Posts Tagged ‘health care’
An 81-Year-Old Foster Son?
New Program Pairs Veterans Who Would Be in a Nursing Home with Families Who Are Willing to Take Them In
Just outside Tampa, Fla., CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman found the story of an odd couple – a wonderful inspiring odd couple.
The house actually belongs to a sweetheart of a man named Rick Heady. Rick is a foster parent, of sorts – his foster “kid” just happens to be 81, and gruff as all get-out.
“What did you do in the Marine Corps?” Hartman asked.
“Kill people,” Charles Dowling said.
“But you survived to live another day,” Hartman said.
“To kill again,” Dowling said.
“Well you’re a lovely, lovely man,” Hartman said, laughing.
“Bulls-t,” Dowling said.
He actually is pretty wonderful, once you get to know him. Dowling served in Korea and Vietnam, and later became a drill sergeant – putting in close to 30 years with the Marines. Until recently he was living in a nursing home – destined for hospice – but then this total stranger came forward and offered to take him in.
“I’m not going to let our veterans, our veterans, be forgotten,” Heady said.
That’s a belief shared by all these people who are part of a new Veteran’s Affairs program called the Medical Foster Home program. It pairs vets who would otherwise be in a nursing home with civilians who are willing to take them into their homes instead.
“It takes a special caregiver who is really able to open their homes and their hearts to the veterans and it’s not easy,” said Beau Williams with Veterans Affairs.
Williams said medical foster homes are now in 34 states and within a few years could be in all 50. It’s partly because nursing homes average about $6,000 a month, while this only costs about half that. The money goes to caregivers like Heady, who quit his job as a sales manager to do this.
“Not only is it cost effective but more importantly the veterans feel like their part of a family, they receive love,” Williams said. “They receive a lot of attention, a lot of care.”
As for what the care giver gets out of it – let’s just say Heady has found the experience so rewarding he recently took in a second veteran.
“He’s helped me vastly in recovery,” said Clayton Smith.
Smith was in the Air Force when he got hit by a truck and suffered a brain injury. They were going to put him in a nursing home, too, until Heady stepped up.
“Rick is A-OK,” Smith said.
That’s glowing praise from a drill sergeant – and more than enough reward for Rick.
“This is what I’ll do until the day I retire,” Heady said. “It’s that good.”
Good for him, and good for America.
Dems: Health Reform Threat to Tricare Overblown
Republican lawmakers raised the specter of military families and survivors of veterans seeing health care costs rise as a result of the national health reform law that President Obama signed March 23.
But the threat was never more than a notion and it is fading away. That’s the consensus among most military associations and veterans groups, as reinforced by statements from the secretaries of defense and veterans affairs, the White House and chairmen of key congressional committees. …more
Putting the Concerns of Our Veterans and Our Troops to Rest
As Assistant Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, a constant concern for me is having our Veterans dragged into partisan politics. Unfortunately the debate over health reform has seen that happen far too many times, and at the VA we often have to correct misinformation and assure Veterans that the care they rely on will not be taken away from them.
One of the concerns we are hearing the most now is whether health reform will affect the care Veterans receive under the VA system.
Let me be unambiguous: The healthcare that Veterans receive through the VA system, including dependents of certain veterans enrolled in the CHAMPVA program, will be safe and sound under health reform. The Secretary of Veterans Affairs would continue to maintain sole authority over the system and for enhancing the quality and access for all eligible Veterans. …more
VA/DOD Expand Electronic Health Information Pilot to Eastern Virginia
The Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense today announced the next phase of the Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record (VLER) Health Communities Program. This initiative improves care and services to our nation’s heroes by sharing health information using the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN) developed under the leadership of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
DoD and VA selected the Virginia/Tidewater area of Southeastern Virginia as the next area to partner with due to its high concentration of veterans, military retirees, members of the guard and reserve, and active duty service members and their dependents.
In the Virginia/Tidewater area, VA and DoD will partner with private sector hospitals who have joined a regional health information exchange in this area. The Virginia/Tidewater pilot builds on the continuing success of the first pilot in San Diego with Kaiser Permanente.
