In the fall of 1993 I got totally fed up with high doctor’s bill which because of my extremely small Disability Compensation Checks I receive from the Department of Veterans Affairs just kept getting bigger and bigger. Which was getting me deeper and deeper in debt. Or that is what I thought.
While I was engaged in my first court battle with the DVA I kept running across Court case after Court case stating that our Veterans Benefits were protected by the 5th Amendment and that they cannot be suspended, reduced or terminated without being properly informed of the change in our benefits in advance of said change, without a hearing on the issue of the pending change, and without being granted our Right to have our case reviewed on appeal.
Well the Department of Defense has done none of the above. They have reduced, suspended and now they have terminated my health care entitlements without so much as a word. So I filed a complaint in the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. See Hayden v. Department of Defense.
I got the shock of my life when I received the Department of Defense’s response to my charges. They claimed responsibility for all of my outstanding medical bills and admitted that I had in fact along with every other Retired Military Person been denied my Rights under the 5th Amendment.
Fully armed and ready to go I proceeded to the Federal Court House prepared to finally win against the unbeatable United States Government. As I walked into Judge Jordan’s Courtroom, a Federal Judge for the District Court, I was prepared to let them have all 4 barrels. As Judge Jordan entered the room I prepared myself for the inevitable defeat of Military Retiree's abuses by the DOD. But before I had a chance to say a word the Attorney for the DOD approached the bench and started claiming that the Government had Sovereign Immunity Protection in this case and that in spite of the fact that the DOD had in deed violated the Constitution that it’s actions were done under Color of Federal Law.
Judge Jordan reassured the Attorney for the DOD that he had every intention of throwing my case out for lack of jurisdiction but not on those grounds. Judge Jordan them proceeded to explain to me and the Attorney for the DOD that the reason why he was ruling in this manner was because the DOD owed the money to the medical providers and since the money was not owed to me, I was the wrong person to be filing this case. He went on to explain that I could not act as an attorney for the medical providers without first getting their power of attorney and second without being a member of the Tennessee Bar Association. I am not a licensed Lawyer so I cannot act as one before the Court.
After I left the Courtroom I had plenty of time to think about my next move. In the days that followed I talked to several people mostly Congressmen and women and lawyers about what Judge Jordan had said. Then I sent out letters to each of the medical providers who had a claim against me and to the local credit reporting company stating exactly what I had done and what Judge Jordan had said.
To date not one of my medical provider has filed a claim against the DOD for the money they are owed and have continued their attacks against me. I have tried to get my medical providers to join us in a class action suite and they have flat out refused. Their stand is that we signed a paper stating that we would pay that portion of our medical bill that our insurance company didn’t. I tried pointing out the fact that the DOD had already admitted in a Federal Court that they owed them the money and simply refused to pay their just debt. I was told that that did not make any difference as far as they are concerned.
After some research and a lot of digging. I asked a friend of mine who works in a doctors office as an insurance claims clerk. She said the doctors simply place a bad credit report against us and pass the expense on for someone else’s insurance company to pay so they get their money without the hassle of having to go to court and loosing time from work and having to rearrange their patient schedule. By simply increasing their charges for other patients the doctor gets his money regardless if I pay the bills or not. If I pay them the doctors see that as gravy. Which leaves us virtually out in the cold with no where to turn.
If we were to get a Class Action suite going against the DOD the end result would be the same. Just as Judge Jordan so aptly pointed out that since the DOD does not own us the money we do not have a claim against the DOD and the proper litigants would have to be the medical providers to whom the money is owed. The medical providers refuse to file a Class Action Suite claiming that it is cheaper and a whole lot easier for them to increase their charges and get their money out of the insurance companies then it would be for them to file any action against the Federal Government. Leaving us up a creek without even a boat let alone a paddle.
These are the facts. We can neither deny them nor can we afford to ignore them any longer. But we do have a choice. We can force the issue and bring yet more pressure against both the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense. We can as a united front refuse to continue paying that portion of our medical bills which the Government has already admitted it owes and cancel all of our secondary and primary medical care coverage. Every person who is entitled to benefits under TriCARE/CHAMPUS, CHAMPVA, and MEDICARE can join us in our national BOYCOTT of the National Medical Insurance Fraud System. We are asking everyone who is entitled to receive these benefits to continue to see their doctors and continue filing their claims with TriCARE/CHAMPUS, CHAMPVA, and MEDICARE. Only when it comes time to pay the doctor for that portion of the bill which is owed by the United States Government and which the United States Government has openly admitted owing in a Federal Court we simply refuse to pay it also. It is not our debt so why in the world should we want to pay it.
After all the Government expects and demands that we pay our just debts and even those debts we do not owe to the Government. So why cann't we do the same and expect and demand that the Government pay it’s just debts owed to our medical providers.
When we are able to admit to ourselves that this is not our debt and to pay it is nothing more than giving into fraud. Then we can refuse to pay this Black Mail without feeling guilty. The doctors and other medical providers don't care. All they will do is increase their charges and collect their money from some insurance company.
By Law no person can be forced to pay a debt that is not legally theirs to pay. It is called fraud. Every State in the Union has laws against committing fraud. It makes no difference if the fraud is perpetrated by a citizen against another citizen. A company charging people for products and/or services they did not receive or know about. Or by the Federal Government charging people for service which they do not receive. Fraud is still FRAUD.
