Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Honoring veterans while leaving them uninsured

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/11/1344141/-Honoring-veterans-while-leaving-them-nbsp-uninsured
"Across the nation today, parades and concerts and assemblies honor the nation's veterans and politicians make grand speeches about the sacrifices of our brave men and women who served our country. But in 23 states the Republican politicians making those speeches are withholding health care from tens of thousands of those brave men and women.
Last year, the Pew Trusts analyzed data from the Urban Institute and determined that more than 258,000 veterans—along with tens of thousands of their spouses—weren't eligible for VA health care and lived in states where lawmakers were refusing to expand Medicaid. Since then, Pennsylvania adopted the expansion and extended Medicaid to over 19,000 veterans, as did Michigan with over 20,000 uninsured veterans. Which still leaves over 200,000 veterans in the cold.
Many vets didn't serve long enough to meet the service requirements to qualify for care through the VA. Plenty more live in rural states or far away from VA medical facilities, so getting care there isn't feasible. Veteran populations are highly concentrated in Florida and Texas as well as other Republican states."