(Via Milinet)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution
May 7, 2000

Veterans Want Congress To Guarantee Free Medical Care

By Jeff Nesmith, Cox Washington Bureau

Washington --- Wheelchair-bound and ticked off, Joe Priestley
keeps
churning out the e-mail, calling on his fellow military retirees
to
meet him Thursday for a "muster on the Mall."

Priestley, 70, of Panama City, Fla., is a retired Navy
lieutenant
commander and one of nearly 2 million old warriors who say the
U.S.
government has a promise to keep: lifetime medical care in
return for
at least 20 years of active duty.

The planned demonstration is Priestley's idea of one way to
press
Congress for favorable action on a pair of bills that would
provide
funds for the Defense Department to deliver care for older
retirees
and their dependents.

Nearly everyone, including Defense Secretary William Cohen,
agrees
that Americans who retired from military careers that began
prior to
June 1956 were promised lifetime medical care by recruiters and
retention officials.

But "the promise," as Priestley and others call it, has fallen
victim
in recent years to base closings and tight Pentagon budgets. At
a
point in life when medical care is increasingly important,
retirees
are told they must purchase Medicare's Part B coverage at $49.50
a
month and supplemental plans to cover deductibles.

Defense Department lawyers have acknowledged in court that
recruiters
and others routinely promised the lifetime health care in return
for
career commitments, but courts have ruled that the promises do
not
constitute "binding contracts" with the federal government.

The bills, one of which has been signed by more than 250 House
members, would require the Defense Department to provide paid-up
medical coverage for the retirees under the Federal Employees
Health
Benefits Plan.

A Senate version is opposed by Majority Leader Trent Lott of
Mississippi and Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner of
Virginia, and had only 27 signatures last week.

Estimates of the cost of funding the health care range as high
as $8
billion a year, a figure that would be expected to decrease
rapidly
as recipients die off.

Nobody knows how many retirees will show up for Priestley's
planned
muster on the National Mall --- maybe a few hundred, maybe a few
dozen, maybe just Priestley.

"So many of our veterans across the country are too ill, lame
and
broke to show up for something like this," said Priestley.

Priestley was pretty far along with plans for the demonstration
when
he learned he had to have a permit from the National Park
Service to
use the mall for a public event.

He applied for the permit but was turned down. Officials told
him
sponsors of the Million Moms March for handgun control on May 14
had
the mall tied up all next week with preparations for their own
demonstration there.

He called around and found that he might be able to hold the
veterans' rally on the West Terrace of the Capitol Building but
would
have to get a permit from the Capitol Police Department. By late
last
week, the permit had not been approved, but Priestley was moving
ahead.

Since thousands of retirees who ordinarily would be eligible for
the
care if it were available die every week, Priestley thought it
would
be a good idea to stage a mock military funeral.

"Then they said the coffin couldn't have a bottom in it because
we
might be hiding dynamite in there or something," he said. "I've
got a
guy making a bottomless coffin. A lady has loaned me the flag
that
lay on her husband's coffin."

The Retired Officers Association of Alexandria, Va., has offered
to
provide a loudspeaker and a bus to transport the veterans from a
hotel to the Capitol. Several members of Congress have said they
will
attend.

Gunny. Congress is far too busy, maneuvering their next pay raise, to consider promises to veterans.

9 May

MILINET: Response To "Veterans Want Congress To Guarantee Free
Medical Care"

================================

What is this prior to 1956 BS. My first enlistment was in 1963,
I was told
time and again, "You stay for 20, and you and your wife will
have free
medical care for the rest of you life." There was no implied
promise. The
recruiters, career planners ALL MADE THOSE PROMISES.
MSgt R. C. Graham

http://network54.com/Forum/message?forumid=54364&messageid=955886440

0 May

MILINET: 2nd Response To "Veterans Want Congress To Guarantee
Free Medical
Care"

================================

Lifetime Medical Care Was Clearly Promised, by Gene Pool, Major
of Marines,
Retired!
http://network54.com/Forum/message?forumid=54364&messageid=955886440

---------------------------ANOTHER RESPONSE---------

1956 is the year that we were required to start paying into
Social Security

and pay State and Federal Taxes. Prior to that we were exempt
from taxes,

as we should be today. Our retirement should be tax free. The
IRS has

determined that it is an income. Bulls---!!!


SF


Mitch Spies

---------------------------ANOTHER RESPONSE-------

Veterans-


I ask this question in dead earnestness and with no disrespect
or sarcasm

intended. Did you get this promise in writing? My brief
experience with the

military and the government has brought me to the point where I
believe

NOTHING that anyone says (or writes) until somebody signs off on
it or the

thing actually happens. Then again, I was born in 1973 and am
hence a part

of the post-trust, post-faith generation. Either way, I believe
that our

government and our military has once again screwed our veterans
out of

much-deserved and desperately needed compensation. How do we fix
this?


Respectfully


CPL WRIGHT

-------------------------------ANOTHER RESPONSE----------

Cpl. Wright,

No. Those promises were NOT given in writing anymore than
promises such as
"Marines take care of their own" and "Semper Fidelis."


Semper A Question Of TRUST,


Anthony F. Milavic
Major USMC(Ret)

11 May

MILINET: 3rd Responses To "Veterans Want Congress To Guarantee
Free M edical
Care"

===================================

Sir-


Good point. The more I learn about this story the more
disappointed and

angry I become; and I agree that US military should not pay
taxes ... by the

end of the year I find I've paid about two months of my own
salary! Sort of

makes these four-and-five percent raises we're getting seem kind
of hollow.


RS


CPL WRIGHT

-------------------------ANOTHER RESPONSE----------

Two points:

Inre paying taxes, I began to pay federal income taxes (or at
least file a
return) long before 1956. There was a delay allowed if you were
overseas
during the Korean War. Unless you had a lot of deductions,
there was a tax
to pay on base pay. Perhaps being an officer my AGI was high
enough, the
pound of flesh went.

Was the promise of medical care in writing? Yes, prior to 1956
it was in a
number of publications including a copy of ALL HANDS I have but
can't lay my
hands on immediately. 1956 was the year that Congress passed
the law that
retiree medical care was to be on a space available basis. Most
of the time,
until the base closings started and downsizing began, space was
usually
available.

s/f Ned Dolan

------------------------------------------------END
RESPONSES----------------

i am a marine of 8 years, i went in in 88 and got out in 95,
i am currently a member of the VA and finally got a rating of
30% after 2 years of fighting. i have a disk in my neck that is
out of place and a messed up ankle and i have problems breathing.
compared to alot of veterans, iam in good health, and if i can do anything to help my former marine veterans that went before me, please let me know, i know how hard it is to get anything from uncle sam. you can add my name to your list of people who support you and back all my marine friends to the end.

sincerely ,
former cpl
bobby french