VFW Post 12055 Braden River Bradenton FL

Background: Congressman Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) recently introduced a bill that would break our promise to veterans. H.R. 4457, the Veterans Empowerment Act, would dismantle the VA health care system, charge veterans for service-connected health care, and reduce VA to an insurance program for veterans. Congressman Lamborn and bill cosponsors, Congressmen Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) and Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) must not be allowed to advance this dangerous proposal.

Take Action: Urge your member of Congress to oppose H.R. 4457 and let Congress know if they cannot take care of America’s veterans, then Congress should quit creating them.

Take Action Here

Action Alert: Congress Wants To Increase TRICARE Fees

Background: The U.S. House and Senate are in the process of finalizing the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 and we need your help to defeat a dangerous proposal that would increase TRICARE costs for military retirees. This proposal would result in higher TRICARE fees for retirees, including pharmacy copayments, which are already three times higher than they were in 2011; and enrollment costs for certain plans, such as the new “Select” plan, would nearly triple. You’re getting this message because your Representative or one of your Senators has been selected to serve on the conference committee that will decide whether to increase TRICARE Costs for current retirees.

Take Action: Contact your members of Congress and demand that they reject any proposal that would result in TRICARE fee increases for current beneficiaries; and let them know that veterans have paid for their benefits through blood, sweat, and tears many times over.

Take Action

Background: Last year’s National Defense Authorization Act contained a number of changes to TRICARE, most of which take effect January 1, 2018. The VFW believes service members, veterans and their families must be able to voice how these changes will impact them. To ensure your views and preferences are heard, the VFW has developed a survey to gauge our members’ awareness of these changes and how they will affect beneficiaries. The data collected will be used to advocate for policy and legislative changes that are based on the needs of TRICARE beneficiaries.

Action Needed: Help the VFW hold DOD and Congress accountable for fulfilling their mission to provide accessible, affordable health care to service members, veterans and their families by taking a short survey regarding your preferences and thoughts on health care and the upcoming TRICARE changes.

Take the survey here: https://www.research.net/r/TRICAREChanges.

Background: The budget proposal put forward by President Trump included proposals to financially penalize disabled veterans to pay for other VA program enhancements. To the VFW, this is a nonstarter. The plan would force veterans, who are unable to work because of injuries they received during military service, to surrender their benefit when they reach retirement age. These cuts would amount to tens of thousands of dollars annually for an average veteran and could financially devastate our most severely disabled veterans.
We must fight this proposal!

Take Action: Contact your members of Congress and tell them to oppose the proposed cuts to Individual Unemployability (IU). Let them know that you won’t allow Congress to balance the federal budget on the backs of veterans!

CLICK HERE TO TAKE ACTION

The VFW has changed the way they send out the weekly updates. They no longer send the information but they do send a link to the updates.

So rather than keep on posting that link I suggest you just come here after Friday, each week, to get the link OR you can bookmark or add to favorites. Each week’s information is posted sometime on Friday and is replaced with updated information the following Friday.

https://www.vfw.org/actioncorpsweekly

Background: Politicians, pundits and politically-motivated organizations are using the national crisis in access to care at the Department of Veterans Affairs as justification to dismantle and privatize the VA health care system, with some even proposing that veterans be charged for their service-connected care. The VFW says no!

Veterans must not stand idle as politicians who never served or use the VA health care system dictate when and where veterans can receive care.

For almost 117 years, the VFW has worked tirelessly to identify issues veterans face when accessing their earned benefits, and has worked with Congress to ensure a grateful nation fulfills her obligation to those who sacrificed to defend her. In the past two years alone, the VFW has collected direct feedback from more than 20,000 veterans regarding their experiences receiving VA and private sector health care. Their message is clear: “Improve, don’t dismantle the VA health care system.”

Take Action: Contact your Members of Congress and let them know that VA health care reform must be based on the needs and preferences of veterans, not political rhetoric. Take Action