Jon Soltz, writing at Huffington Post breaks down Government run health care.The whole health care debate has been completely confusing to me and a lot of the veterans and troops I talk with every day. See, for us, most of us got free, government-run health care.
First, troops in the Active Duty component and their families get TRICARE, the largest component in the military health care system, which allows them to go to military hospitals and doctors, as needed, and reimburses them for medical costs at private doctors, if they have to go there. For all intents and purposes, it's a mix of the British system (government provided health care) and the Canadian system (a single-payer government run system). The system is so good that virtually every veterans advocacy group has backed extending it fully to the National Guard and Reserve, since they are being deployed now more than ever.
Basically, it's a force readiness issue -- giving this kind of care to troops -- and why support for extending it to the Guard and Reserve is so strong. With all the added pressures from wars and increasing natural disasters, it's essential that all our service members are given preventative care, to ensure they're ready when we need them. We're simply a stronger nation when our troops are kept healthy.
For many, there's also the Department of Veterans Affairs. This is almost exactly like the British system of care. The government builds the hospitals and clinics. The government pays doctors, nurses, administrators, and others a salary. For those with service-connected injuries and disabilities sustained in war, the VA is invaluable. So much so, in fact, that every veterans group has tried to expand eligibility for VA care.
Finally, there's also what's called TRICARE For Life; basically the opportunity for many veterans to reenter the TRICARE system later on. And after you reach the Federal retirement age, that old government-run TRICARE will supplement your government-run Medicare, so you have little or no out-of-pocket expense.
So what's the point here?
Even at the worst of times, when the Bush administration underfunded the VA by billions, leading to backlogs and some real horror stories, the Veterans Health Administration, which administers care, consistently hovered at 80 percent approval among its patients, higher than those in the private system. With the funding improvements in the budget and new construction of hospitals and clinics through the stimulus program, those numbers will absolutely go higher.
TRICARE has been rated the insurance plan with the highest customer satisfaction -- better than any private plan for six years running!
Those on the Right keep harping on how they're looking to "save" the American people from the horrors and evils of government-run insurance and care. Well, troops and veterans don't want to be saved! In fact, when completely fabricated and false rumors started spreading that health reform would mean troops and veterans being tossed back into the private system, the major Veteran Service Organizations freaked out and wrote a letter to Congress demanding that they NOT be thrown back to for-profit care.
A final point: If government-run insurance and care is so evil and so horrible, then why do conservatives keep supporting leaving America's troops and veterans in that kind of system? Do conservatives hold America's warriors in such low standing that they'd subject us to a "Nazi" system, us Rush Limbaugh has called it?
You can't have it both ways. Either TRICARE and the VA are superior systems, worthy of our sacrifice, and thus a government-managed health system can be great. Or, they're terrible, scary, and Communist-Nazi schemes that have to be eliminated, leaving troops and veterans to find their own care for their lost limbs, brain injuries, and other wounds.
America's veterans and troops would say the former. It's why for years they have fought to expand the government programs, not kill them. That's why we find it so confusing that conservatives want to bar the doors and keep those Americans who want to be in a public system from even having that choice.
Saw your comments at Moonbattery and wanted to see your blog because I was having trouble following your train of thought in the thread.
ReplyDeleteThere's another point in the healthcare debate that you fail to address above, particularly as TRICARE is concerned.
TRICARE is funded to take care of military families -- those families who make sacrifices daily in order to provide services to the American people. It's a variety of employer-provided healthcare: a quid pro quo, if you will. TRICARE For Life is available only to those who served a minimum of 20 years (along with a few other prerequisites), not for every Veteran, as is the VA.
The "public option" health insurance is simply a spigot that someone turns on when he needs it, without paying for it in many cases, like pumping out of a well without paying for city water.
That's an American Way, you say. Right? Go out there and witch for the water and dig the well (i.e., opt-in to the public plan)? What happens when the well runs dry?
I'm thinking that, often, you drill/dig horizontally to tap into your neighbor's spring, thus straining your neighbor's resources until neither of you has water, and you must choose to ration the remaining water.
I don't necessarily believe that government-run health care would be so terrible (although my husband still swears that the VA killed his father -- and I don't wholly disagree with him) -- American health care providers are superlative. BUt, for starters, my objections to providing a private option include: (1) finite healthcare resources will ultimately lead to more rationing than we experience today; (2) no quid pro quo required of the average Joe; (3) more bureacracy at the federal level; (4) chilling effect on the insurance industry -- a huge percentage of our economy; and a bunch of other stuff that makes my head hurt.
The foregoing is a good beginning to explain why I, as a conservative (and, for full disclosure's sake, a member of a retired military family: 34+ years thank you very much. P.S. --the Guard and Reserves have been participating in TRICARE after retirement for some time now, and in TRICARE when they're called to extended active duty), object to a public system. My objection redoubles when you take into consideration the many less-burdensome alternatives on the table that are being ignored in the greater debate (i.e. -- tort reform; removal of interstate competition among private insurers, while retaining state oversight for intrastate activities to inspire creative competition; federal regulation of pre-existing condition/denial of insurance issues; open negotiation between insured and insurer concerning covered conditions -- this could eliminate off-the-wall and across-the-spectrum coverage for unique psycho-sexual-physical issues; etc.) Almost all of these suggestions are truly deficit-neutral, so why are they being swept under the rug?
This entire reform effort is way over the top in its race to fruition. So, think of it as fruit -- and remember the rotten apple in the barrel.
I think I'll go post this on my blog! Thanks for the inspiration!
Moogie, for one thing should you choose to re-post this, I did not write it. Jon Soltz did, and like yourself knows a little thing or two about military health care.
ReplyDelete"I'm thinking that, often, you drill/dig horizontally to tap into your neighbor's spring, thus straining your neighbor's resources until neither of you has water, and you must choose to ration the remaining water." Now this was classy, you don't know me and likely don't know any of the 50 million who are going without insurance. Every President tried to make an effort to bring down the costs of coverage so all Americans would be covered except the last one.
The arguments being made are contradictory. It's either so good it will hurt private insurance or it will flop and care will be rationed. Which is it? You don't quite appear to support either of those, so resort to personal shots because your argument is weak.