Once again 3 Chics is setting the record straight regarding the TRUTH about claims of why Romney holds a double-digit lead with veterans.
May 28, 2012- Veterans Give Romney Big Lead Over Obama
WHAT HAS MITT ROMNEY AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY DONE FOR VETERANS, LATELY?
In an effort to mislead Americans about President Obama’s proposal for the TRICARE program for military retirees, Mitt Romney falsely accused the President of slashing benefits for military retirees. “He’s going after TRICARE,” Romney said. “Saying, ‘Ok, we’re going to raise the co-pays. We’re going to cut the benefits.’ Why is it we go after military families?”
Here’s a transcript of the health care portions:
DAVID MCARTHUR, SMALL BUSINESS OWNER: You know, sir, and I thank you so much for that. But it’s his brothers. That’s his concern. You know, the [Department of Veterans Affairs] today is a nightmare. Just a nightmare to deal through to try and get any service out of them.
You know, [traumatic brain injury] victims wait. When they come home they wait six months for their first check. Again, please, sir.
MITT ROMNEY: Yes.
MCARTHUR: Please.
ROMNEY: Yes. I understand that the — the benefit recovery period, the time it takes to get benefits paid has been lengthened dramatically under this administration. And — and I’ve got a son who works in health care. He’s a doctor. He’s in residency.
And — and he works at the V.A. Hospital sometimes as part of his training. Then he works in regular hospitals. And he says, “You know, dad, the V.A. Hospital isn’t getting, you know, the same level of care and attention that sometimes exists in the private hospitals in the public hospitals.”
We need to recognize that those who served this country in our uniform have a special place in our hearts. And we have to care for them. And — and the American people feel that. No question in my mind but that they recognize that we have a huge obligation to those who served our country. And I certainly feel that way.
<b>One of the things I can’t understand. Right now the president is cutting back on spending. And that’s something that has to happen. But he’s only cutting back in the military. He’s going after Tricare. Saying “OK, we’re going to — we’re going to raise the co-pays. We’re going to cut the benefits.” Why is it we go after military families?
Why isn’t he going after government workers that are represented by the big government unions? I think I know the answer. My view is we care for our soldiers. We care for our soldiers and — and their families first. That’s our responsibility as a nation.<b>
MCARTHUR: Regulations, regulations, regulations. Right now, one of — the major one that’s killing us, sir, is health care. On Wednesday, our employees saw their new health care plan, 2012. The deductible went from $2,250 to $6,000.
People were mad. Tears were visible. Medical savings plans that mothers depend on were gutted. You say you’re going to eliminate “Obamacare,” but replace it with what?
TRUTH Romney is wrong to claim that President Obama plans cuts to health care for military retirees
Romney is completely mischaracterizing the President’s proposal while ignoring the reasons why such a policy is necessary. TRICARE spending has more than doubled since 1999, with military personnel costs making up approximately 34% of the Defense Department’s annual base budget. A moderate increase in premiums would help maintain the TRICARE program’s sustainability while still making sure that military retirees pay significantly less for their coverage than comparable private or public sector options.
That’s why the Joint Chiefs and senior enlisted military leaders support the proposal, as well as quite a few Republicans. Senator Lindsey Graham said, “It’s hard to ask those who’ve done the most to secure our freedom to give more, but I’m willing to do it,” noting that “if we don’t do something in terms of health care growth and entitlement retiree benefits, you’re going to compete the retired force with operational needs and that’s just not where we want to go. Senator John McCain also supported similar cost-saving changes to TRICARE, noting that “national health care costs have risen significantly.”
To say that the President is cutting benefits for veterans and military families before all else is wholly untrue. President Obama believes we have a sacred trust with those who wear the uniform of the United States of America and that “it’s a commitment that begins at enlistment and must never end.” Here are just a few of the ways President Obama has put veterans’ health care and well-being first:
- President Obama boosted the Veterans Affairs budget to ensure veterans receive timely access to necessary benefits and services they’ve earned. By signing the Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act, the President secured funding for veterans’ medical care a year in advance so that the VA can operate with sufficient and predictable funding. His policies will help make sure that over 500,000 veterans who were previously denied care will be eligible for VA health care by 2013. Looking forward, President Obama has also requested a 10.5% increase in funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs in his budget for 2013.
- The President also put in place and improved the most generous educational benefit for veterans since the original G.I. Bill of 1944. The maximum benefit under this bill will allow veterans, service members, Reservists and National Guard members to receive an in-state, undergraduate education at a public institution at no cost.
- Under the VOW to Hire Heroes Act signed by President Obama, businesses will receive a maximum $9,600 tax credit for hiring veterans with service connected disabilities who have been unemployed for six months or longer. The President has also proposed a Veterans Jobs Corp to put up to 20,000 veterans back to work over the next five years and has challenged businesses to hire or train 100,000 unemployed veterans or their spouses by the end of 2013.
In contrast to President Obama’s plan for veterans, Romney said his plan would be to privatize veterans’ benefits by “creating a voucher system.” Like the vouchers in his Medicare privatization plan, these vouchers, as the New York Times’ Paul Krugman points out, would “be inadequate, and become more so over time, so that veterans who don’t make enough money to top them up would fail to receive essential care.”
