Wis. Bill Would Provide Coverage for Uninsured Veterans

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Wisconsin legislative Democrats unveiled plans this week to make health insurance coverage available for most uninsured veterans in the state.

The Assembly Speaker said he would keep Rep. Terry Musser as chair of a veterans’ committee despite the Republican’s acknowledgment that he exaggerated his military record for two decades.

Rep. Tony Staskunas, D-West Allis, said his plan would cover thousands of veterans whose incomes are too high to qualify for government health care benefits but lack employer-based coverage.

“This is the very least we can do in Wisconsin to provide for our veterans,” he said.

He said $15 million, about how much the state spends annually to run the Department of Tourism, would start the program in the next two-year budget. It is modeled after a similar effort in Illinois called Veterans Care.

Staskunas joined Democrats who control the Senate and John Scocos, secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs, at a news conference to discuss the plan and other veterans’ bills.

GOP lawmakers complained they were shut out of the event at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum for political reasons.

Musser, chair of the committee on veterans and military affairs, acknowledged last week that he had wrongly described himself as a Green Beret for nearly 20 years. He served with the Special Forces, also known as the Green Berets, between two tours of duty in Vietnam but never completed training to qualify as a member.

Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, said Musser offered to step down from the committee, but he rejected the resignation because Musser has a distinguished record of fighting for veterans in a bipartisan fashion.

Huebsch said Republicans would work with Democrats on Staskunas’ health insurance bill and other veterans’ issues.

Staskunas’ plan aims to provide coverage to veterans of the U.S. armed forces, Reserves or National Guard who don’t have health coverage but earn too much to qualify for federal benefits.

Income guidelines would vary by county, but single veterans who make $30,000 to $60,000 would be eligible in many parts of Wisconsin.

They would pay a $50 monthly premium and small co-payments for doctor visits, prescription drugs and other services. The coverage, which would not apply to family members, would run out after two years.

Staskunas cited a study saying 1.7 million U.S. veterans were uninsured in 2003 but said he does not know how many in Wisconsin would benefit.

Sen. Jim Sullivan, D-Wauwatosa, said he also would introduce a bill allowing the veterans’ agency to create a registry to track veterans and provide them with better information about their benefits and health conditions.

Scocos, who is leaving to serve with the Army Reserves in Iraq next month, said he believed it would be the first such database in the nation.