Ike Puzon posted on March 17, 2010 06:18
Protect Military and Veteran's Benefits
The time for you to take action is now! Click on TAKE ACTION. Here is what we know in DC and from the press.
Congressional leaders have spent a lot of time adjusting and readjusting provisions on Capitol Hill to win approval from several of your Congressional delegations. The issues currently being adjusted are; Medicare payments, subsidies to low-income families, taxes that would help pay for the plan and abortion.
Interestingly enough there has been NO release of the new and improved plan therefore - no one knows if veterans or military service member's beneficiaries access are protected or increases to these plans are protected. There is a Reconciliation Act of 2010 that is pending that would pass the Senate version of NHCR. This pending Reconciliation Act would not protect military or veterans benefits. This is the sole provision that we have encouraged you to write about over the last 12 months. The situation is so fluid that it has become increasingly unclear on what will happen. In fact there are procedures being discussed that would allow the National Health Care Reform (the Senate passed version) to be passed with out a real vote. Why?
Why hasn't Congress protected veterans and military members explicitly, why can't there be a vote on the issue and provisions of the new NHCR? Seems to me that if a member of Congress intends to protect veterans and military members - they would say so in writing in the bill! What we do know is; Congressional members will not be under this heath care system, a 2039 page bill that they are determined to pass.
There has been no public release of actual draft of the new Health Care bill, there has been a release of the Reconciliation Act of 2010 that does address some of the same issues and adds issues like educational loans for college! CBO has not scored the bill. When CBO scores the bill and leaders get the approval from parliamentarians of the House and Senate - then, the bill will be released. But, the Reconciliation Bill of 2010 may 'deem' the Senate bill passed and there will be no vote to pass a National Health Care Reform bill.
What we know is supposedly under discussion is: a 40 percent excise tax on high-cost health care plans; Medicare's dedicated payroll tax expansion; subsidies to low-income families; a host of other Medicare provisions to states. CBO has had a hard time scoring the bill below the $1 trillion threshold.
In the house, as of now, there is no compromise on; abortion language, or restrictions on illegal immigrants. Congressman Bart Stupak (D-MI) and his allies have insisted on language that bars federal funding for abortion services being in the bill. There is also concern that language is not strong enough to bar illegal immigrants from participating in the new health insurance exchanges created by the 2,309 plus page document. So why are we not putting any guarantees for military and veterans' beneficiaries?
You can send a pre-written letter by email to your Congressional delegation - just click on Take Action!