Monday, Aug. 18, 2008
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FROM THE TRAIL
McCain Tries To Clarify Veterans Health Plan
Reference To Access Card In Speech To VFW Convention Hearkens To Program's Shifting Parameters
Campaign 2008From The Trail
NBC/National Journal embed reporters file regular dispatches on their experiences from the trail.
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Speaking at the national VFW convention here today, John McCain defended his call for a Veterans' Care Access Card by saying that it was an "expansion" of the Veterans Affairs program, not a "privatization," as some have claimed.
"Let me make it clear," the Republican presidential candidate told the crowd at the Orange County Convention Center. "This card is not intended to either replace the VA or privatize veterans' health care, as some have wrongly charged. I believe the VA should always be there to provide top-quality care for our veterans. And I believe the VA should continue to provide broad-spectrum health care to eligible veterans, in addition to specialized care."
McCain predicted that Democratic rival Barack Obama would probably try to attack him by politicizing the issue and "misrepresenting" his proposals as a form of privatization.
"I suppose from my opponent's vantage point, veterans' concerns are just one more issue to be spun or worked to advantage," McCain said. "This would explain why he has also taken liberties with my position on the GI Bill."
Why would Obama do this?
"Behind all of these claims and positions by Senator Obama lies the ambition to be president," he added. "What's less apparent is the judgment to be commander in chief. And in matters of national security, good judgment will be at a premium in the term of the next president -- as we were all reminded 10 days ago by events in the nation of Georgia."
Yet McCain has been unclear on his health care plan for veterans. For months, the Arizona senator has said that the VA is unprepared to handle the large numbers of wounded troops coming home from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Our veterans administration is not equipped to care for the wounded as a result of this long war," McCain said last February in Seattle. He said any veteran with a "routine health care need" would be given a plastic card and told, "take this plastic card to a health care provider or a doctor of your choice."
Today, McCain said that his plastic card is intended for any veteran with an "illness or injury incurred during their military service, and by those with low incomes." This is different from claiming that any veteran with a "routine health care need" could use the card to visit the health care provider of their choice.
As late as last month, speaking via satellite to the National Forum on Disability Issues, McCain said the government needed to "relieve the burden on the VA from routine health care."
"There's going to be large numbers of people who are afflicted, unfortunately with PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder], and I believe we need to relieve the burden on the VA from routine health care," McCain said. "Put more of our assets in treating -- the unique capabilities of the VA for the treatment of combat wounds, as you described them, both seen and unseen. That means a veteran with a routine health care need, rather than go down to the VA and stand in line to stand in line to get an appointment to get an appointment, should be given a plastic card and say, if you have a routine health care need, take it wherever you want, to whatever doctor or health care provider and get the treatment you need."
Encouraging veterans to go outside the VA for "routine health care needs" is not technically privatization, but encouraging the VA to "focus" its attention on "grievous wounds of war" might easily be interpreted as an effort to scale down the scope of care. And this is different than saying that his card is for health care concerns "incurred in war."
A spokesman for the campaign said that McCain has always considered his plan an "expansion of services" and that today's speech was an attempt to alleviate any confusion.
-- Adam Aigner-Treworgy