There has been recent talk in Washington of eliminating the $540 million dollars spent annually on caring for the service and combat related health concerns of military veterans in the United States from the President's proposed fiscal year 2010 budget. The suggested way to make up the shortfall would be to have service men and women bill their private healthcare companies for their combat related injuries. In an effort to save some money in times of financial crisis, it appears that there would be some unintended consequences as a result of this plan.
A report on the plan from CNN.
Insurance companies base their premium rates on the risk associated with a client actually collecting some payment from the coverage. For a detailed explanation of this procedure, click here. Insurance companies require an accurate accounting of the risk associated with each covered individual in order to stay in business - therefore, the fact that a person is a military cannot be kept secret from the insurance company under laws regarding insurance fraud. Now the risk of a serious and traumatic injury is much greater for a person fighting in a war in a combat zone then for a person living in America - this increased risk would have to be accounted for in the cost of the premium. This could mean an increased premium of 100 to 1000 times greater than a normal civilian pays. If you think $1,000 per year is too much to pay for your insurance, imagine having to pay $100,000 or more per year in order to have health coverage as a soldier. This cost is so extreme that no person would able to afford to be in the military, unless they chose to do so with the great risk of having no guaranteed care should they be injured in combat. We fear that this situation would lead to a large number of eligible soldiers to leave the military while at the same time discourage new recruits from joining. This could have the grave consequence of a military weak in numbers and lacking older and experienced officers who are currently service but eligible for retirement.
The purpose of creating this site is to determine the feasibility of establishing a private fund capable of making up for any shortfall for veterans health care for service and combat related health concerns. If sufficient interest is shown, steps will be taken to create a not for profit tax exempt and tax deductible charity fund to cover this shortfall should this proposal actually be enacted. No funds will be collected until the organization is properly set up, but at this time we are asking those who might be willing to help to make a pledge or to just submit contact information so that we can determine the level of interest in such an organization. Should the not for profit be formed, you will be contact via the email address provided informing you of the status of the organization. Additionally, if you agree with this cause, we ask you to pass along this website to your friends, neighbors, and coworkers. You may use the Send to a Friend page to send an email message regarding this site.
This fund will be designed to be used as a last resort in order to keep our service members in the military and to remove this issue as a deterrence to new recruits for joining. Should legislation be passed to permanently remove this issue by requiring spending for this care to be included in mandatory spending, this organization will have completed its mission. If funds have been collected at that point, they will either be donated to other military not for profit support organizations, or they will be returned to the donor, depending on a choice that each individual donor is to make when making the donation.
There are currently over 200 million adults in the United States. If each was to donate $2.75 each year, or 23 cents each month, the goal would be met. If only 25% of the US adult population were to donate, each would only have to donate $11 each year - less than $1 per month. This is a feasible goal and one that we hope that you will be a part of, should such an effort be necessary.
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