A few months ago, Salon had a report that was almost too ridiculous to believe. Many wounded U.S. soldiers, getting treatment at military hospitals, were getting forced to pay for their meals.
Most patients at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington have a lot on their minds: the war they just fought, the injuries they came home with, the future that lies ahead. The last thing a wounded soldier needs to worry about is where the next meal is coming from. But for hundreds of Walter Reed patients, that’s a real concern. Starting this month, the Army has started making some wounded soldiers pay for the food they eat at the hospital.
Paying out of pocket for hospital meals can impose a serious financial burden, costing hundreds of dollars every month. That can be a lot of money to a military family. But perhaps worse, the meal charge feels like an ungrateful slap in the face to some soldiers. “I think it sucks,” said a soldier from West Virginia who broke his neck in Iraq after falling off a roof. “I think that people should be able to eat. They get us over there, get us wounded and shot up and then tell us: Fend for yourself. You are all heroes, but here you go.”
I’m pleased to report that this outrageous policy, which literally adds insult to injury to wounded troops, is coming to an end. It’s obviously good news for men and women in uniform, some of whom were paying about $250 a month for food, but on a political note, it’s also a legislative victory for a senator named Barack Obama.
Thanks to some hungry G.I.’s and a U.S. senator, some wounded soldiers will no longer have to dig into their own pockets to pay for their meals at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
On Wednesday, the Senate passed an amendment introduced by Illinois Democrat Barack Obama that will pay for them. It got added to an $82 billion emergency spending bill full of war money that President Bush is about to sign. The amendment applies to all military hospitals, not just Walter Reed.
Apparently, Obama came upon the Salon report while preparing for an April 5 trip to visit wounded soldiers at Walter Reed. He asked several injured soldiers about the policy, who explained that the report was accurate and that they were footing the bill for their hospital meals. He led an effort to reverse the policy and was successful.
The amendment is retroactive to January 1, 2005, so these troops should be expecting a refund.