Skip to main content

Bush Budget Denies Health Care For San Fernando Valley Veterans

August 22, 2005

Sherman Oaks - Congressman Brad Sherman on Monday released a report showing President Bushs plan to cut off enrollment in health care programs for veterans would deny coverage for an estimated 113,000 Californians, including 2,000 veterans in his San Fernando Valley congressional district.

Thousands more veterans would face increased costs in order to remain eligible for the health care they were promised.

Bushs proposal fails to keep pace with inflation and fails to provide funds for expected enrollment increases. Leading veterans groups have called the plan œtightfisted and œmiserly. The president wants to stop enrolling veterans whose injuries are not service related and who earn more than $24,644 a year. He also would slap some veterans with new annual fees and higher payments for prescription drugs.

The president called for enrollment cutoffs and steeper fees in the Veterans Affairs Department budget that he submitted to Congress in February. Five months later, the Bush administration admitted a $2 billion shortfall in health care programs for veterans, but a supplemental budget request still sought to cut enrollment and raise fees.

A report prepared for Sherman by the Special Investigations Division of the House Committee on Government Reform found that:

· The Bush plan would prevent an estimated 500 veterans in the 27th Congressional District from enrolling in the VA healthcare system.

· Another 1,500 Valley veterans, unable to afford increased payments the administration proposed, would drop their enrollment in the VA system.

· Many more California veterans remaining in the system would be forced to pay more for their health care. On average, costs would go up $390 annually. Some veterans would pay as much as $550 or more a year. Total increased costs for veterans in Shermans congressional district would be about $650,000 annually.

A copy of the report is available on Shermans web site at https://www.house.gov/sherman/sherman_veterans.pdf