A Donald Trump-backing Ohio Republican is defending his claims that “moochers” and “pretenders” are overwhelming the Veterans Affairs’ health care system with fraudulent claims – even though there’s little evidence of abuse. Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) suggested earlier this week at a town hall event in West Chester, Ohio, that some veterans who sought care from the federal agency weren’t as worthy of treatment as others, reported the Journal-News.
“Contrary to popular belief, going off to do sightseeing throughout the Middle East at the expense of the United States Army does not get you an all-you-can-eat-for-free card if you make it back home,” Davidson said. “I know many of us would like to think so and also use that as an excuse to volunteer for service, but if that were the case, then everybody who’s ever had money problems would just join the army, do a couple of tours in troubled areas of the world, which there have been and always will be plenty of, and come back home to reap the benefits. But, unfortunately for them, it’s just not how the system works.”
He continued, “The VA system was designed to help those who really need it, not to provide freeloaders and pretenders with free drugs, free food, free gas money and free mortgage payments. That’s the one thing that makes military veterans the same as every other American out there – if they want their own slice of the American dream, they are just going to have to work for it just like the rest of us. And in the meantime, we’re just going to have to pay attention to what’s being done more closely than before.”
The Ohio Rep. went on to argue that “only vets who have sustained incapacitating injuries” should be allowed to benefit from VA care. Asked to further elaborate on his proposition, he basically said that unless soldiers get a limb shot off or vital organ seriously injured, they should be denied care on the basis of “go home and cry to your mommy.” “Are we sending children or men to war? A real man doesn’t complain when he gets hurt, he sucks it up and gets the job done no matter what. Instead, VA hospitals throughout the country are full of soldiers with pretend-injuries such as testicular damage, toe and ankle sprains and shrapnel infection,” he said.
“Are you kidding me? Shrapnel infection? Hello – didn’t anyone see Iron Man? You saw what Tony Stark did after he caught a shrapnel that started to descend towards his heart? He handled it like a man. True – he was a multi-billionaire who had his own engineering company, but the one thing he didn’t do in the movie was moan like a little girl. He took it like a man and solved the problem like a man. And here we are, dishing out millions of dollars from the federal budget every year for so-called injuries that could be fixed right there on the battlefield,” Davidson added.
“So, allow me to clarify – fighting for the United States on foreign battlefields is admirable and we owe our thanks to our troops. But, that’s pretty much where it ends, unless, like I’ve said, they lost an arm or a leg or something and are permanently disabled. Otherwise, it’s just like any other day – don’t b*tch about it and deal with it. So, my message to anyone thinking about committing fraud against VA care: Tony Stark is smart, Tony Stark is tough. Be like Tony Stark,” he concluded.
