I am writing about something that has largely been forgotten and that the Veteran's Administration will not acknowledge. It is called V.A. pension, or more specifically, NON-SERVICE CONNECTED V.A. PENSION. No one has written a diary about this on Daily Kos so this is a first. In 2004 I was awarded V.A. pension because I means tested and please remember that phrase, "means-tested." I was found to be permanently and totally disabled by the V.A. In 2005 I got married and in 2005 is when I started to understand what this pension really was and while it was almost the first time in my life I had a stable income; it also has turned out to be an Achille’s Heel. After this I went "congressman shopping" as it was expressed by another person within Mr. Regula’s staff. I didn’t appreciate the comment then and I still don’t because I wouldn’t have been congressman shopping had my own representative followed through! However, I did contact Mrs. Kaptur in Toledo after a suggestion from a friend in that area. Mrs. Kaptur actually did respond with a letter pretty much agreeing that my plaint was legitimate and that she would take this up in a committee in D.C. At that point I was feeling pretty good because I thought I’d made some progress in trying to straighten this mess out. NOT.
About the same time I was pursuing this avenue I had also contacted Jim Tankersley of The Toledo Blade newspaper. Mr. Tankersley was doing another story at that time about how much contact and influence certain people in Ohio had within the Republican Party and with the president himself. He added my story to this one about how I couldn’t get heard and had ZERO influence.
The Toledo Blade article:
FULL CONTENTS OF PAID ARTICLE FROM THE BLADE
Article ID: MERLIN_2573955Published on November 2, 2005 Blade, The (Toledo, OH)
Citizens seek a say without 'pay to play'
Staff writer Christopher D. Kirkpatrick contributed to this report.
Contact Jim Tankersley at: jtankersley@theblade.com or 419-724-6134.DONOR DIVISIONSPioneersFund-raisers for the Bush-Cheney campaign who raised at least $100,000. There were 19 in Ohio in last year's campaign.RangersFund-raisers for the Bush-Cheney campaign who raised at least $200,000. There were 11 in Ohio in last year's campaign.
GO TO TOLEDOBLADE.COM | CONTACT US |
©2004 The Blade.
My pastor was impressed at the time because I told him the story was about to be published. He advised me that I needed to be ready for the deluge of letters and phone calls I was about to receive from veterans and their wives. I can count on one hand that number of calls and letters I got. In fact I can count on less than one finger how many I got. Yes, Kossacks, I got THAT MANY. I thought surely it was a fluke and so did my pastor. Then we figured it would take a few days or weeks for the story to sink. Wrong.
Following this disappointment came another one. When I tried to follow up with Mrs. Kaptur I was basically ignored again. I got told there was NO WAY to get this law changed and no way it would ever get through a committee made up of so many Republicans. The matter got dropped. I even tried to get the Canton Repository, Akron Beacon Journal and Cleveland Plain Dealer to help and my calls and emails were ignored.
I have been a member of Daily Kos for some time. I mostly post comments and I’m a reluctant diarist, prefering to read the diaries of people much smarter than me. But this problem continues to stick in my craw like a cavity in a tooth and I must write about it because I am angry.
Under this V.A. pension my spouse cannot work or the V.A. reduces my pension (remember that phrase, "means tested?") dollar for dollar. I’m posting this because I and many many other vets and vet’s wives not only find this law to be unfair but discriminatory and antiquated.
It is unfair because in today’s world because the average household needs two incomes to really survive. It is discriminatory because the law is saying the vet’s spouse (usually meaning the WIFE) cannot work or if he or she does then the vet loses his/her pension. It’s also unfair because this law is written in the style of a county welfare law and I take serious issue with being treated like a welfare recipient. I am a VETERAN, NOT on welfare and Vietnam, Desert Storm, the Iraq war and the Afghanistan war are NOT welfare-to-work programs!
It is antiquated because this law was enacted during the Lyndon Johnson era. I think most of us remember the attitudes toward women then and it was probably assumed that the wife was the chief cook and bottle washer so there was little need or concern about the need for two-income households. Stay at home and stand by your man, dear.
Not so today.
With this pension I have health care through the V.A. Good thing because I had a heart attack in 2006. The V.A. did a great job doing catheterizations and installed four stents in my arteries. However, my cardiologist listed me as unemployable because I have cardio-vasospasms.
