Almost 2 Million U.S. Vets Lack Health Insurance
Does Bush or any of the NEOCONS have any respect for the men and woman who serve our Country?
FORBES- Almost 2 million veterans are without health insurance, along with 3.8 million members of their households, a new study finds.
Among the 1.8 million uninsured veterans, 12.7 percent are under 65. In addition, the number of uninsured veterans has increased by 290,000 between 2000 and 2004, according to the report in the Oct. 30 online edition of the American Journal of Public Health.
“The Bush Administration has been sending Americans overseas asking them to fight for their country, and yet, when people come home, they have no guarantee of health care,” said study co-author Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a member of the advocacy group Physicians for a National Health Program. “The most basic human right of health care is being denied to our veterans, along with other Americans — and that’s a disgrace.”
“Over 1 million veterans have no health insurance and no access to veterans’ hospitals,” Woolhandler added. “I think that’s shocking to most people. It was certainly shocking to us.”
Many of these veterans were members of working families that earned too much to qualify for programs such as Medicaid or Veterans Administration care, Woolhandler said. “Yet, they earned too little to be able to afford private coverage,” she said.
Woolhandler noted that the Veterans Administration health-care system is not open to all veterans. Many uninsured veterans can’t get any VA care because the Bush Administration stopped enrollment of most middle-income veterans in 2003, she said.
As a veteran and an active duty healthcare provider in the Army, the care given to our veterans has always been substandard. They get a fistfull of referrals but nothing gets treated – kind of a hot potato game. I encountered veterans living near an Army base to avail themselves of the hospital and PX. The PX was great – but mental illness was ignored, blindness from preventable causes, untold number of conditions that could have been fixed but were not treated properly. It is a tragedy and someone without serious healthcare training is in trouble with the VA healthcare, because only those who know what is needed get treated.
And this is what lies ahead for us all, God help us if national healthcare occurs.
[...] Control Congress wrote an interesting post today on Almost 2 Million U.S. Vets Lack Health InsuranceHere’s a quick excerpt Does Bush or any of the NEOCONS have any respect for the men and woman who serve our Country? FORBES- Almost 2 million veterans are without health insurance, along with 3.8 million members of their households, a new study finds. Among the 1.8 million uninsured veterans, 12.7 percent are under 65. In addition, the number of uninsured veterans has increased by 290,000 between 2000 and 2004, according to the report in the Oct. 30 online edition of the American Journal of Public Health. “The Bu [...]
But, but John, at least Doctor K’s plan will cover ILLEGAL ALIENS!
Hugh,
If you put the bill on employers and Country of origin it would clean the problem up. The reason they are her is because of the tax payer subsidized jobs. The first time an employer got a bill for family healthcare and school cost for violating our immigration laws you would see a new attitude!
Wait a second here!
You’re complaining that people who spend a whopping two, three, or four years in the service don’t get full benefits for themselves AND their families! for life!
Retirees gets full benefits, so you aren’t complaining about them. That only leaves people like me. I spent almost 9 years in. Your saying that I and my family should have full health insurance for life?
John, you’ve gone a bit far down the rabbit hole.
Although the single payer system, which I have developed, alleviates employers from the responsibility of providing employee health benefits, I agree with going after the employers of illegal immigrants for the medical bills of their employees. The reason is that these employers are breaking our laws. I also agree with going after the country of origin for these medical bills. I have suggested that one mechanism of doing this would be to subtract those amounts from the philanthropy that we send to those countries and then redirect those funds to our single payer/ administrator. I believe that we are dealing with two separate issues that partially overlap: 1. illegal-legal immigration issues and 2. medical care for illegal immigrants who are successful at arriving and residing in the USA. The first issue is for ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Complete enforcement of our laws, regarding visas, employment verification, and sanctions for employers breaking the law, would go a long way toward solving the problem. Health care for human beings living in the USA is a separate issue, and I do not believe that it is right for a doctor or a hospital to deny treatment to anyone, regardless of ability to pay, where he/she comes from, or their legal status within our country. The medical identification card system, which I have described, could be of help to ICE.
