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Tag(s): Funding; Health; Health Care Benefits; Health Care Costs; Health Care Establishment; Health Care Policy; Health Care- Veterans; Pentagon; Senate; Veterans; (more...) Veterans; Veterans Admin VA; Veterans Benefits; Veterans Handicapped; Veterans Mental Health; Veterans Post Tramatic Stress (less...)
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April 4, 2008 at 11:19:01

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Veterans Deserve Quality Health Care

by Chris Lugo Page 1 of 1 page(s)

www.opednews.com

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Our military veterans have served the nation honorably, and deserve the best treatment we can give them. Regardless of how one feels about the current policy of the Bush administration regarding the war in Iraq, our veterans deserve our respect and gratitude for their service to the country. They chose to serve out of a sense of obligation, duty and often times a desire to improve their circumstances in life. The current war in Iraq has produced a high rate of disabled veterans who have been injured and wounded in the line of duty. This is in large part due to the advancement in treating combat related injuries in the field and the speed at whcih the wounded are moved out of the field of service to hospitals and critical care units.

In the United States, of our nation's 25 million veterans, about ten percent are currently considered disabled. That is about 2.5 million people who have served the country, been wounded either in combat or in the the line of duty and are currently dependent on the care of the TRICARE system for their health care benefits. In addition there are almost ten million retired veterans in this country receiving retirement benefits. We are currently spending about sixty billion dollars a year on veteran's benefits for all of our nation's veterans and twenty billion for our nation's wounded and disabled veterans.

When our servicemembers are recruited to join the military, they are made the promise of health care for life, and benefits for themselves and their families in exchange for answering the call to serve our country. These health care benefits are earned not only through the promise that we have made them as a nation, but also through the suppression in their pay and the intangibles represented by "total military compensation" which is the pormise of retirement benefits being available to the military and their families.

Last year, a task force on the future of military health care began looking at the situation of military retirees, who are increasingly being called upon to pay for more of their benefits. These benefits have been earned through their tours of duty and their service to our country, and it is up to us, as taxpayers, to honor that promise that has been made to our service members. This trust has been broken and veterans are concerned. Perhaps the most outrageous request coming from the Pentagon has been the call for increasing the enrollment fees in both TRICARE and TRICARE FOR LIFE, which is the primary system by which veteran's receive their military health benefits.

This situation needs to be addressed. We cannot leave our nation's veterans hanging on the edge. Many of our veterans are homeless and living in the streets. Others are living on marginal incomes and in poverty. This is not the promise we made our young men and women made when they answered the call to serve our country. These increases in the cost of health care are a burden that many cannot afford to pay, and we cannot afford to betray the trust of those who have served. It is time to bring the troops home from Iraq and stop funnelling hundreds of billions of dollars into an illegal war that is draining our nation's treasury. It is time to remember the promises that were made to those who came to the defense of our country and to give the military health system the funding priority that it needs.

My name is Chris Lugo and I am a candidate for the US Senate seat in Tennessee. I am running as a progressive because I believe that the time has come to end the war in Iraq, ensure that all Americans have access to affordable, quality health care and to restore common sense and decency to our national dialogue. For far too long we have neglected the needs of the poor in America, allowing hundreds of thousands in Tennessee to go without healthcare and millions nationally. For far too long we have let our education system be a secondary priority to the military industrial complex. As a result of these misguided funding priorities we have a graduation rate in Tennessee of only about 60% statewide for high school students and only about one quarter of all Tennesseans graduate from college. We must take solid steps to ensure that all Americans have safe and affordable housing, that we live in a clear and healthy environment, and that we take steps to address the deep divisions of inequity that still persist in our society. I believe in the American dream and I believe that all Americans deserve the opportunity to have a rich and meaningful life, but the only way to ensure that these priorities are addressed is to make certain that our government makes this a priority, that our elected representatives make peace and social justice a priority on a national scale. We are at a crossroads in history, and Tennessee faces a choice which we all face. Do we choose to continue down the path of abandonment, of hopelessness and fear or do we choose to embrace the compassionate, hopeful elements of our national identity? I for one, choose to hope. I believe that the government is here to serve the people and our elected leaders are here to serve you.

