Breaking News.....................................
| Clarification of Effects of Health Insurance Reform Legislation on Veterans
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| March 30, 2010
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A number of DAV members and others have asked how the new health insurance reform law (Public Law 111-148, approved on March 23, 2010) would affect our nation's veterans. As many of you know, in general the new law requires most U.S. citizens and legal residents to obtain private health insurance coverage by 2014 or they (or their employers) will face financial penalties through the US Tax Code.
Under this new law, we interpret that all veterans enrolled in Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care and their dependents and survivors under CHAMPVA, and all military families, military retirees and dependents enrolled in military health care, TRICARE, and TRICARE for Life, are deemed to have the minimum essential coverage that satisfies the individual requirement for health insurance coverage. As such, we believe these veterans and military families are not required to buy private coverage in addition to their government-provided health services, as the DAV had insisted to Congress and the Administration.
Furthermore, under the new law but outside VA and the Department of Defense (DOD), veterans and their family dependents, the same as all other Americans, may gain the option to buy a private plan through state-run insurance exchanges, beginning in 2014. Based on income limits, they may also be eligible for financial assistance in purchasing insurance coverage.
With all the misinformation that has appeared in the media and on the Internet, we can understand why some veterans and their families have become concerned about what they think might happen to them under the new law. One specific and unintended problem surfaced that concerns a few hundred severely disabled children of Vietnam and Korean War veterans with spina bifida, but that problem is being addressed now by the Veterans Committees in Congress with a technical correction. S. 3162, as passed by the Senate, would amend the reform law to guarantee that VA's spina bifida program for these children would be considered minimum essential coverage. Otherwise, we believe veterans who rely on VA health care and their family members who rely on CHAMPVA will be unaffected by the new health reform law.
Nonetheless, in an overabundance of caution due to ambiguous language, legislation has been introduced to clarify the intent of the law, as follows:
DAV will remain vigilant to protect the VA health care system upon which so many service-connected disabled veterans rely. We will also continue to monitor the implementation of the health insurance reform law to ensure that it will not adversely impact our nation's wartime disabled veterans, their families or dependents.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEJune 26, 2008VA To Open 4 New Outpatient Clinics before Winter 2009Locations include Katy, Lake Jackson, Richmond/Rosenberg, and Tomball.HOUSTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs announced today it will open four new community-based outpatient clinics in southeast Texas to provide primary care, phlebotomy, social work, nutrition, and mental health services for veterans. Before winter 2009, VA clinics staffed by VA personnel will open in Katy, Lake Jackson, Richmond/Rosenberg, and Tomball."Our goal is to improve access to health care and these new clinics will greatly expand the VA’s capacity for outpatient care in southeast Texas,” said Edgar L. Tucker, Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center (MEDVAMC) director. “These new clinics will enable veterans outside of Houston to obtain primary and mental health care closer to where they live."In the coming months, the MEDVAMC will firm up the exact locations, staffing, services to be offered, and a timetable for development.In addition to on-site primary care and mental health staff, today's modern VA outpatient clinics frequently feature state-of-the-art telehealth systems permitting veterans to maintain regular contact with health care providers in specialties ranging from cardiac care to mental health.A highly acclaimed national health records system allows practitioners at even remote VA clinics to review patient records stored at VA hospitals anywhere in the country. The importance of this system was demonstrated after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Medical information for every New Orleans VA patient was available at any VA medical center and by any VA physician nationwide. In fiscal year 2007, the MEDVAMC served almost 120,000 enrolled veterans. There were 733,628 outpatient visits at the Houston facility, 60,540 outpatient visits at the Beaumont Outpatient Clinic, 11.447 outpatient visits at the Conroe Outpatient Clinic, 45.489 outpatient visits at the Charles Wilson VA Outpatient Clinic in Lufkin, and 35,025 outpatient visits at the Galveston/Texas City CBOCs. During the same timeframe, 13,275 veterans were admitted as inpatients and 243 veterans were admitted to the DeBakey VA Community Living Center.
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