Service members and veterans in the Virginia/Tidewater area will be invited to participate in this health data exchange program scheduled to launch this year. Individuals who choose to participate will authorize their public and private sector health care providers and doctors to share specific health information electronically, safely, securely and privately.
The program, through policy and technology, places the highest priority on patient privacy and data security. No exchange of information will occur without the appropriate permissions of the individual patients. Access to care will not be affected by a decision not to participate. …more
Health Insurance Reform Myth Buster for Veterans and Military Families
Health Insurance Reform
DAILY MYTHBUSTER:
‘Reform Will Undermine the Health Care That Veterans and Military Families Have Now’
Health insurance reform opponents continue to spread myths – now about the recently introduced Affordable Health Care for America Act, including saying that health insurance reform will undermine the health care that veterans and military families have now. But the facts continue to knock these myths down.
MYTH: “Enactment of the House health insurance reform bill would undermine the health care that veterans and military families are receiving now.”
FACT: Veterans’ health care and TRICARE (for military families) would not be impacted by passage of the Affordable Health Care for America Act. Nothing in the bill would affect, change, or undermine the health care that veterans enrolled in VA health care and military families enrolled in TRICARE are currently receiving.
Further language has been included in the Affordable Health Care for America Act that makes clear that the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense retain full authority to operate the VA health care system and TRICARE without interference from any new organizations, agencies, or commissions established by the legislation. In addition, specific language has been included to exempt TRICARE from the requirements of the essential benefits package and other insurance requirements.
MYTH: “Veterans and military families enrolled in VA health care and TRICARE will be penalized for not having acceptable coverage – being forced to pay the penalty of 2.5% of adjusted income.”
FACT: The Affordable Health Care for American Act recognizes VA health care and TRICARE as acceptable minimum coverage—so enrollees are already meeting the shared responsibility requirement and will face no fee or penalty.
Specifically, the bill contains a section that states that 1) individuals enrolled in the veterans’ health care program; and 2) individuals and dependents enrolled in TRICARE will be considered as having acceptable minimum coverage – meaning they have met the bill’s shared responsibility requirement for individuals to purchase insurance if they can afford it. In other words, individuals enrolled in VA health care or TRICARE will never be subject to the bill’s 2.5% fee for those who choose not to purchase affordable health insurance.
MYTH: “Enactment of the House health insurance reform bill would limit the choices that veterans, service members, and their dependents have for their health care.”
FACT: The Affordable Health Care for America Act contains provisions that explicitly allow veterans receiving VA health care or service members and their families receiving TRICARE to also enroll in an insurance plan through the bill’s Health Insurance Exchange. This would provide veterans and service members the opportunity to obtain additional coverage for themselves and their dependents if they desire.
This had been a key concern of many veterans’ organizations. For example, the Disabled American Veterans had written: “Any national health care reform legislation must make certain all veterans, including those enrolled in VA health care, remain eligible to enroll in any exchange-participating health benefits plan offered under [the bill] through the Health Insurance Exchange, or in any other public or cooperative health insurance program.” This key objective of veterans’ organizations is fully addressed in this bill.
MYTH: “Enactment of the House health insurance reform bill would undermine the TRICARE For Life program (health care for military retirees).”
FACT: Just as the Affordable Health Care for America Act fully protects the current VA health care and TRICARE systems, it also fully protects the TRICARE For Life program.
There is a chain e-mail currently going around the Internet that states that the efforts of the Obama Administration and Congressional Democrats on health insurance reform will result in undermining the benefits in the TRICARE For Life program for military retirees. Once again, these charges are not true. (The TRICARE For Life program was introduced in 2002 as a supplement to Medicare for military retirees. It covers many medical costs not covered by Medicare.) Just as the Affordable Health Care for America Act does nothing to affect the TRICARE program, it also has no provisions that affect the TRICARE For Life program. The health care benefits of military retirees are fully protected.
For more health insurance reform myth busting, please click here.
For more information on America’s Affordable Health Choices Act, please click here.
Vets’ Health Care is Safe and Sound
Matt Flavin, Director of Veterans and Wounded Warrior Policy, explains that nothing in health insurance reform will affect veterans’ access to the care they get now. To the contrary, the President’s budget greatly expands coverage for veterans who have been denied access in the past.