3) discourage employers from hiring disabled veterans; and 4) possibly make a war injury a pre-existing condition.

Currently, the amount of money for veterans’ health services that the federal government seeks reimbursement for from third-party payers, the private insurers, is $2.5 billion. Obama’s proposed fiscal year 2010 budget would boost that reimbursement collectible to $3.4 billion, roughly a 36 percent increase. However, the budget summary did not provide information about where those collections would come from.

In all, the Obama budget proposal increases funds for the Department of Veterans Affairs from $98 billion now to $113 billion in 2010, according to the White House budget ...

3) discourage employers from hiring disabled veterans; and 4) possibly make a war injury a pre-existing condition.

Currently, the amount of money for veterans’ health services that the federal government seeks reimbursement for from third-party payers, the private insurers, is $2.5 billion. Obama’s proposed fiscal year 2010 budget would boost that reimbursement collectible to $3.4 billion, roughly a 36 percent increase. However, the budget summary did not provide information about where those collections would come from.

In all, the Obama budget proposal increases funds for the Department of Veterans Affairs from $98 billion now to $113 billion in 2010, according to the White House budget summary. It also expands eligibility to about 500,000 veterans that are not currently eligible for VA health benefits.

A letter signed by the leaders of 11 veteran groups was sent to in late February to Obama asking that he not pursue this policy.

The letter in part reads: “Such a consideration is wholly unacceptable and a total abrogation of our government’s moral obligation and legal responsibility to the men and women who have sacrificed so much for our freedom. …. There is simply no logical explanation for billing a veteran’s personal insurance for care that the VA has a responsibility to provide. While we understand the fiscal difficulties the country faces right now, placing the burden of those fiscal problems on the men and women who have already sacrificed a great deal for this country is unconscionable.”