WASHINGTON – Congressman Chris Lee (NY-26) yesterday urged Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki to reject a “severely misguided” proposal that would force veterans to pay for treatment of service-related injuries.Currently, veterans only have to use private insurance when they receive care from the VA for medical issues that are not related to service injuries. At a Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing last week, Secretary Shinseki confirmed that the Administration intended to pursue a change to those policies that would require the VA to collect payments for service-connected care if the veteran has private insurance.

In a letter to Secretary Shinseki, Congressman Lee stated, “This severely misguided proposal is an affront to this nation’s longstanding tradition of providing for the care of the men and women who have put themselves in harm’s way in its defense. What’s worse, it would ultimately result in veterans with service-connected injuries paying out of their own pockets in the form of co-pays, deductibles, and higher premiums. Attempting to achieve budgetary reforms on the backs of our wounded warriors is completely unacceptable.”

Leading veterans service organizations have also condemned this proposal. In addition to breaking the government’s promises to servicemembers, they say it would make employers more reluctant to hire veterans with service-connected disabilities due to the higher costs of their health care benefits. Congressman Lee agreed, stating in his letter to Secretary Shinseki, “There could not be a worse time to make it more difficult for our veterans to find gainful employment.”