KTTC-TV reports Uninsured Veterans Increasing. A local post commander is interviewed:
When it comes to veterans American Legion Commander Glenn Mueller takes their health seriously.
Mueller says, "Even us healthy ones. Sooner or later something goes wrong."
But, when a new report says one out of eight American Veterans under the age of 65 is uninsured, that's an estimated 1-point-8 million vets, he wasn't even stunned.
"It's not a surprise that rate. It'd be nice if everyone of us had that insurance not matter how much money you earn. It's not fair," says Mueller.
Mueller says several reasons come to mind for that high number and why these doors are too often closed for vets.
One is because some vets are ineligible for VA care because of their incomes being too high or two low.
Mueller says, "To me every vet should be eligible to go up to the VA and get treatment they need at no cost. I mean we served our government well. Everyone of us whether WWI, Korea, Vietnam, WWII, the young men and women serving now, they all deserve that right to have that insurance when they come back to be taken care of."
USA Today has more on the Harvard Medical School report:
The number of uninsured veterans jumped sharply in the first half of the decade to 1.8 million in 2004, a new study shows.
Conducted by researchers at the Harvard Medical School, the study shows the uninsured veteran population rose twice as fast as the uninsured in the general population.
The increase in veterans lacking insurance coincides with Bush administration policies aimed at limiting the number of veterans eligible for VA coverage, according to the study published online Tuesday in the American Journal of Public Health.
In 2002, the administration stopped marketing veterans health care and, in January 2003, cut off access to future veterans earning more than $30,000 to $35,000 annually on average. Both times, VA officials cited budgetary constraints and backlogs in untreated patients.
Only a minority of veterans — those disabled by military service — are automatically eligible for VA care, the study says.
Coverage continues for veterans already enrolled, poor veterans, Purple Heart recipients and former prisoners of war.
"Most uninsured veterans are low- to middle-income workers who may be too poor to afford private coverage but are not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid for Medicaid or free VA care," the study says.
Representative Walz's office posted Walz Supports Bill to Provide Healthcare to Uninsured Veterans on his Congressional web site, announcing his support of H.R. 463, the Honor Our Commitment to Veterans Act.
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