My spouse in the meantime has no health insurance coverage. (Thank you Dr. Steve B for your diaries. Please take note of mine, OK?) Kossacks might be surprised how many doctors and nurses in private hospitals think the V.A. covers my wife and how many billing departments have tried billing the V.A. when my wife has had to be treated. Or they ask, wide-eyed, "why don’t you take your wife to the V.A.?" Those of you in the medical fields please take note of this diary as well. And before I forget I want to throw in that the local hospitals always want proof of my income so they can qualify me for this or that low-income program. And again, WRONG. I don’t need to post what my income is because it’s available for all the world to see here http://www.vba.va.gov/... and I have had to repeatedly argue with billing departments that my income does not qualify. I end up filling out their paperwork and watching the clerk's face for the sure sign realizing that I was right all along.
Further, at present time the bills for my spouse keep mounting. She has been treated for mostly minor things but those minor things add up fast. Recently she had to have a root canal after the county dentist found an abscess in one tooth. That bill came to $600.00. Thankfully my pastor knew a dentist in our congregation and he kindly agreed to take her as a new patient. Now some of the bills are being referred to collection agencies. They are angry that my wife isn’t paying them soon enough. They get angrier still when they find out that this pension cannot be attached which is probably the only "good" thing about it. Good because if it were able to be attached I’m sure with the kind heart most bill collectors have we’d be living in our car under a bridge. And again in the meantime, my wife’s credit is slowly being destroyed and there’s very little we can do about it and that’s still not all there is to this.
Our car is an older model. With the mounting medical bills I simply cannot budget for necessary car repairs and simple maintenance. I’ve called used car dealers asking if I could qualify for a used car loan. Every dealer told me that my pension does not qualify. So- I have to pay medical bills. I have to maintain a car but I can’t get a loan, our credit is being destroyed and my senator and my congressman don’t want to touch this and the V.A. refuses to change the rule? I get told by Senator Brown’s office that the V.A. is not stopping my wife from working. Mr. Regula’s reply was that the "V.A.’s rules are strict and thanks for contacting me." Bullsh-t!
As my therapist says-there is no way my wife is going to get a job at a starting wage equal to what I’m getting on this pension plus private health insurance. So my legislators expect my wife to support both of us, go without health insurance for her, pay our bills, maintain the car and live happily ever?
These are examples of how vets are being treated in this country. I’m asking Kossacks to please take the time to care and senators, congressmen and people like Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Al Gore to please look into this matter. I tried for several months to get Hillary’s attention to this and I could not get through. I learned a hard lesson about having access. My lesson is that I didn’t. I don’t have money to contribute to political campaigns. I don’t have the money to send a hundreds of faxes until I get Hillary’s (or Obama’s or John’s or Al’s) attention. I don’t have money to send a hundreds letters that probably wouldn’t be read anyway. I recently wrote to Mrs. Kaptur asking what efforts she has made since 2005? I got no reply from her. She’s no longer interested. I was told because she can’t get any quick glory out of it.
I’ve heard the arguments from Democrats that the Republicans would never allow this legislation to pass. I’ve heard the Republicans complain that the spouse working would screw up the tax code and take away from other vets. I’ve heard fellow vets tell me that’s bullshit and that there is no reason why the wives of these vets cannot work. At this point I don’t give a damned about Republicans OR Democrats and I’m done being a good little registered voter. I’m disenfranchised and I’m angry like OPOL. I need to be heard. I have an issue and a firm belief that this means-testing law is unfair trash and it needs to be changed. I’m convinced that a whole lot of women today would say "hell, no" to a government agency telling them they cannot have a career. How then, does the V.A. get away with this authoritarian crap? I even tried contacting N.O.W. and the A.C.L.U. I was shocked that the N.O.W. wouldn’t touch this. After all, this is women’s RIGHTS, is it not?
I have a last point to make. What if this was a guy who worked, say, in a machine shop and he had a nice 401K, health insurance, the works? He meets this gal and these two hit it off but she’s a vet and she’s on V.A. pension. Does anyone think this guy would agree to letting his job go to marry this lovely hypothetical lady? IMO, probably one last big "WRONG" to end this diary. I know of a case locally where this hypothetical story is very close to the truth. The lady is a vet on this pension. She can’t marry because her suitors would have to give up their income. There are a lot of couples living apart and vets whose wives are working "under-the-table." Over and over I implore all of you and our representatives that this is wrong.
Thanks to everyone for listening and letting me finally get this monster out in public.
Special thanks to Political Reporter, Jim Tankersley of the Toledo Blade. Please note that there is a Yahoo group against this means testing, among other injustices: http://groups.yahoo.com/...
We need the voices of Kossacks, PLEASE! Thanks to EVERYONE for taking time to read this!
A U.S. Navy vet, Vietnam, NDSM, VSM, C.A.R., Order of Silver Rose/ P.T.S.D. and heart disease.