Math-challenged Liberal /Lefties – I
Danny Lemieux on Oct 22 2010 at 6:02 am | Filed under: Uncategorized
I was in a Nevada hotel lobby a few days ago when I (as I am wont to do) casually took up conversation with a Navy vet (he was wearing his Navy ball cap). It was a good conversation. He started right off about the Nevada election and why Harry Reid had been so good for veterans, bringing home the pork in the form of a VA hospital that had treated this gentleman’s cancer. And, here was his golden nugget question:
“If America can provide such good care for our veterans, why can’t we do the same for all Americans?”
I get this a lot from Liberal /Lefty veterans. My own BIL, Lt. Col Air Force-retired, is a flaming Liberal /Lefty who reminisces fondly on how well the government took care of his family when he was active.
Well, here is the answer: veterans are only about 10% of the population. That means it takes about five taxpayers to support the health care costs of one veteran (which most of us do gladly). Contrary to popular Liberal/Left misconceptions, there aren’t five people in the world, not even the Chinese, who are willing to pay for the health care costs of every American.
It’s that simple.
Email This Post To A Friend
7 Responses to “Math-challenged Liberal /Lefties – I”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Beautiful, Danny. It’s amazing how many liberals, even with ObamaCare causing the system to collapse around their ears (and with the example of other, socialized-medicine nations before their eyes), cannot understand this simple equation.
Harry brought home the bacon, did he. So…since the VA hospitals serve all military retirees, why aren’t they simply located according to the population requirements? Why should _any_ state or group get preference? Is he saying that Reid got a VA hospital where it wasn’t needed? Or if it _was_ needed in that location/state, why was Reid a factor at all? Is somewhere else being deprived of a VA center so that Harry Reid’s vets can have one??
The other answer is twofold: members of the military are generally paid less than they could earn in an equivalent civilian occupation. The trade-off is early retirement and life time benefits. As a result, doctors also serve in the military for less than they can earn in civilian life, and in fact, many serve in order to pay for medical degrees. The question then is whether we can afford to give the same benefits to the entire population – as you point out – and whether doctors will be willing to incur the debt levels necessary to get degrees if their pay scale is limited, or whether doctors would be willing to work for less pay for their entire work lives.
Of course, in the framework of “…from each according to his ability”, we should probably just choose those young people who exhibit a talent or ability to do medical work, pay for them to get their degree and then require them to work for the people. Ditch digging, diagnosis…all in a day’s work. Just depends on what you’re able to do, I guess.
In addition…as a retired military member, he’s covered for medical expenses for the rest of his life. His expenses will be paid whether he goes to a civilian treatment center or VA center. He could have gone to a local facility of any sort – so he owes Harry no particlular thanks.
Maybe if he had a conflict related injury that required specialized treatment…but cancer?? lots of hospitals that specialize in treating cancer. No VA Center needed.
Although I understand a preference for military oriented/centered facilities. After a life in the military, they’re more comfortable/familiar than other places. And they’ll treat him with the respect that his rank affords him – in a civilian hospital, he’s just another patient. (And if you don’t think that should matter, think again! He _earned_ his rank – whatever it is!)
There won’t be any treatments for cancer if Reid has his way. Not for the little people.
The VA only provides medical coverage for retirees and some of the disabled, not all veterans. My father who served a single hitch in WWII gets mostly free meds, and the rest is billed to Medicare. I belive they bill Medicare for all patients over 65.
Not everyone loves the military medical system. And Danny’s Lt Col undoubtedly had a different experience than most privates.
There is some serious misinformation here. The VA does not normally pay for medical benefits for retirees. That is a DOD responsibility.
The VA provides medical care for military vets who have service related disabilities. Let me repeat that, only those vets with service related disabilities.
Therefore the population of Vets eligible for VA medical treatment is actually quite small. It had been dwindling over the years as the WWII vets died off. It has obviously had a significant grown spurt since Iraq and Afghanistan.
Note that the Obama didn’t think that current vets should get medical treatment at government expense because they were volunteers, and supposedly knew the risks when they signed up. Not surprisingly he was a minority.
I might mention that there is opportunity for abuse in the VA medical program; as with any government benefit program. When I retired, I was advised to go immediately and get a VA physical. If I could document any disability, I would get extra benefits. I did not do that. But, I know it is not unheard of among senior officers–a number of Generals have taken advantage of this in the past. There was some outrage several years back, but it passed from the public consciousness relatively quickly.
Oldflyer…
You raise some interesting questions about the gentlman…