Romney’s plan to cut spending would force the same difficult choices that Republicans like Sen. Graham warned against. If Romney spared entitlements like Social Security and cut all other programs equally, he would have to slash veterans’ benefits by $456 billion over the next decade.
Romney Budget Proposals Would Require Massive Cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, and Other Programs
Excerpt:
For the most part, Governor Romney has not outlined cuts in specific programs. But if policymakers exempted Social Security from the cuts, as Romney has suggested, and cut Medicare, Medicaid, and all other entitlement and discretionary programs by the same percentage — to meet Romney’s spending cap, defense spending target, and balanced budget requirement — then non-defense programs other than Social Security would have to be cut 29 percent in 2016 and 59 percent in 2022 (see Figure 1). Without the balanced budget requirement, the cuts would be smaller but still massive, reaching 40 percent in 2022.
The cuts that would be required under the Romney budget proposals in programs such as veterans’ disability compensation, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for poor elderly and disabled individuals, SNAP (formerly food stamps), and child nutrition programs would move millions of households below the poverty line or drive them deeper into poverty.
And this from Veterans News Now: Mitt Romney Tells CPAC He’ll Cut Social Security Benefits, Begin Privatizing Medicare & Remember: Mitt Romney Wants to Privatize Veterans’ Care with Vouchers
Please check out this thorough and timely article from Rmuse:
GOP Dishonors Veterans’ Sacrifice with Benefit Cuts and Privatized Healthcare Schemes
By: RmuseMay 28, 2012
Excerpt: “When most Americans today are honoring veterans’ sacrifice, Romney is six months into promoting giving veterans vouchers for their healthcare benefits to enrich the health care industry, and it informs where his true loyalties lie. Instead of increasing funding to care for the men and women who served in the military, Romney hopes to cheat them out of the benefits they earned. Romney’s hero and Republican’s courageous fiscal guru’s budget that passed in the Republican House of Representatives cuts $11 billion from veteran’s spending, or 13% less than President Obama proposes in his budget. In fact, in the nearly 100-page Ryan Path to Prosperity budget, the word veteran is not mentioned one time. Romney’s privatization scam would “be inadequate, and become more so over time, so that veterans who don’t make enough money to top them up would fail to receive essential care” according to noted economist Paul Krugman.
Republicans are warmongers who love sending America’s soldiers into harm’s way, but are ill-inclined to care for them after their service is over. Bush underfunded the Department of Veterans Affairs by approximately a billion dollars in 2005, and it took Secretary of Veteran’s Affairs, Jim Nicholson, begging Congress to pass emergency supplemental spending until they finally acted just to keep the doors open.”
The Obama Administation has been committed to serving American’s veterans.
President Obama is committed to keeping the sacred trust we hold with members of our armed forces.
• President Obama fulfilled his promise to responsibly end the war in Iraq and bring our troops home.
• The President has fought to expand and improve benefits for veterans and their families—including an historic increase in funding for veterans health care and an expanded GI Bill to make higher education and skills training available to those who serve.
• President Obama signed into law the Returning Heroes and Wounded Warrior tax credits to encourage businesses to hire unemployed veterans and veterans with service-connected disabilities.
• The President also took executive actions to help returning veterans find the jobs they deserve, including programs to match veterans with potential employers and personalized career counseling for returning service members.
SACRED TRUST
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nO7jeIOh4F0&feature=player_embedded
With all the work and support the Obama administration is doing to support our military families and veterans.
And then there’s this from THINK PROGRESS:
More Than One Million Veterans Would Benefit From Obamacare | Under the Affordable Care Act, about 630,000 uninsured veterans would qualify for Medicaid, and an additional 520,000 would receive subsidized health insurance in the state exchanges, according to a study from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “It is striking how many of the uninsured veterans would qualify for Medicaid under the ACA,” said the report’s co-author Genevieve Kenney. Nationwide, 1.3 million veterans are uninsured, and another 900,000 veterans use VA care but have no other insurance coverage. On top of that, about 900,000 adults and children in veterans’ families are uninsured.
From Gallup: “Why veterans are so strong in their preference for the Republican presidential candidate is not clear. Previous Gallup analysis has suggested that two processes may be at work. Men who serve in the military may become socialized into a more conservative orientation to politics as a result of their service. Additionally, men who in the last decades have chosen to enlist in the military may have a more Republican orientation to begin with.”
And then there’s this Reuters Poll: Obama leads in veteran vote by up to 7 percent WHICH POLL IS TRUTH?
What form of media do Veterans connect with most? If you’re habitually listening to any of these talking-heads, the INDOCTRINATION is embedded in your DNA.
THEY’RE WHITE, REBUPLICAN, AND RICH!
And as per usual some of these white folks (VETERANS) in this instance, will vote against their own best interest EVERYTIME. The way I see it from my life experience, Black folks don’t VOTE against their better interest. The 2012 election comes down to FAKE POLLS, LYING PUNDITS, & white folks fears.
IF ANYONE CAN THINK OF OTHER REASONS WHY THESE POLL NUMBERS ARE ACCURATE AND WHY, PLEASE DROP ME THE 411. THANK YOU!
