“Lead by example” is a thinly-veiled attempt to provide Congress and their staff with Veterans Administration healthcare, even non-veterans, after they eviscerate the Affordable Care Act.
The mission statement of the VA is to fulfill President Lincoln’s promise “to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan” by serving and honoring the men and women who are America’s veterans.
Less than 18 percent of Congress are veterans. If Rep. Scott Tipton wants to “lead by example,” let him first serve in uniform. Nothing in H.R. 307 addresses how Congress plans to rewrite eligibility requirements for VA healthcare.
It is an eight-tiered priority system: Group 1, veterans with disabilities rated 50 percent or more; Group 3, veterans awarded the Medal of Honor, Purple Heart, or prisoners of war; Group 8, veterans with certain incomes agreeing to make co-payments.
Where in the tiered system does Rep. Tipton plan to put himself? Higher than a disabled veteran or a Medal of Honor winner? A new tier for non-veterans must be below Group 8, and good luck with those wait times. Veterans frequently contact their representatives to help with wait times, treatments, etc.
Rep. Tipton is delusional to believe the VA can be “fixed quickly” if Congress is involved because Congress is already involved. Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, states that “Congress has to be invested to finally fix the VA.” By that thinking, Congress needs to deploy itself to Iraq and Afghanistan to fix that quagmire, or become homeless to mandate affordable housing.
Congress has the authority now to fix problems in the VA and to improve the ACA, rather than having tried 60 times to dismantle it. Members of Congress have been receiving their healthcare through the ACA for the last seven years. To propose that Congress would be more apt to fix VA healthcare if they were receiving it is laughable.
The intent of HR 307 is not to fix the VA healthcare system, but to provide Congress with healthcare while removing the ACA from millions of Americans.
J.D. Browning
Durango
