WASHINGOTN,
D.C. – U.S. Representatives Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Danny Davis (D-IL)
today warned that veterans across Illinois would suffer under President
Bush’s proposed budget. A report released by the Democratic staff
of the Government Reform Committee concluded that the changes would cause:
“…over
65,000 Illinois veterans, including an estimated 36,000 veterans enrolled
at VA facilities in the Chicago area, to be denied VA health care or to
drop out of the VA system, while increasing costs for thousands more.”
“It
is unimaginable that a plan to reduce veterans’ benefits would even be
contemplated at a time when hundreds of thousands of active duty soldiers
are risking their lives in Iraq. Despite all the enthusiastic and
well deserved praise of our troops, the reality is that their future well
being is jeopardized by the Bush budget cuts. It’s time for
the Bush Administration to put its money where its mouth is. This
action by the Bush Administration is completely unacceptable,” Schakowsky
said.
“To
reduce services for veterans while we are engaged in military action is
incomprehensible. This is a terrible message that we are sending
to our soldiers as we send them off to fight and risk their lives, without
having the assurance that when they return, (if they return) adequate medical
and other services will be available and accessible to them,” Davis stated.
First,
President Bush would halt enrollment to Priority 8 veterans, denying them
access to any VA care. The report found that as a result of this
proposed suspension, 173,000 veterans nationwide would be denied care,
including 7,160 in Illinois of which 4,000 are in the Chicago area.
Second,
President Bush would require the VA to charge all Priority 7 and Priority
8 veterans currently in the system a $250 annual enrollment fee in order
to receive service. As a result of the fee, the VA estimates that
55% of enrolled Priority 7 and Priority 8 veterans would be forced to drop
out of the VA system nationwide, including 32,000 veterans in the Chicago
area.
Finally,
a third set of provisions would increase co-payments for Priority 7 and
Priority 8 veterans who do stay enrolled in the VA program. The co-payments
for primary care payments would increase by 33%, from $15 per visit to
$20 per visit. The co-payments for prescription drugs would more
than double, increasing from $7 to $15 per 30-day prescription. On
average, the report concluded, veterans would have to pay an additional
$97 a year in co-payments plus the new enrollment fee of $250. However,
many veterans can see an increase of almost $600 a year.
Priority
8 veterans are veterans who do not have service-related disabilities and,
in the Chicago area, have an annual income level of $38,100 or more.
Priority 7 veterans also do not have service-related disabilities, but
their annual income level is between $24,644 and $38,100 for a single veteran.
Chicago
area veterans receive care at the North Chicago, Lakeside, and West Side
VA medical centers, at the Hines VA Hospital, and at smaller clinics located
in Evanston, Oak Park, Beverly, and Chicago Heights. |
