OT: Hospitalized Military Get Billed

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Ben Arown-Awile

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Extracted from an article in the St.Petersburg Times 9/11/2003.

"After a grenade exploded inside his Humvee in Iraq, Marine Staff Sgt. Bill Murwin was treated at a military hospital in Germany and spent four weeks at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. Part of his left foot was amputated.

His medical care was free, but the government billed him $243 for the food.

Then, just three days after he received his first bill for the hospital food in Germany, he got a stern letter saying the bill was overdue. It warned that his account would be referred to a collection agency.

Murwin, like thousands of other military personnel hospitalized every year, is expected to reimburse the government $8.10 per day for food. That's standard procedure because of a law Congress passed in 1981.

The rule was established because most military personnel receive $8.10 a day as a "basic allowance for subsistence" for food. But when they are hospitalized, the government tries to recoup the money on the theory that they are eating hospital food and therefore are double-dipping."
 
Stick all the bean counters in the lead vehicle of a motor convoy operating in the vicinity of Tikrit. The fresh air will do 'em some good.:mad:

Sarge
 
It never ceases to amaze me how all of our representaives in DC lose all sense of fairness and logic when they pass laws in our names. It absolutely disgusts me that members of our armed services are treated in such a callous manner. Can you imagine telling one of these jerks on the 'hill' that they would actually have to pay for anything themselves?
 
That is beyond belief. Is there any kind of group that helps military personnel like him pay for stuff like that? I hope that there is and if any one has any info I would like it please. Sylvrfalcn, I like your idea but they should have to walk.
 
Sarge, you have the right idea. Let a bunch of them walk point on some of the combat patrols. I guess they don't walk any more but, every one knows what I mean.

Any body got an idea how so many of the elected in congress and the Senate go homne rich? That $8.10 probably goes into some Senators retirement fund. Don't tell me they don't take bribes and payoffs to big business. We all know they are taking some kind of pay off most of the time. High dollar vacations and such are as good as money in the pocket. My Greatgrandfather told me when I was a youg man not long in the Corps. That there should be a young private beside each of those Bastids with a .45 in his hand and let the Senator know that the next time he dipped a hand in the till he would get his head blowed off. Not too far wrong from what we need right now. Rant over for right now. :mad: :mad: :mad:
 
What the hail is his wife supposed to live on when he is paying the whole $8.10 back to the Government?:mad:
 
A sad situation that hasn't seemed to have improved. There are more military families who have to use food stamps than you can imagine. It got so bad at one point that the officers and CPOs put together an unofficial fund to help out some of our sailor's families. A flag officer (who was a bloody REMF) got wind of it and put a stop to it along with threats of reprimands for myself and the XO. We said go ahead and we'll make it public. After that it was just kept quiet and that Admiral fortunately retired. Pathetic.
 
.After talking to my marine buddy who did some door-kickin, snatch-n'grab, I'd also suggest Naseria.

That or make the dumba$$ journalist who took a 'souveneir' live granade into an ariport (where it detonated, killing others and wounding many) pay for it.

Keith
 
The "logic" of this escapes me.

So a guy in the field gets MREs. Is he buying them out of the $8.10? If not, why should a guy susbsisting on an IV in a hospital be expected to "buy" that? This "basic allowance for subsistence" sounds like some anachronism from the era of Napoleon or something when armies lived off the countryside. These people are truely imbeciles.

They are double dips.

As I recall, 1981 is about the time they came up with a bunch stupid crap. Like:

Graduate students receiving living stipends paid out of government grants for the research they were conducting became liable for income tax on those funds.

Or

Publishers became liable for annual inventory tax on their stocks of books. Result: The formerly prudent practice of doing a large, economical run of texts which would sell slowly over a period of years was discouraged. Instead the publishers found it more economical to do a smaller, more expensive run to avoid the inventory tax. Speciality books became more expensive, and quickly went out of print. Many publishers destroyed existing unsold inventory of slow selling texts.


What they should do is asses a deduction from every member of Congress for each vote that they miss, and use those funds to pay the bloody food fees.

"Double-dippers" (which hospitalized soldiers are not) may be irritate the bean-counters, but people getting paid for being absent from work is worse in my book. Paying "extra" for something isn't near as bad as paying for nothing.
 
Something like the Texas legislature has cost the tax payers of Texas the last few months. Millions paid out on special cessions to get nothing done. Need to fire the whole dayum crew and start over.:mad:
 
Seems that I remember the District of Columbia ( Washington DC ) was at one time malarial. Perhaps it can be reintroduced.
 
Originally posted by Ben Arown-Awile .......His medical care was free, but the government billed him $243 for the food.
Click to expand...
Proper medical care requires a proper diet.
Just like clean sheets and lightbulbs.
The whole situation is unbelievable.

What adjective conveys both 'tragic' and 'ridiculous'?
 
Time to write the dork that represents you. Better yet, call them until you actually talk to your particular two-faced crook. They will tell you exactly what you want to hear and then maybe explain why they are totally AGAINST something so unfair. Liars, cheats and hippocrites. Rusty is right...
 
This poor guy does not need this grief. As if paying soldiers poorly wasn't bad enough.
 
Below has been deleted. You'll have to use your imagination.

********************************************************************************************************************************************************, etc.

Is it too late to prohibit Senatorial and Representative's from employing bodyguards while within their home states?

Perhaps we should require them to spend no less than 35% of their time in the area from which they've been elected on pain of losing benefits for each year they fail to make themselves available to their constituents in their state's offices at least 35% of the time.

Better yet make them spend 2 working days of every five each month in their home district. Prepublished schedule required, including visiting several cities/ counties every month.

Remember too, your M.O.A. scoped deer rifle will become the next banned item when your Congressman become aware far too many of their constituency a) dislike them; b) have the ability and means to kill them without warning from three football fields away. Then your deer rifle will be get renamed a "sniper rifle".

So get yourself one bought, sighted in ( with a couple hundred rounds it likes put away ), and better yet with a spare identical rifle and scope and parts, and start reloading and setting aside equipment, supplies ( new cases, powder, bullets and primers ) before it's too late.
 
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