Readers of Tom Philpott's Military Update column sound off.

Is Vet Insurance Already Covering Service-Related Care?

Your recent article about President Obama's [now withdrawn] plan to bill veterans' third-party insurance plans for VA care received for service-connected disabilities surprised me.

I am 100-percent service-connected [disabled]. They have been charging my Blue Cross/Blue Shield civilian insurance since I began going to the VA in 2004. They are also charging BC/BS of Tennessee for all my medication. If such charges are not authorized then they should refund money to BC/BS, and it will be quite a large sum.

I go to the VA in Memphis and they want to update my insurance information every time I have an appointment.

DAN EDWARDS
Via e-mail

Title 38, U.S. Code, Section 1729 (a) (1) and (2) states that the government's right to collect reasonable fees from private insurance for VA care of veterans extends only to treatment of non-service-connected disabilities. VA officials note, however, that the law makes a distinction only between service-connected and non-service-connected conditions, not veterans. Therefore, even if a 100-percent disabled veteran is being treated for a condition unrelated to military service, his insurance can be billed for that care or medicine.

You should notify your health insurance company if you believe VA is billing it for service-connected conditions. More information on VA and third-party health insurance plans. -- Tom Philpott

Health Care for All

I believe the VA medical system will be a strong player in the upcoming proposal for socializing U.S. medicine. Priority Group 8 veterans, like all other veterans, will be included in the national medical system.

So, in the big picture of the Obama administration, these proposed expansions and inclusions of more veterans are nothing more than what these beneficiaries will be receiving anyway.

If the Obama administration can drive out private insurers, it will facilitate the eventual takeover by the government.

Likewise, treatment received at VA medical facilities by Medicare eligible beneficiaries will be paid by Medicare. That too is a logical step in the socialization process.

Whether we veterans "deserve" or "have earned" or "have been promised" benefits will not be a consideration because every person in
the USA will be receiving these "benefits."

JAY LAGREE
Meridian, Texas

Evidence Ignored

I served 20 years in the Navy, from 1943 to 1963, and was on many ships with asbestos including two years on the battleship Wisconsin (BB-64).

I now have asbestosis. The disability board denied my claim saying they have no proof I was ever exposed to asbestos. Is anyone on this board over 10 years old? Do these people know that gunners wore asbestos gloves to handle hot shells or that pipes on these ships were wrapped in asbestos?

After wartime service in World War II and Korea, and service during the Bay of Pigs embargo, and having held no other job after naval service that exposed me to asbestos, is it unreasonable to think I inhaled asbestos on a military ship?

HOWARD D.
Boatswain Mate First Class, USN-Ret.
Bristol, Pa.

New Board Disappointment

Your article about limits that Defense officials have imposed on the new Physical Disability Board of Review (PDBR), for review of disability ratings of 20 percent or les awarded to service members since 9/11, was a very hard blow.

I am a disabled Army veteran. After being medically evacuated from Iraq, I was awarded a combined 20 percent rating and separated in 2004. Ten percent was for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and 10 percent for damage to my right knee. For all my other injuries from an enemy mortar round, to my lower back (lumbar), migraines, right ear tinnitus, left knee meniscus and mild Traumatic Brain Injury, I was boarded but received no rating.

The VA later rated me 90-percent disabled, with 100-percent rating for being unemployable, compared to that lousy 20 percent from the Army and severance pay. By the way, the VA gladly recouped that severance pay before providing my full VA disability compensation.

If the PDBR will disappoint disabled veterans like me, what is our recourse? The Board for the Correction of Military Records already has turned most of us down.

If the PDBR will apply full VA rating rules only for members medically separated after Congress authorized this board -- those rules state, for example, that soldiers with PTSD will receive at least a 50 percent rating from DoD -- that's not fair for those of us who became disabled earlier in those same wars. Shouldn't there be the same rating for the same type of injury from the same wars?

I have applied to the PDBR along with thousands of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan war. But reading your article made me feel a new hopelessness. Many of us need help. Some of us have lost our families due to hardship brought on by combat injuries defending our great country. I was homeless while waiting for VA to recoup that severance pay.

Is there any other avenue we can take if the PDBR disappoints us?

TONY GLANVILLE
Orlando, Fla.

Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee reportedly are concerned by reports that the PDBR might not apply full VA rating standards to all eligible board applicants as Congress had intended. If that turns out to be the case, the committee might seek to clarify the law through new legislation this year.

Meanwhile, for expert advice on weighing your options on rating reconsiderations, veterans should contact veterans' service organizations like Disabled American Veterans, American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars for help. -- T. P.

Picking Our Pockets

I am a Vietnam Veteran receiving VA disability compensation. I am on Medicare as well. Trying to bill Medicare for VA treatment given Medicare-eligible veterans would cost more money than it would save.

There are too many Medicare supplemental insurance companies involved. It would create a nightmare for veterans. Leave it the way it is.

Many of us are barely making it. I see this as a way to get more money from our pockets and into the pockets of those who court our legislators.

ERNIE A.
Vietnam Veteran
USMC 1967-68

Letters may be edited for clarity or length. Write to Military Forum, P.O. Box 231111, Centreville, VA 20120-1111, send e-mail to militaryforum@aol.com or visit www.militaryupdate.com.