The Obama administration plans to require private insurance carriers to reimburse the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for the treatment service related injuries of military personnel –Truth! – but Cancelled
Obama said “Nobody made these guys go to war. They had to have known and accepted the risks. Now they whine about bearing the costs of their choice? It doesn’t compute… I thought these were people who were proud to sacrifice for their country. I wasn’t asking for blood, just money. With the country facing the worst financial crisis in its history, I’d have thought that the patriotic thing to do would be to try to help reduce the nation’s deficit. I guess I underestimated the selfishness of some of my fellow Americans.” – Fiction! & Satire!
Summary of eRumor:
A forwarded email from an Army wife warning that President Obama wants the military personnel to get their own health insurance to pay for the treatment of injuries in line of duty. She urges readers to contact their elected Senators and Representatives to put a stop to this plan.
The Truth:
On March16, 2009, members of the American Legion met with President Obama where he discussed “a proposal to force private insurance companies to pay for the treatment of military veterans who have suffered service-connected disabilities and injuries.” The non-profit veterans service organization, American Legion, issued a statement voicing its concerns on its web site shortly after the meeting. Click here for statement.
Commander David K. Rehbein of The American Legion said that Obama “ is looking to generate $540-million by this method, but refused to hear arguments about the moral and government-avowed obligations that would be compromised by it.”
A March 17, 2009 CNN article said the “chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs vowed Tuesday that the plan would never gain the panel’s approval. ‘VA’s sacred duty is to care for veterans injured in honorable service to our nation, and the department should not turn to wounded warriors’ private insurance to pay for combat injures,’ said Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii. ‘Under my chairmanship, the Veterans’ Affairs Committee will not advance any such legislation.'”
On the afternoon of March 18, 2009 Fox News reported that the Obama administration has changed their mind on this plan.
Later forwarded versions of this eRumor included a quote not by President Obama but by the writing staff of the Jon Stewart show at COMEDY CENTRAL. Stewart made fun of this proposal during his satirical news/current events program and included a fictional quote attributed to the President.
updated 07/06/09