem surfaced that concerns a few hundred severely disabled children of Vietnam and Korean War veterans with spina bifida, but that problem is being addressed now by the Veterans Committees in Congress with a technical correction. S. 3162, as passed by the Senate, would amend the reform law to guarantee that VA's spina bifida program for these children would be considered minimum essential coverage. Otherwise, we believe veterans who rely on VA health care and their family members who rely on CHAMPVA will be unaffected by the new health reform law.

Nonetheless, in an overabundance of caution due to ambiguous language, legislation has been introduced to clarify the intent of the law, as follows:


* H.R. 4887, already passed by the House and pending in the Senate (S. 3148), would provide that coverage under TRICARE and DOD's Non-appropriated Fund Health Benefits Program (for DOD employees of the Army and Air Force Exchange Service and others) constitutes minimal essential health care coverage as required by the health reform law.
* H.R. 4894 would amend the health reform law to ensure nothing in that law could be construed to diminish the authority of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs or the Secretary of Defense over the VA and DOD health care programs, respectively. This bill would also directly amend the reform law to ensure that enrollment in DOD or VA health care is considered minimum essential coverage.


DAV will remain vigilant to protect the VA health care system upon which so many service-connected disabled veterans rely. We will also continue to monitor the implementation of the health insurance reform law to ensure that it will not adversely impact our nation's wartime disabled veterans, their families or dependents.

[ricbak]

Thank you Sir. Stay alert!

[Jay]

Where will the anti-Christ come from? I'll bet he will be someone who can't produce a birth certificate and nobody remembers going to school with him. He'll probably be of Muslim descent and he will most certainly be a good speaker.

I fail to see the relevance to the original post in this thread.

[AvidshooterTX]

I fail to see the relevance to the original post in this thread.

This was somehow posted to the wrong topic and I deleted my post.

[Red Hat]

I got that same letter last week. We may not have to buy insurance but I'll bet my skivvies that they'll start cutting some care as soon as the idiots in Washington get total control of health care!

[Jeff Chance]

Good information there, but as Red Hat said, keep the awareness level up, as there is a long time between now and 2014.
JEFF

[kn1080]

Thank you very much for posting that. Ive been wondering. As Red Hat said however, I worry too that care will begin to be cut.

[old vet]

On May 4th, 5th, and 6th I was denied access to the Clarksburg, WV pharmacy to speak to someone about an incorrect medicine I was sent. The pills were the wrong size, color, etc. When I tried to speak with someone in t he pharmacy I was redirected to an out of state entity which was staffed with pencilpushers with no medical or medicinal training. Long story short, I was forced to try what they sent. It was not only wrong but also harmful and I spent two days in a private hospital trying to correct the VA's mistake. The damage may well be ongoing or even permanent. Vets, please be careful and have a PDR handy as the VA will no longer allow access to anyone with the knowledge to help.

[Jay]

That should NEVER happen. You should have stood there until a pharmacist answered your concerns. Contact your local county Veteran's Service Officer, and file a claim against the VA. Then Contact your Congress folks. Don't drop it......

[Conservative Wife & Mom]

old vet, was that a Walgreen's pharmacy that you were denied access to? The reason I ask is because I heard on the news, several weeks ago, that Walgreen's pharmacies in Washington State is not accepting NEW Medicare patients. If this is where the country is headed, due to Obamacare, the older folks and Baby Boomers are in trouble!