Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Vets Sue Rumsfeld Over Health Care Cuts

By ROBERT BURNS

AP Military Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Residents of a historic retirement home for war veterans filed a class-action lawsuit Tuesday against Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, asserting that the Pentagon chief has imposed excessive and illegal cutbacks in on-site medical and dental services.

The suit was filed in federal court on behalf of the nearly 1,000 residents at the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Washington, one of two such institutions managed by the Defense Department.

The home's chief financial officer, Steve McManus, said in an interview that the residents who filed the complaint do not fully understand the reasons for some of the changes. He said they have not only saved money but also produced efficiencies and improvements.

``We're really trying to improve the benefits for our residents and create the foundation for the financial stability of the Armed Forces Retirement Home,'' McManus said. The budget for operating the home has fallen from about $63 million last year to $58 this year, he said.

In their complaint, the home's residents said Rumsfeld has a ready remedy for the financial problems that led to the cutbacks in services and staffing, but he has chosen not to act.

They said Congress gave the Pentagon authority in 1994 to increase one source of the home's operating funds - a 50-cent-per-month payroll deduction paid by every enlisted member and warrant officer in the military. Raising it to $1 per month would generate $7 million a year in new revenue, the suit says.

The retirement home's operating costs are borne mainly by a trust fund and by monthly fees paid by its residents. Another source of revenue are the fines and forfeitures levied upon members of the active-duty military in judicial proceedings.

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