Rep. McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) Introduces Veterans Proposal Based on CVA Plan
On June 7, 2016, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Republican Conference Chair, introduced the “Care for Our Heroes for the 21st Century Act.” This bill essentially puts into legislative form the proposal released by Concerned Veterans for America, a political front group, that would essentially undermine the existing VA and ultimately push veterans to seek care in the private sector.
Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) expressed serious concerns about the draft bill in a press release. Specifically, the premium support model offered in Congresswoman McMorris Rodgers bill would clearly disadvantage catastrophically disabled and low-income veterans who currently have little to no cost share to receive care in the VA. Additionally, the bill provides no mechanism to ensure veterans care is properly coordinated and that they receive the most appropriate care they need. The proposal forces veterans to fend for themselves in the private sector health care system and leaves them with the responsibility of being the stewards of taxpayers’ money. Perhaps worst of all, the bill does not contemplate the fact that the private sector is not better positioned to provide the care veterans need, and in many cases is substantially worse, particularly for veterans with catastrophic disabilities like spinal cord injury and disease.
Subsequent to our press release, the proponents of this plan — Concerned Veterans of America (CVA) — released a statement criticizing PVA’s views on the bill. To be clear, CVA misrepresents itself as a veterans’ service organization when in fact it is a political activist organization whose underlying goal is to decrease the size of the federal government.
PVA responded to CVA by outlining a long list of questions that we originally raised when they were promoting this proposal nearly two years ago. Unfortunately, they have yet to properly address any of the specific concerns that were raised.
To read PVA’s press releases, please visit www.pva.org.
