Jo's Cafe

The White House has stepped back from the idea of forcing injured war vets from using their own insurance for service related injuries, in order to generate $540 million for Dear Leader’s purse.

White House caves in, won’t force veterans to use private insurance

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Wednesday abandoned a controversial plan to make veterans use private insurance to pay for costly treatments of combat-related injuries.

Stung by the angry reaction to the proposal, the administration made the decision after a meeting between officials from 11 veterans advocacy groups and top White House officials.

“Our voices were heard,” said Norbert Ryan, the president of the Military Officers Association of America. “They made the right decision on this.”

The plan would have reversed a longstanding policy of providing government health coverage for all service-related injuries. Few details emerged beyond its reported savings of $540 million, however.

Most veterans use private insurance only for health problems unrelated to their military service.

“This is a moral issue for us,” said Paul Rieckhoff, the executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

What was most puzzling to experienced activists and others was that the White House floated the idea in the first place. Several said the administration came off as politically tone deaf to the importance of the issue.

Good.

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