GA Patriot’s comments regarding the quality of care within the VA system are disturbing. However, I remind everyone that the quality of care that a patient receives is dependent upon the work performed within the context of the doctor—patient relationship, which is the responsibility of the two participants in the relationship and not the responsibility of the payer, whther the latter is the VA, Medicare, Medicaid, or private insurance. If the payer interferes with the doctor—patient relationship, then we have big problems. I think that is one of the major problems with the single payer systems developed in Canada and Great Britain and with our own private health insurance companies and, in light of the above comments, with our VA system. Although I have not seriously considered this in my book, it may be a very helpful step to include all of our veterans in my single payer system. The reason that I had not previously considered this is because I thought all veterans were entitled to VA health care benefits. This move would require redirecting the VA health care budget to our single payer/administrator and accepting the concept of separation of health care for our veterans away from the veterans adminstration system. In my system, I have already separated the health care of the elderly (currently Medicare) away from our social security system. Health care is health care regardless of any group designation that one carries or how they arrived to the point at which they carry their illnesses.
If President Bush and his administration are seen as being behind the means testing for VA health benefits, that should not be surprising. It is simply in keeping with his other health care plan of HSAs, health savings accounts, invented as a way to keep insurance companies rich. The more veterans that are excluded by means testing, the more that have to purchase private health insurance. Of course, I remind everyone again that Senator Clinton offers no better. Her plan for universal health insurance means just that.
R. Garth Kirkwood M.D.
http://www.equalhealthcareforall.com
doctork@equalhealthcareforall.com
John wants EVERYBODY to have government healthcare, so he will resort to any story even if not based on facts to support his/Hillary’s plan.
I agree with Aubrey as one who served four years…I signed a contract that did not offer lifetime government healthcare.
Is it true our elected officials get full retirement benefits including free healthcare for life, even if they just serve one 2-year term in the House?
bb,
What is the major malfunction with these peoples’ thought processes? What kind of households were they raised in to grow into an adulthood where they EXPECT the gov’t to provide for their every need?
Why does everyone WANT to be a victim these days? Do people not realize that there is NO glory in being a victim? Do people not realize that PITY is the worst and most insulting emotion? Do people not have any SHAME or PRIDE anymore?
I have said it before and I’ll say it again: Real soldiers do not want charity or handouts. Just say thanks and get out of the way. Real soldiers want to be treated as professionals, not special needs cases.
JOHN WAYNE!!!!! WHERE HAVE YOU GONE!?!?!?!?
Bart/Aubrey – Well said! As a veteran of 22 years active service I had to laugh at John the Constitutionalists post.
John, will you stop at nothing to push your socialized healtcare agenda?
Military veterans who stayed in for an entire career are authorized healthcare, BUT THEY PAY PREMIUMS for it. I know this to be true as I PAY MY PREMIUMS EVERY MONTH.
Perhaps a bit of fact checking on your part is required.
Military personnel want EXACTLY what Aubrey said – treat us like professionals and get out of the way.
Your Marxist rantings are growing more and more tiresome. Get a grip. This Country promises liberty and opportunity – NOT handouts.
VOTE AGAINST SOCIALISM IN ANY FORM!
SgtMac
How much is your premimum?
Good point Mac. A friend of mine who retired from the Air Force wonders how he can switch to SCHIP type program due to its premiums being significantly less than his as a Vietnam Vet.
Well put Aubrey…I know a few current soldiers who fit your description perfectly.
John the Constitutionalist –
That information is readily availabe if you’d care to do the research.
Until Bill Clinton took over, Military retirees were promised free healthcare for life in return for a career of service to this Nation. So much for “promises.” Slick Willy changed all that and reneged on the promise to retired veterans. In fact, the latest move afoot is to INCREASE premiums on retirees.
Fortunately for many retirees, there are a number of Patriots in congress attempting to stop this from happening. Among them are Phil Gingrey and a number of Democrats. Recommend you research H.R. 579 for further details.
Suffice it to say that giving “free” healthcare to the general populace while gouging military retirees is about as despicable as it gets. If you support that, you’re worse thana socialist.
VOTE AGAINST SOCIALISM IN ANY FORM!