Senator McCain Wants to Limit Access to VA Health Care
 

Last week, Senator John McCain said that the VA should "concentrate" health care on those with combat injuries. Veterans with routine or preventative health care needs should be treated by outside doctors and health care providers instead, he believes, to relieve the stress on the VA system. Read more.
Paul Sullivan of the nonpartisan Veterans for Common Sense soon responded in the Army Times that veterans, "should be very concerned by any effort to restrict access to VA health care and benefits by excluding other veterans with medical conditions clearly linked with their military service, such as illnesses related to Agent Orange poisoning, injures incurred in the combat zone, injuries due to training, and the adverse side effects of vaccines and experimental drugs."
 

Ignoring the Problem
 

AFGE member and nine-year veteran Lance Stewart was appalled when he heard Senator McCain's plan. "The Army makes us three promises when we join: that the Army will take care of us, that it won't leave us behind, and that if we die, it will take care of our families," Stewart said. "This plan goes back on the Army's promise to take care of veterans. It puts conditions on it, when we didn't have a conditional commitment to serve."
"By moving money around, it's another way to ignore the issue of the way the VA is funded," Stewart continued. "This is a Band-Aid fix. Instead of fixing the problem, they're fixing the symptom. We need to adequately fund and staff the VA."
 

Senator McCain's Voting Record

We respect Senator McCain's military service.  But when you look at his voting record, John McCain has failed to support America's veterans when they need him the most.  The Senator:
·  Voted against full funding for the VA four years in a row (Senate Vote 40, 3/10/2004; Senate Vote 55, 3/16/2005; Senate Vote 41, 3/14/2006; Senate Vote 126, 3/29/2007).
·  Voted against the new GI Bill (Senate Vote 162, 6/26/2008).
·  Wants to turn the VA into a HMO by giving vets a voucher instead of guaranteed care for life (Candidate Web site). 
Now Senator McCain wants to limit veterans' access to the health care they were promised, need and deserve.
As Representative Bob Filner (D-CA) put it last week, "We can care for both combat veterans and non-combat veterans if we just decide it is an important thing to do." 

Crown Jewel of Health Care

The VA is the "crown jewel of the American health care system," according to AFGE national president John Gage. "The reason the VA is so successful at meeting the specialized health care needs of veterans is because the system is not motivated by profit. Merging the VA with private systems divides already strained resources and constricts the ability of VA health care workers to treat the burgeoning veterans' population," Gage said.
AFGE has long believed that providing veterans with access to affordable, quality health care should be one of our nation's top priorities.  Senator McCain clearly does not. In fact, he has been delivering a lot of double talk about his voting record on supporting our troops. To learn more about John McCain and his voting record on supporting our troops, view this July 29 MSNBC video.
 

For more information on John McCain and his record on veterans’ health care, go to: www.fundtheva.com

We'd Like to Hear From You

Do you have any comments or feedback about the work AFGE is doing? Do you have any ideas for other events we can hold to raise awareness? Are there any other issues you would like to hear about in these election newsletters? We'd love to hear from you. Send comments or ideas to: yeswecan@afge.org.