NEW LAW

A few weeks ago we covered the story of the congressman incensed that soldiers leaving the hospital after being wounded in Iraq were being "billed" for meals eaten in the hospital.

I explained that wasn't exactly the story...

Here is an update.

Thanks to Congress there just might be such a thing as a free lunch after all...

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.

But Pentagon officials admit it seemed like adding insult to injury.

Congress quickly changed the law, and effective Wednesday active-duty military patients will get meals free and be allowed to keep their meal allowance.

A spokesman at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington said the hospital has been averaging about 40 patients from the war in Iraq, so the financial impact amounts to about $324 a day.

In addition to military personnel wounded in action, the law also applies to those hurt while "engaged in hazardous service" or "in the performance of duty under conditions simulating war."

It is already the case that some troops in combat get meals and get to keep their allowance.

Technically it's double-dipping, but the amount of money is small, and no one at the Pentagon wants to nickel and dime the troops who put their lives on the line.