Bush to Vets: Thank You for Your Sacrifice--Now Go Away

1.7 Veterans have no health insurance, according to researchers from Harvard Medical School and advocacy group Physicians for a National Health Program.

more than 1 in 3 veterans under age 25 lacked health coverage in 2003, as did 1 in 7 veterans, age 25 to 44, and 1 in 10 age 45 to 65...

more than two-thirds of uninsured veterans were employed and 86 percent had worked in the past year, according to the analyses of government surveys...

"Like other uninsured Americans, most uninsured vets are working people. And uninsured veterans are denied the care they need - turned away because they can't pay," said Steffie Woolhandler, a study author and co-founder of [PNHP]...

Many of the uninsured veterans were barred from Veterans Health Administration services by a 2003 Bush administration order halting enrollment of most middle-income veterans...

The new rule excluded from VA medical care unmarried veterans earning more than $25,000 annually and married veterans earning $30,000.

Terry Schow, director of the Utah Division of Veterans' Affairs, said uninsured veterans earning even less also are ineligible for VA services because they own a ranch or a farm.

In other words, let's shatter some myths: uninsured veterans are NOT for the most part mentally ill and/or homeless. Uninsured veterans are NOT simply too far away from VA facilities. Uninsured veterans find themselves without health care coverage because the Bush administration decided to cut them out in order to save what amounts to a drop in the bucket when it comes to the federal budget. How compassionate.

For the record: a number of years ago, I drove a taxi up in Madison (Union Cab), and sometimes dropped folks off at the VA Hospital. It was right next to UW Hospital geographically, but it might as well have been in the Third World in terms of what the waiting area/check in looked like. I don't know--maybe the working part of the facility was in better shape, but I doubt it. And this place was probably one of the better VA Hospitals.

Veterans, whether or not they served in combat, swore an oath to defend the United States--to the death, if necessary. In return, we OWE the men and women of our military, at the very least, a decent set of benefits--including lifetime heath care--as well as our gratitude.