Free For All

Doctor, my eyes
Tell me what is wrong
Was I unwise to leave them open for so long
--Doctor My Eyes, Jackson Brown
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Ranger is not very interested in the topics of medical insurance reform or the universal health issue, but he is interested in the health care promise to veterans.

President Obama is investing a lot of energy and political capital into these issues, at the expense of our two theatres of military action. Why doesn't he inform the taxpayers about why their money is flowing to endless wars, rather than engaging in obscurantism and telling them his health care plans won't cost them a red cent?

We would like some justifications for the continuance of the wars, rather than distraction with other less pressing issues. Even David Letterman quipped that we discuss health care financing, but never question war financing. The latter is accepted as a given, a necessity.

The federal government currently provides neither medical coverage nor health insurance for all veterans. Vets are prioritized due to funding restrictions, and have financial means testing as a discriminator to determine priorities of treatment. If the government cannot find the money to medically treat all honorably discharged veterans, then where is the money coming from to cover medical care for all Americans?

We are extremely sympathetic to the universal health care concept, but everybody is not going to get everything for free, nor can it be paid for if there is not a funding source. The truth is, to have a viable universal health coverage, we will pay higher taxes, a word anathema to the average U.S. citizen.

On the other hand, veterans earned their health care through their service. After they are discharged, they learn the country they served, to include combat duty, is slipping them a shabby deal. Before the U.S. starts new health insurance programs funded with tax dollars, there should be comprehensive medical care for veterans, care that they were promised and services they have earned.

We do not want free health care, we want what we paid for with our service. Obama is simply following a path firmly established in both legislatures, whether Democratically or Republican-controlled. Both parties continue to neglect the big veterans issues by throwing us little bones with promises of better funding to come.

Some people believe the rhetoric, but it's time to open our eyes.