President Bush Vetoes Defense-Policy Bill That Had Veterans Health Funding

Veterans Health

reports (Pullizi, President Bush on Dec. 28, 2007, vetoed a $696 billion defense-policy bill (HR 1585) that included improvements to veterans' health care benefits and pay increases for servicemembers, the Wall Street JournalWall Street Journal, 12/29/07).

The bill would have included nearly $950 million for military health care in fiscal year 2008. The bill included four amendments, including one that would have barred most personality-disorder discharges from the military until the Pentagon submits a report on such discharges and another that would have ensured wounded veterans receive transitional care from the military for 180 days from the time the servicemember is separated from active duty. The third amendment would have extended for one year current prohibitions on raising military health care fees and prescription drug copayments, while the final amendment would have permitted National Guard and Reserve members who have served two years of active-duty service to receive accelerated G.I. Bill educational benefits (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 10/2/07).

In a statement released by the White House, Bush said the bill contained a provision that would have placed the U.S. in a position to face liability lawsuits linked to actions that occurred under former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's rule (Wall Street Journal, 12/29/07). According to the New York Times, the veto "surprised and infuriated Democratic lawmakers and even some Republicans, who complained the White House had failed to raise its concerns earlier." White House officials said the administration will collaborate with lawmakers to restore dozens of new military and veterans programs when Congress reconvenes this month (Myers/Herszenhorn, New York Times, 12/29/07).

TRICARE

S. Ward Casscells, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, said he believes enrollment fees, copayments and deductibles for military retirees and dependents covered under TRICARE will "begin to gradually go up" within "the next year or two," the Newport News Daily Press reports. The Task Force on the Future of Military Health Care has proposed that higher fees and copays for retirees younger than age 65 and their families be phased in over four years and that TRICARE Standard beneficiaries, the fee-for-service plan, pay higher deductibles. Congress for the last two years has worked to block the increases, saying that Department of Defense officials had "options to constrain the growth of health care spending in ways that don't disadvantage" retirees.

Casscells on Dec. 13, 2007, told reporters that the task force "just made so much sense" because 12 years of frozen fees can have an "adverse" effect on TRICARE benefits. Casscells said that military retirees who continue to work and shift from employer-based health plans to TRICARE are raising system costs, adding, "TRICARE has gotten so popular that if we subsidize it artificially, we will do so at the detriment to our military treatment facilities."

According to Casscells, the higher fees proposed by the task force are "being discussed now" in the Pentagon and with the White House Office of Management and Budget, and they likely will be endorsed in some form in the president's fiscal year 2009 defense appropriations bill (Newport News Daily Press, 12/30/07).

Editorial

Congress in December 2007 "took a big step in making amends" for "the disgraceful way" the U.S. has "treated its returning war wounded" by incorporating the Wounded Warrior Act into the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act and appointing a new Department of Veterans Affairs secretary, a Washington Post editorial states. According to the Post, these efforts "aimed at fixing and upgrading the military health care system" are "important developments in righting the wrongs against America's soldiers."

The legislation calls for "improvements in health care and benefits and the beginning of disability reform," the editorial states. It adds, "Most significant, the measure sets in place an overarching policy that requires [VA] and the Defense Department to work together -- not at cross-purposes -- on comprehensive reforms."

The Post continues, "Still on the to-do list is the big issue of how to restructure the disability system." The editorial concludes, "No one questions the need for fixes, but how to carry out reform is proving to be a thorny issue, one that requires the continued attention of Congress if it wants to support the troops" (Washington Post, 12/22/07).