CNN.COM: No more meal bills for hospitalized troops

No more meal bills for hospitalized troops

From Jamie McIntyre
CNN Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (CNN) --Wounded service members in U.S. military hospitals will no longer be presented with a bill for meals upon discharge, the Pentagon said Wednesday.

The idea -- not precisely true, as it turned out -- that U.S. troops, some of whom had lost limbs or were gravely wounded, were being charged $8.10 per day for meals while they were in military hospitals outraged some members of Congress.

What was happening was that the wounded patients were being asked to reimburse the government for what is known as their basic subsistence allowance -- money they get in their paychecks to cover meals.

Because they did not have to buy meals in the hospital, they were asked to return that allowance, a step required by law.

MORE AT: http://cnn.usnews.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&expire=-1&urlID=7760620&fb=Y&partnerID=2004

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Embarassed into kindness? It's about f**king time! (And I wonder what was supposedly "not precisely true" about it?)