Former Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson's comments came a day after The Associated Press reported that diabetes has become the most frequently compensated ailment among Vietnam veterans, even though decades of research has failed to find more than a possible link between the defoliant Agent Orange and diabetes.
"The irony (is) that the veterans who saved this country are now, in a way, not helping us to save the country in this fiscal mess," said Simpson, an Army veteran who was once chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee.
Let us give Simpson the benefit of the doubt that there is a link between Agent Orange and diabetes. Now let us calculate the number of Vietnam veterans receiving VA benefits and treatment for diabetes caused by Agent Orange. I doubt the cost of treating these veterans for Agent Orange-related diabetes is over a billion dollars. I am willing to guess it is substantially less. The Associated Press estimated it would cost $850 million a year to treat Vietnam veterans with diabetes.
It would be hard to calculate numbers because Agent Orange is not officially recognized as a cause for Agent Orange. What is more troubling is the co-chair of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform would focus on cutting funding for veterans with diabetes a manner of reducing the deficit. The savings would be miniscule. Veterans would have to be forced to find more expensive means to treat their diabetes.
Many progressives are focusing on Simpson's callousness toward veterans who have sacrificed for their country. Simpson deserves all the grief he gets from progressives. What struck me is how Simpson's comments exemplify conservatives utter lack of seriousness towards the deficit and health care. Cutting funding to the Veterans Administration is not going to create a surplus or make health care cheaper. In fact, cutting benefits make the military a less desirable career option for young men and women. Especially, in a time of war.
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