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Bush let the veterans down!
alledan
Member Posts: 19,541
Washington-AP -- The head of the American Legion says President Bush has "let down" the nation's veterans.
Bush says he won't release a more than five (b) billion-dollar emergency spending package that includes 275 (m) million dollars for veterans' medical care.
The money was slated to cut waiting lists at V-A hospitals.
The American Legion's national commander says more than 300-thousand veterans are on waiting lists for an initial medical exam needed to qualify for prescription drug coverage.
Richard Santos says, "If that's not an emergency, then nothing is."
Santos says Bush promised at the Legion's 2000 national convention to "raise the standard of service" for those who served the country.
A White House spokeswoman says the money that was blocked wouldn't solve the backlog problem anyway. She says the president "has a strong record on behalf of America's veterans."
Bush says he won't release a more than five (b) billion-dollar emergency spending package that includes 275 (m) million dollars for veterans' medical care.
The money was slated to cut waiting lists at V-A hospitals.
The American Legion's national commander says more than 300-thousand veterans are on waiting lists for an initial medical exam needed to qualify for prescription drug coverage.
Richard Santos says, "If that's not an emergency, then nothing is."
Santos says Bush promised at the Legion's 2000 national convention to "raise the standard of service" for those who served the country.
A White House spokeswoman says the money that was blocked wouldn't solve the backlog problem anyway. She says the president "has a strong record on behalf of America's veterans."
Comments
Our veterans (of which I am one) would have been much better off under Gore, NOT!!!
Our service personnel have a great friend in President Bush.
Charlie
"It's the stuff dreams are made of Angel"NRA Certified Firearms InstructorMember: GOA, RKBA, NJSPBA, NJ area rep for the 2ndAMPD. njretcop@copmail.com
You are absolutely right, George W. Bush has done more for veterans than any President in recent history.
I am a 100% disabled veteran, and can tell you first hand what the problems are, the Legion is dead wrong!
When the VA opened medical care up to "any veteran" their problems started. Now we have veterans with no service connected disability working jobs paying 50K plus going to the VA for their medicine because it's cheaper to pay the $3.00 co-pay.
I question the Legion on how many of these supposed 300,000 veterans
waiting for prescription drug coverage are on other health plans.
The next problem is that the VA can't priortize treatment; the non-service connected veteran will be seen before you (no matter how bad your disability is) if they get there first.
I think that all veterans that can't afford medical care deserve help. The total veteran concept now in place by the VA is an expensive lesson and I predict that they will have to go back to service connected disability treatment only.
Reserving my Right to Arm Bears!!!!
- Life NRA Member
"If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
for wounds from Vietnam. The VA has treated me very good
but the whole concept of any veteran can get treatment
for anything at any time is going to kill or disable the
VA healthcare system.
Bruce
Guys like Richard Santos of the Legion are the reason I joined the DAV. All he's done by making these statements is alienated the veterans that truly need help. The DAV speaks for most disabled veterans; to join you have to show proof of disability. I'm not sure what you have to do to join the Legion.
Before I was totally disabled, I had several times when I was on the bottom and went to the VA for medical help. They helped me with treatment and medication, as I had nowhere else to turn - even though it wasn't service connected.
I hope they get it all figured out, they're good folks.
Dang, you said exactly what I was thinking. Again, maybe not a popular thought, but, I could give a da*n about 300,000 vets and their prescriptions. Why? Because people like my wife's grandfather dont get crap from the vets. associations of any type, he's in his late 70's, fought WWII as a bomber pilot, and worked his butt off to retire as an electrician. Farmed to make ends meet when times were hard through it all, and a finer man I dont know as I've ever met. This man is not disabled, this man is a vet though, and a senior citizen. This is the problem with this country, another group of people thinking someone owes them something. Well let me tell you, I dont owe you crap. All our tax dollars make this country run, and mine included. I have a say in where my dollars go when I vote. I voted for George, thanks George. A man goes to war, he dies, next thing you know someone says their daddy or husband is dead and someone owes them xxxx!!!! Bullcrap!! Daddy should have planned to die, duh! Daddy should have planned for you, in the event of his death, he is the one who owes you. Daddy get drafted? Not lately. Daddy know the risks? If he didnt hes an idiot, a dead idiot, but an idiot none the less. Daddy isnt dead, daddy lost his foot, daddy was drafted, now daddy is 70, and he needs help, his country owes him. Hey, your daddy isnt owed crap. If thousands of other men like him hadnt fought and DIED for their country, your daddy wouldnt have anyone to gripe to in the first place. Your daddy should consider himself lucky to be living here in the first place let alone living at all!!! Its all about me in this darn country, I, me, we.... Well I got news for you vets, get in the stinking whiner line in your wheel chair or on your own two feet, and while you're there thank God that your name isnt on that infamous wall next to thousands of other men's names. I'll be a veteran some day, some may say I never will be, and others say I already am technically, but for me I know who I am, and it aint some wussie @ss whiner complaining I'm owed something. I owe someone something. I owe my wife's grandfather my loyalty and continued gratitude for what he has done, both as a vet, REAL man, and a human being. You vets and anyone else want that from me? Fine, earn it, shut up! Suck it up and move on. I get really ticked about some things, sorry for offending anyone, its not personal, but it is at the same time. I'm sick and d@mn tired of all the whining in this stinking country. It makes men/women of real character, like some of you, me, and a lot of Americans across the country really mad to hear this crap day after day. I've had my fill today. Yeah I see I'm going to make some friends with this post, oh well, I'm not whining, none of you owe me a thing, this is a free opinion.
SSgt Ryan E. Roberts, USMC
Boomer, the concerned
"Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as it is by the obstacles which one has overcome while trying to succeed."NRA Life Member
I'm ok now, til morning at least.
SSgt Ryan E. Roberts, USMC
Rob, I kind of disagree with you. The VA is a benny that we get for putting up with the s#*t pay, the housing that would bring a squad of ACLU lawyers down on you if you tried to put death row inmates in somthing similar..ect ect
However, it should be means tested. If you are making enough to get by without it, then you pay your own way.
No one has a right to health care, but it is in the contract you signed with the Gov. so its a obligation of the Gov. to uphold their end.
Those people who see nothing but grey areas, no black and white, are lost in the fog.
You have good points there. There are quality of life issues, but, those are problems of mine because of choices I've made. Am I happy with these problems? No. Still, its no one else's fault I made those choices. I have seen people in much worse predicaments than I am in. The older I get, the more exposure I have to real poverty, the more I appreciate what I have. I know what the government promised, expect nothing, and hope for the best, thats the best thing to do. Expect nothing in return, but the pride you have in yourself.
The thing about a contract is this, when its with the government, it can be broken at any time.
SSgt Ryan E. Roberts, USMC