By Tim Elliot
President Obama recently released his request for the Defense budget for the 2012 fiscal year and unsurprisingly he’s cut the budget once again. Despite the increased need for security because of an extremely turbulent Middle East, Obama has steadily cut the budget from $686 billion in 2008 down to $680 billion in 2010, and now once again to $671 billion. The cuts include a precipitous $41.5 billion drop in crucial funding for overseas contingency operations. Obama clearly hasn’t given much thought to how he plans to handle the escalating revolutions in the Middle East, given that he’s shrinking funding for our soldiers overseas, funds that the troops will need in the case of an emergency situation.
Obama’s ignorant cuts in a crucial aspect of the Defense budget are hardly even the worst item on his agenda. Since March 2009 Obama has been angling to force veterans to use private insurance to pay for the injuries they’ve suffered in combat and other service related health problems. This is, of course, the same president who believes that the deadbeat loser without a job hanging out on welfare deserves to have government healthcare. But our veterans, the people who have given their sweat and blood and risked their lives for this country, don’t. Obama’s proposal, which was supposed to save $540 million or $.5 billion, centered around billing veterans’ private insurance companies for the treatment of their injuries effectively making it more expensive and difficult for veterans to purchase insurance. It could also make it more difficult for veterans to gain employment where employer-funded private insurance plans would have to cover the additional costs of treating military injuries.
The fact that Obama doesn’t realize that reducing funding for defense and trying to take away veterans’ benefits is unpatriotic, irresponsible, and reckless is unbelievable. But worst of all, reducing benefits from veterans while engaged in a war would likely be a financial and bureaucratic catastrophe. First of all, it would send a message to our troops that we are not supporting them if we ask that they risk life and limb on the front line while we are reducing our service to them if they are injured. But more importantly, cutting VA disability benefits while we are at war would be a grave mistake because it would stretch the already strained VA system to the breaking point to try and take care of the increasing number of soldiers disabled without increasing the cost of the program. In fact, the costs of veterans’ benefits are likely to increase up until about 2040, as more veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars claim benefits.
Furthermore, it’s not only the war that’s putting a strain on VA benefits. Past military policies, including the heavy use of asbestos, are having a serious effect on aging veterans. For example, the military’s institutional policy of using asbestos, before it was discovered it was linked to cancer, as cheap insulation has lead to large numbers of mesothelioma cases in veterans. And because it has a latency period of 20-50 years, and the mesothelioma symptoms are difficult to diagnose until the later stages of the disease (although the military stopped using asbestos in the 1970’s), the numbers of veterans with mesothelioma is expected to rise dramatically over the next 5-10 years. Even discounting that these veterans deserve our support and that the difficulty of diagnosing mesothelioma symptoms causes many cases to go untreated, it’s clear that the VA system can’t afford to take a cut in spending and still provide manageable service.
Of course, it’s not surprising to see Obama completely out of touch with reality, especially when it comes to the budget but it’s still shocking to see a president so clearly unaware of what America needs. Americans don’t want to see veterans’ benefits cut and America’s military neutralized so that taxpayers can pay for bum’s healthcare instead.
-------
Tim is a guest contributor to Political Pistachio. Timothy Elliot is a dedicated advocate of veterans' rights and a staunch supporter of our troops.
Resources:
Veterans groups irate at Obama's private insurance proposal - CNN
Mesothelioma Symptoms - Mesothelioma Symptoms.com
The Unserious World Of President Barack Obama - Political Pistachio
No comments:
Post a Comment