VA freeze leaves many veterans without health care

Report shows 1.7 million are uninsured

BY PAULINE VU, Special to The Packet
Published Sunday, November 7th, 2004

WASHINGTON -- Because of a decision last year to freeze enrollment of
middle-income veterans for care at veterans hospitals, the number of
uninsured veterans has increased by 235,000 since 2000, according to
recent study.

The report from Public Citizen, a Washington-based left-leaning advocacy
group, and Physicians for a National Health Program said there were
nearly 1.7 million veterans nationwide who lacked any form of care in
2003. Of that number, about 680,000 were Vietnam-era veterans, while
nearly a million served during other periods, including the Persian Gulf
War.

The nationwide total amounts to 12 percent of non-elderly veterans.

"The armed services are quite aggressive in encouraging people to join
the military to serve their country and 'be all you can be,' " said
Sidney Wolfe, co-author of the report and director of Public Citizen.

"But after leaving the service, almost 1.7 million veterans do not have
the right to health care, in a way being discarded by the government
after serving their country."

The study's figures reflected a nationwide trend of rising numbers of
uninsured people. The U.S. Census Bureau reported 45 million people
without insurance in 2003, an increase of 1.4 million over the previous
year.

The report blamed a decision by Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary
Anthony Principi in January 2003 to freeze enrollment of middle-income
veterans with non-service-related ailments, also known as "Priority 8"
veterans, because of budget constraints. In doing so, he reversed a 1996
act that allowed Priority 8 veterans access to VA care.

The income threshold for Priority 8 veterans differs across the country,
but in South Carolina the threshold is about $25,000, according to Don
Healy, the team leader at the North Charleston Vet Center.

"But one could argue about what the appropriate level is," he said.

"Certainly one could make the case that some people whose income is
above that level might still be in need of health services."

When Principi announced the freeze, which he said was temporary, waiting
lists at VA hospitals and clinics across the country had topped 300,000.
He said the ban was necessary to ensure the VA could care for veterans
with service-related ailments, lower-income veterans and those needing
special care.

"Too many had enrolled, basically, for what we get from Congress to pay
for their care," said Dexter Hood, the chief of health administration
service at the Charleston VA hospital.

Benjamin Washington, the division head of veterans affairs for Beaufort
County, said there are more than 17,000 veterans in Beaufort County and
most of them were not affected by the freeze. However, some Priority 8
veterans have come to his office and filled out applications for VA care
in the hopes that the ban will be lifted soon.

Representatives of local chapters of veterans' organizations say lack of
health insurance does not seem to be a problem in their chapters.

"Most of us have good health care," said J.B. Wyndham, the programs
director of the Port Royal AmVets. "Most of the people I know are
retired."

Healy said sometimes elderly veterans have another insurance plan but
want to use the VA's prescription drug plan. However, if they are
Priority 8 veterans and new to the VA system, they're also ineligible
under the current ban.

Steffie Woolhandler, the study's co-author, said the typical uninsured
veteran is a working man in his late 40s who had been honorably
discharged. He lives with one or two family members and his family's
total income is about $30,000 to $35,000 annually.

The Department of Veterans Affairs works with a discretionary budget
that could change yearly, and veterans' advocacy groups say the
department rarely gets what it needs to fully fund its budget.

"When you do not get the mandatory budget, you've got to cut somewhere,"
said Bryan Kerouac, the assistant supervisor of the Disabled American
Veterans in Columbia. "There used to be a lot of priority groups; now
they're dwindling."
 

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