Letter to the Editor.* The Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Affairs is a term of the business that deals with the relation between a government and its veteran communities, usually administered by the designated government agency. (VA) has always been able to purchase drugs and offer them to veterans at a cost far less than that available in the private sector. Those days may be coming to an end quickly if efforts of the U.S. Congress and several states become law. The U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate are considering bills (H.R. 3703 and S. 2053) which would extend discounted government Federal Supply Schedule (FSS FSS Federal Supply Service (US General Services Administration) FSS Flight Service Station FSS Family Self-Sufficiency FSS Fixed Satellite Service FSS Forensic Science Service (Great Britain) ) pharmaceutical prices currently enjoyed by veterans to the Medicare population. Several state legislatures are considering similar bills which would extend these special FSS prices to certain state entities. While I understand and sympathize with Verb 1. sympathize with - share the suffering of compassionate, condole with, feel for, pity grieve, sorrow - feel grief commiserate, sympathise, sympathize - to feel or express sympathy or compassion everyone's desire to control health care costs and reduce the price of drugs, I have serious reservations about any legislation that will tie the cost of obtaining prescription drugs prescription drug Prescription medication Pharmacology An FDA-approved drug which must, by federal law or regulation, be dispensed only pursuant to a prescription–eg, finished dose form and active ingredients subject to the provisos of the Federal Food, Drug, to the FSS rates. During my tenure as the Deputy Secretary and Acting Secretary of the VA, a similar proposal to expand access to the FSS pharmaceutical schedules was considered. After conducting a thorough analysis of this proposal, we concluded that this expansion, which was supported by a General Accounting Office report in 1997, would ultimately result in a $153.1 million increase in our annual budget. At that time, it was also estimated that increased health care costs from extending the FSS to these entities could force the VA to deny health care services to as many as 50,000 veterans. Similarly, in 1999, when attempts were made to extend the FSS pricing schedule to the Medicare population we estimated that extending discounted government prices for pharmaceuticals to the Medicare population would increase the VA's annual pharmaceutical costs by $500-600 million. Now, years later, the impact will be even greater on the already constrained VA budget if FSS special discount drug prices are extended to the Medicare population and states. For these reasons, I urge you to contact your U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator in opposition to any legislation that will undermine veterans' benefits Throughout history war veterans have received compensation. Roman soldiers were given rewards at the end of their service including cash or land (praemia). Augustus fixed the amount in AD 5 at 3000 denarii and by the time of Caracalla it had risen to 5000 denarii. [1] . Also, if you reside in a state or local jurisdiction that is considering similar Legislation, I urge you to make sure that your state and local officials know that veterans in their area will strongly oppose any attempt to extend FSS pricing to other entities. Hershel W. Gober Hershel Wayne Gober, a veteran of the Vietnam War, was acting United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs on two occasions (1997-98 and 2000-01) and Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs from 1993 to 2000, during the administration of Bill Clinton. , McLean, Virginia McLean is an unincorporated community located in Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. A small geographic area along Chain Bridge Road in Arlington County has a 22101 zip code and is also part of McLean. |
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