Trump Footnote to this Honored VA Foundation Quote
(For his financial gain and nothing else)
Update on the following story
which at the time was sickening – this is worse than that VA wait time scandal.
This comes from two sources: (1) Rolling
Stone (August 22, 2019) the current main story and which cites, (2) ProPublica
(August 7, 2018) that has lots of clear-cut background evidence and links to
sources.
This a long and very detailed
story, but one that is easy to follow. It clearly shows this as the lead-in:
“How Marvel Entertainment chairman Ike
Perlmutter and two other Mar-a-Lago Trump cronies secretly shaped VA policies.”
Setting the scene for this portion: In February 2018, and shortly after Peter O’Rourke
became Chief of Staff for the VA Secretary (at
the time was David Shulkin before he was fired via a Trump tweet in March 2018)
he received an email from Bruce
Moskowitz with his input on a new mental health initiative for the VA.
O’Rourke replied to that email: “Received. I
will begin a project plan and develop a timeline for action.”
O’Rourke treated the email as
an order, but the problem was that Moskowitz is not his boss and in fact, not
even a government official in the VA or any other agency.
Bruce Moskowitz is a Palm Beach doctor who helps wealthy people obtain high-service “concierge
medical care.” Moskowitz is
one-third of an informal council that exerted sweeping influence on the VA from
Mar-a-Lago (Trump’s private club in Palm Beach, FL).
That troika was led by Ike Perlmutter, the reclusive chairman of Marvel
Entertainment, who is a longtime acquaintance of Trump’s. The third member was
a lawyer named Marc Sherman. None of
them has ever served in the U.S. military or anywhere in government.
Yet, from a thousand miles
away, they leaned on VA officials and steered policies affecting millions of
American Vets and their families. They have remained hidden except to a few VA
insiders, who came to call them “The Mar-a-Lago Crowd.”
Now, reflection back on the VA scandal: That scandal was built around the supposed maximum
wait time to see a doctor that turned out to be a nasty scheme and series of outright
lies. Its short summary:
“The Vet wait time was a scheme to show
shorter wait times vs. the reality of extremely and excessive very long wait
times.”
It
all stated at the VA hospital in Phoenix. This scandal was a big deal and it eventually
led to the resignation of then VA Secretary Eric Shinseki (resigned
under pressure on May 30, 2014).
He was replaced by David
Shulkin and later fired by Trump (Trump pushed to privatize the VA and
Shulkin resisted).
Then two “Acting” secretaries (Robert Wilkie
was one Acting and now is the permanent secretary under Trump).
Background: Officials at the Phoenix VA hospital are accused of
keeping a secret wait list of veterans who were seeking health care.
Those
lists were kept out of sight of federal regulators, who were instead sent and
shown documents that vastly under reported how long it took for patients in
Phoenix to see a doctor: the secret wait list kept out of view because it
showed that patients had to wait an average of 115 days to be seen by a primary care provider and not the
mandatory maximum of 14 days.
CNN reported that as many as 40 veterans died while on wait
lists at the Phoenix hospital – ergo: criminal prosecution may in order. Out of
that came the Veterans Choice Program, which was created as a temporary measure
and allows veterans, in certain instances, to seek health care in the private
sector at the VA's expense.
It
was set to end August 7, 2017, but Congress passed legislation in April
allowing it to continue beyond the expiration date with the approximately $1
billion remaining of $10 billion appropriated for the program in 2014. It's now
authorized to continue until it runs out of money as VA Secretary David Shulkin
is working on improvements to the program – which BTW has been criticized by
veterans and lawmakers as confusing and complex.
Now the Trump VA budget with this budget
cite: “Veterans' access to timely, high-quality health care is one of this
administration's highest priorities. The
budget provides mandatory funding to extend the Veterans Choice Program,
enabling eligible veterans to receive timely care, close to home.”
That
sounded good until you read further, e.g., the
Trump budgets all had “off-sets” to pay for things that take away from the
“Choice Program” funding aspect.
Most would call it a sleight
of hand trick or just another routine Trump monetary stunt to brag
about or to grease his own palms.
Details of some of those “off-sets”
include:
#1 Offset: Is for the extra cost is a new restriction on
compensation for veterans through the VA's “individual un-employability program.”
Currently, veterans eligible for the program have a 60 to 100 percent
disability rating through the VA and are unable to secure a job because of
their service-connected disability. The program allows them to get paid at the
highest compensation rate. For 2017, the monthly rate for a 100 percent
disabled veteran living alone is $2,915 per month.
The
change, which the budget describes as a “modernization” would stop the higher
payments once the Vet, who is eligible for Social Security payments, reaches the
minimum age to receive them. Veterans who have already reached the age to
receive Social Security would be removed from the VA benefit program if Congress
approves the proposal. The change would save $3.2 billion for the VA in fiscal
2018, according to budget documents.
#2 Offset: That is the practice to round down COLA to all
veterans who receive disability compensation. The practice was standard until
2013. The OMB estimates reinstating the round-down policy would decrease
payments by a total of $12 annually per veteran. It would save $20 million for
the VA in fiscal 2018, the documents show.
#3 Offset: It would cap student veterans' Post-9/11 GI
Bill benefits for flight training. Flight programs tend to be more
expensive than other courses of study, the budget states.
It
proposes capping benefits for flight training at the maximum the VA will provide
to students at private schools, which is about $21,000 each year. The cap would
save $42 million for the VA for fiscal 2018, according to the budget.
The
Trump budget further states: “Through these tradeoffs, VA will focus its
budgetary resources on providing veterans with the most efficient and effective
care and benefits.”
I Note: Yeah, sure and if not, no biggie – they’re only Vets
dime a dozen and on the dusty shelf call on only in time of war. Then as the “off-sets”
above clearly show, just ignore them and benefits to date, right?
So,
in total, this Trump budget (VA part) calls for $82.1 billion in discretionary
spending for the VA, an increase of about 6% from 2017. Once mandated funding
is included, the budget is expected to $186 billion.
But,
I have to ask: “What price do you want to spend on our freedoms and homeland
safety provided by Vets, um?” A Rick Perry oops will not suffice in this case.
The
whole original story here
from Military.com.
My 2 cents: Trump is unfit to serve and this story proves beyond any logical
doubt where his interests lie: With Trump Empire, Inc. and no place else. It
always does.
Thanks for stopping by.
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