Thursday, January 15, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

'Dereliction of duty'

Local veterans fear health care is next on Bush's chopping block

By Larry Wills

Southern Nevada veterans, witnessing proposed cuts in military benefits, are waiting for the other shoe to fall. They worry their health care may be next.

"This is wrong," says Bill Brzezinski, Nevada adjutant for the Disabled American Veterans. He believes the aging population makes the veterans politically vulnerable. "They figure we're a diminishing group. Veterans are uneasy about their future."

The controversy erupted last month when sources leaked a plan by the Office of Management and Budget, an arm of the White House, to raise drug co-pays for military retirees. The story broke in the Norfolk (Va.) Pilot and the New York Times, creating a firestorm of criticism from military associations. The Military Officers Association of America called it "a grossly insensitive and wrongheaded proposal." The Air Force Sergeants Association warned the plan would erode political support for the Bush administration among veterans and retirees because of "indifference and disrespect."

Even a Democratic presidential candidate got into the act. Sen. Joe Lieberman accused Bush of "dereliction of duty." Despite assurances from Pentagon officials that the planned increase in co-pays had been scrubbed, critics wonder if it's really dead. President Bush's proposed budget will be released in a matter of weeks and health-care contracts are due for renewal in April.

"We're still seeing it out there," says David Cherry, press secretary to Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev.

The Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel reported that the Bush administration also wants to double drug co-payments for many veterans. A spokesman for the Lieberman campaign who did not want to be identified confirmed that report. "It's our understanding that the administration plans to raise co-payments for veterans. The bottom line is to save some money."

What's particularly worrisome to many veterans is the secrecy surrounding the proposal, and whether other benefit reductions are in the offing. That secrecy has spilled over into related areas, such as identifying the injuries of the troops wounded in the Iraq war.

David Gorman, executive director of the DAV in Washington, says his organization has even been barred from visiting the wounded at Walter Reed Hospital. "Our guys go in there to talk to the active-duty guys on how to go through the system." But the administration won't permit those visits over privacy concerns. More than 2,200 have been wounded in the Iraqi war, many of whom will never fully recover. Earlier, the administration barred the press from covering bodies being returned from the war to Dover Air Force Base. "Certain people in the administration portray our warrior as the best of the best," says Gorman, 'but when they come back less than whole, they're forgotten. No one's convinced me there is a true commitment."

Irving Finver of the Jewish War Veterans fears more bad news is coming. "Uncle Sam is really screwing the veterans now," he says. He says many low-income veterans are already complaining about the increase in VA drug co-pays enacted last year from $3 to $7. Some veterans are on multiple medications, which they renew every three months. "If you get 10 of these at the same time, you're talking about $210."

David Martinez, spokesman for the local VA, says most of the 37,000 veterans served in Southern Nevada are 65 and older. "A lot are on Social Security," he says. They pay $15 for a doctor's visit and $50 for specialty care, unless their disabilities are service-connected, in which case no fees are charged. Those on limited incomes can obtain help with their costs for one year.

Finver says many of the veterans are low-income and simply can't afford those costs. "A lot of them are homeless but they still have got to pay for this stuff." Worse, OMB officials are defending the high co-pays for retirees that would reach more than $20 a prescription, saying they're equivalent to VA charges, which they aren't--unless the VA boosts its co-payments another three times.

And active-duty personnel under the Tri Care plan, similar to that offered to retirees, are often so poorly paid, they have to seek food stamps to support their families, much less pay more for drugs. No plans have been announced to raise their drug fees, at least not yet.

David Martinez, a former Air Force first sergeant, recalls airmen under his command who ran out of money before the end of the month, but were reluctant to seek assistance. He advised them to swallow their pride. "I'd tell them, apply for it."

Finver wonders about the effect on recruiting. "This is about not having a volunteer Army or Navy," he says. "Why would anyone stay in 20 or 30 years if they can't get anything?"

Brzezinski believes the president's policy is consistent. He says the VA is moving away from a veterans hospital in Las Vegas and favors using the Air Force facility at Nellis Air Force Base on a shared basis, against the wishes of the Nevada congressional delegation.

Cherry sees a persistent anti-veteran policy under way. "Here's another case where veterans were counting on the VA and looking to Medicare, who are now given a bum deal on prescription drugs. A lot of people see a gap between the rhetoric and what's coming before the veterans."

Not all Republicans are happy with the boost in health-care costs. Mike Henderson, spokesman for Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said his office has not seen the proposal, but the congressman is worried about it. "So far all we've seen are media reports," Henderson says. "The congressman is looking into the matter and is very concerned about the shape such a proposal might take."

Southern Nevada veterans have long complained that the VA's budget is inadequate to serve the growing population, with long waits to see a doctor and trips to California for specialty services. That situation has been eased somewhat by a 6 percent increase in VA funding last year.

But Gorman insists the funding is still far behind the need. "The VA was in a six-foot hole. Now it's in five-foot hole. But it's still in a hole. We should be ashamed as a nation of treating the veterans this way. These veterans are the result of the continuing cost of war."
SAMANTHA CLEMENS

Pharmacy tech Cynthia Robinson works with a prescription machine at the VA central clinic.