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5 comments

Hater of Nazis above all. Hobbies include activism, military model building, military history, exciting and vital conversation with retired crooks. Retired
John HanksHater of Nazis above all. Hobbies include activism, military model building, military history, exciting and vital conversation with retired crooks. Retired

Let's quit the divide and conquer stuff.

Everyone should have quality health care regardless. By separating veterans, indians, the poor, and the rich we are now 23rd in the world.

by John Hanks (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1409 comments) on Saturday, April 5, 2008 at 10:37:38 AM

I'm a 59yr old woman with post-polio syndrome. That keeps me home bound and in bed, but I stay active through the internet & currently belong to 6 different peace organizations.
I hope to help America return to her roots of compassion, conscience and constitutional greatness.
Ginger ChapmanI'm a 59yr old woman with post-polio syndrome. That keeps me home bound and in bed, but I stay active through the internet & currently belong to 6 different peace organizations.
I hope to help America return to her roots of compassion, conscience and constitutional greatness.

Yes, and...

I toally agree that veterans deserve the best quality healthcare. And so does everyone else. Having so many uninsured in this country is a national disgrace. The money being spent on this immoral war in Iraq could fund wonderful health care for all Americans-including the veterans who are returning with such high numbers of post traumatic stress and traumatic brain injuries. There is simply no excuse for not providing full coverage health care for every single American.

by Ginger Chapman (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 54 comments) on Saturday, April 5, 2008 at 12:09:13 PM

I am originally from New York and now live in Alaska. I was on Long Island on 9/11. I came up here to be with my fiance' who went back to work for the US Army to help with this war. See MakeTheArmyHonest to see that disasterous result.

I am outspoken, down to earth and I hate what this country has become. We have lost the vision of the founding fathers. Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, George Wahington, et al had a dream for us. George Bush and his War Profiteer cronies have nearl...

to see more of bio, click on member name
Robin BoernerI am originally from New York and now live in Alaska. I was on Long Island on 9/11. I came up here to be with my fiance' who went back to work for the US Army to help with this war. See MakeTheArmyHonest to see that disasterous result.

I am outspoken, down to earth and I hate what this country has become. We have lost the vision of the founding fathers. Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, George Wahington, et al had a dream for us. George Bush and his War Profiteer cronies have nearl...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Disband the VA

I am a veteran that now has a disability (not service related) engaged to a veteran that is 100% service connected disabled. After years of having private health insurance and medicare to fall back on we are now both having to rely on the VA for our benefits. The Bush Regime is cutting payments to doctors by Medicare 10% a year and less and less are taking it.

The VA is a nightmare. On my first visit the doctor got bored in the middle of my surgical history and changed the subject. They don't stock the meds I am on and the doctor couldn't figured out what she would do to switch me over....pull out a reference book or call the pharmacy maybe? She looked at my scar (the result of six serious abdominal surgeries) and declared "that looks pretty superficial". Maybe if she hadn't zoned out in my surgical history she would have learned that one of New York's top plastic surgeons spent quite a bit of time in the surgery room making it look that way. Then for some bizarre reason this woman became fixated on my hands. One of the few things that are still going right and she is insisting it isn't.

My thoughts went to my dog's veteranarian. Maybe he had some openings. At least he always acted like a normal guy. Made our dogs well when they go sick. I wasn't so sure the VA doc wasn't lost from the set of The Dream Team. I am certainly not looking forward to going back.

In typical government fashion, since it's a broke system they are rewarding it. In the land of the Bridges to No Where they are proposing to build a 100 million dollar bigger, better, more dysfunctional for sure VA.

The Veterans would be much better off if they just gave them voucher's or Blue Cross/Blue Shield and let them find their own doctors. And, I am sure it would cost the taxpayer's much less as well.

by Robin Boerner (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 19 comments) on Sunday, April 6, 2008 at 3:30:10 PM