Noteboom The Law Firm

Veterans Considered Low Priority Could Lose VA Health Care Benefits

With the recent events in Washington, politicians are more concerned with the nation's budget than ever before. Among the countless areas under budget scrutiny are the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) healthcare costs. The House Budget Committee has explored ways to cut VA health care costs and one of their suggestions has struck a nerve with veterans' groups.

According to the Committee, they can save $6 billion every year by discontinuing care for any veteran who:

 

• does not suffer service-connected medical conditions; and
• Is not financially needy.

 

The cut would affect 1.3 million veterans who use VA health care and claim "priority group 7 or 8 status," neither of which require veterans suffer service-related disabilities. Priority Group 8 status veterans have no annual incomes or net worth exceeding the VA's thresholds for care, which includes being measured by geographic location.

Veterans with Priority Group 7 status incomes exceed the VA's threshold but fail to rise above the geographic index, which means they struggle because of the high cost of living in their geographic region.

The VA has attempted to implement co-payments for veterans in these two priority groups, but found they only covered approximately 18% of the costs of the provided health care.

Cutting VA health care to veterans in these two groups would save approximately $62 billion over the first 10 years. The cost of the health care would still fall on the federal government, however, as enrollment in Medicare and Medicaid would likely increase.