This is Just Wrong!

President Tells Wounded Vets to Take Their Care to Private Insurers

Here's a story that should anger all of us. When soldiers go into harm's way for us they deserve to know that we will be there for them when they need us. This Story [click to read] in World Net Daily shows how the president is wanting to tell our wounded soldiers to 'take a hike' when it comes to their healthcare.

First of all, as a freelancer I can tell you this; when you show up to get insurance with a pre-existing or chronic condition, you'll pay through the nose for the coverage in the first place. OK, the government can mandate the insurance companies, then everybody's rates rise. Really this could be nothing more than a gutless tax increase.

Second, the VA hospital system gives us a microcosm of government run healthcare. Shouldn't it do such a wonderful job with such efficiency that we aren't having this discussion? Ask anyone who has to travel out of their community to get care, driving past the local hospital in the wee hours of the morning on their way to Roanoke or Bluefield for health services. I've often wondered if the VA benefits would work better if we let them be used in the private system like other insurance. Privatize the treatment but not the coverage. Then the market will provide better care and hopefully real savings.

Third, and most important. We made an agreement with our soldiers and its a matter of honor.

Saving Acorn Instead of Private Ryan

The administration hopes to save $540 million with this change. I just looked at what they want to give activist groupa like ACORN and the veterans' healthcare is a fraction of that money. Some estimates have as much as $4 BILLION going to administration interests like ACORN.

One of My Mentors

Back thirty years ago I worked with a man who had served in the great war. He liked to tell stories. When he returned to civilian life he was still suffering the ravages of milaria and he would have had a tough time working a 9 to 5 job. He was a gifted artist though and found work as a sign painter for a small outdoor advertising company.

His boss understood his condition well enough to tell him what had to be done and send him out. When my friend's condition required, he often lay down behind the billboard untill his condition improved and he finished many a sign in the light of a late summer evening. Both employer and employee benefited from an undocumentable work pattern that served them both.

It would be hard to find such grace in the modern workplace. This insurance mandate will only further discourage such partnerships.