State of GA cuts VA funds

[REGULATOR]

State budget cuts force veterans from home
By Travis Fain - http://www.macon.com/198/story/448978.html
 

Eighty-two veterans will need a new place to live soon because a Georgia War Veterans Home facility in Milledgeville is scheduled to close because of state budget cuts.

Other portions of the Wheeler Building will remain open, but veterans in the assisted living unit got letters Friday saying they'll need to move within 90 days. The quarters will close Nov. 30, according to a news release from the Georgia Department of Veterans Service, and staff members are trying to help veterans find new places to live and to make sure they get all the federal benefits they're entitled to.

Some may qualify for other government housing programs, or for a higher level of care at the facility's nursing home, said Dan Holtz, director of health contracting and facilities for the Georgia Department of Veterans Service. But many of the affected veterans will probably have to find their own place or move in with family, Holtz said.

The domiciliary care area slated to close in the Wheeler Building was the only state-run facility of its kind, Holtz said. Veterans live there for free in a retirement-home-type facility, which offers less care and supervision than the full-blown nursing home services the Milledgeville home also offers. It costs the state about $2.7 million a year to operate, though federal funds pushed the total budget to about $4 million a year, Holtz said.

The cuts are part of nearly across-the-board cuts to the state budget, in response to a predicted $1.6 billion difference this year between expected revenues and budgeted spending approved by the General Assembly and Gov. Sonny Perdue this year. Perdue has asked agencies to prepare plans for potential 6 percent, 8 percent and 10 percent cuts in the wake of lower-than-hoped for revenue collections.

The Department of Veterans Service decided to cut the domiciliary care unit, hitting the 10 percent mark in one fell swoop, Holtz said. Department officials were hearing from state budget officers that "you'd better focus on that 10 percent," he said.

Department Commissioner Pete Wheeler called the closure "a very painful option to take" in a news release Friday.

"As we considered the many options to reduce our state operating funds over the next two fiscal years, it became overwhelmingly apparent the choice that would impact the fewest veterans in our state was to close the domiciliary care unit at the Milledgeville state veterans' home," he said.
"While the governor and the Office of Planning and Budget will review each department's submission, (Gov. Perdue) trusts the judgment of the state's agency heads and their knowledge of their agency's budget to recognize the most appropriate programs to find those reductions," said a statement from Perdue's office Friday. The Department's primary mission is helping Georgia's 750,000 veterans deal with the federal government, Holtz said. There are 47 field offices around the state, and Georgia veterans get about $2.1 billion in annual federal benefits, he said. Holtz noted "no veteran is more important than any other veteran," but residents in the domiciliary were upset about the move.

"I ain't got nowhere to go, I had to come here," said Wayne McCormick, a Vietnam veteran. "We homeless. Everyone in this building is homeless."

Charles Holden, also a Vietnam veteran, said he'd been in the Wheeler building for about 5 years. He said he may move in with his son.

"I'll have to make some kind of arrangement. ..." he said. "I'm not going to be under some bridge ... but it's the principle of the thing."

The closure is just one piece of fallout from the cuts, and plans are still being formulated by various state agencies.

For example: Thursday the Georgia Department of Community Health announced a plan to keep the Medicaid and PeachCare health insurance programs intact for the next two years, The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported. But they also recommended delaying an increase in Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals, a tough blow to facilities already complaining of below-cost reimbursements from the government for treating Medicaid patients, the newspaper reported.


To contact writer Travis Fain, call 744-4213.

[TigerTrax]

Perhaps it's time the good folks of Georgia say, " Before you take away the care a VETERAN deserves because he has already EARNED it..... we should stop giving payments to those who have NEVER contributed and probably will NEVER, EVER, contribute to our state or country.