(Photo: Former Lance Corporal Manuel Valenzuela (Jumano Tribe), with his children and grandson, 2015 by Carol M. Highsmith, Wikimedia Commons)
As fine as the VA services might be, – once they see to it that all of your unpaid and unpayable hospital bills are made available for legitimate and final debt forgiveness. Every. Single. Dollar. Forgiven.
Our not-so-modest Valentine proposal is that the VA needs to address a major grievance – the estimated $6B in medical debt it has laid on the backs of our veterans. $6,000,000,000! That’s not a typo, although it is difficult to know at this point how much debt is being and has accumulated through the VA for emergency services provided outside of their hospital system.
Atone point it was over $6 billion, but in 2019 contested that policy and is requiring the VA to reimburse vets. Is that happening? Has it happened? I don’t know. If you do, please let me know.
The point is, America’s warriors who on joining the military agreed to do whatever was necessary to protect our country (up to and including loss of limb and life), have no guarantee of free and ongoing healthcare. Didn’t know that?Don’t be ashamed – I’m a veteran and I didn’t even know that until the charity I co-founded, RIP Medical Debt, discovered veterans were included in our debt purchases.
Like me, once becoming aware of this tragedy, you just might want to (1) get educated; (2) get mad; and (3) do something about it.
Ok– We’re Conscious – Tell Us More
You see, if someone has an injury or disability connected to military service, they are eligible to be treated by the VA at little or no cost. That same promise is not there for a non-service-related injury or illness. The VA routinely declines to pay for outside medical services, leaving vets on the hook.
It’s bad enough being in debt, but that is not even the worst part. The VA will come after you for what is owed them. Such as reporting your past-due account to credit bureaus after exhausting weeks of phone calls and dunning letters.
Public blowback on this practice got so bad that new rules were issued by the VA sharply to limit its credit reporting activities. (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau earlier this month, the VA is instituting “additional protections to the most financially vulnerable veterans” which will result in a 99% reduction in reporting. (Italics mine)
That doesn’t mean they will stop attempting to recover on a past-due balance. A veteran owing as little as $25 will still be pursued. Not even a commercial collection agency (and I come from that world) would go after a bill that small. Forget the morality aspect; it just doesn’t make business sense. Spending $100 to collect $25…and failing?
Formally Launched : A Campaign Titled #Endvetmeddebt
VA unpaid and unpayable medical bills need to be forgiven. Legally, and in full. There’s precedent.
How forgiveness can be done while ensuring that there are no tax consequences to the recipient is a process that has been pioneered and perfected by the 501(c)(3) charity that I helped to co-found in 2014, . To date, RIP has abolished over $11 billion in medical debt for over 7 million Americans.
It was a great ride, and after achieving all the goals I had set for myself and RIP in October 2020 to invent other channels by which to create positive social and economic impact. Out of this has come (VMP) and (EVD) and our major campaign called (EVMD).
#EVMD is not a fundraising campaign for EVP and VMP, it’s an awareness-raising effort. Through this platform, we intend to see that public pressure be applied to create VA policy changes so that this debt can be accessed and made available to organizations such as EVD and RIP that can step forward with their solutions.
So, VA – if you want Valentine’s hugs and kisses – it’s time to court your disaffected veterans, their families and the communities that want to see this wrong righted. Not with chocolates though, with action. Can do?
