Bush started screwing over the veterans back in 2003 when the VA stopped allowing group 8 vets to sign up.
Back in 2003 the Bush VA decided that to cut costs at the VA they would not allow veterans in group 8 to sign up for VA benefits. Not that group 8 vets got much. But they could buy their drugs at VA prices and they could get access to state veterans homes.
Veterans with income and/or net worth above VA Means Test threshold and the Geographic Means Test Thresholdand who are either nonservice-connected or noncompensable 0% service-connected veterans are considered to be Priority Group 8. While the income level for Priority 8 veterans varies by location, for some veterans this threshold is as low as $26,902.
My FIL had dementia and kidney failure (End Stage Renal Disease). I do not know how we would have managed without the VA, he had become far too much for his wife and his daughter to manage. Because group 8 was then available we got invaluable assistance.
This was another way of BushCo saying they support the troops and at the same time effectively cutting the budget of the VA.
The American Legion wants this reversed.
http://www.legion.org/...
and Congress has tried to reinstate this as well.
http://www.fra.org/...
This is just another remnant of the tragic Bush years.