MORE SUPPORT??--The Bush Administration Plans To Triple Our Troops Health Care Costs

[Gimpy]

The Bush Administration Plans To Triple Our Troops Health Care Costs!


Next Tuesday, President Bush will deliver his State of the Union address. If his previous speeches are any guide, he will fill his speech with promises to support the troops:

2002: "Our men and women in uniform deserve the best weapons, the best equipment, the best training and they also deserve another pay raise. Whatever it costs to defend our country, we will pay.

2004: My administration, and this Congress, will give you the resources you need to fight and win the war on terror.

2005: During this time of war, we must continue to support our military and give them the tools for victory.


While it is quick with rhetorical support, the Bush administration has repeatedly refused to take the actions necessary to provide the troops the resources they need. The latest example comes from the Army Times, which reports that the Pentagon is currently working on a proposal to triple the costs of the military health insurance program (Tricare):


Increases would be substantial as much as $1,200 more a year by 2009 with no end in sight because the plan calls for annual rate hikes in 2010 and beyond that would match inflation.


Steve Strobridge, government relations director for the Military Officers Association of America, said it best:

"In the middle of a war, with troops and families vastly overstressed, recruiting already in the toilet, and retention at risk, the Defense Department wants to pay for weapons by cutting manpower and trying to cut career military benefits by $1,000 a year or more? That's just flat unconscionable."


More soldiers have been taken off the battlefield in Iraq by injuries and illnesses than by enemy fire. An increase in health care costs would be a great burden for these soldiers. Reps. Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer recently wrote to President Bush demanding that he disavow the program.

You can help. Already, more than 22,000 members of the Military Officers Association of America have written Congress opposing the initiative. Contact House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, and tell them what you think about Bush's proposed policy.

All this should come as no surprise.

After all, in recent years extremist Republican operatives have inverted longstanding principles: that our combat veterans not only should receive the best quality health care and adequate compensation for their illnesses and injuries, but also be accorded a place of honor in political circles. This trend began during the Bush campaign for President in 2000 during the Republican primaries with the ugly insinuations leveled at Senator John McCain, and continued with the slurs against Senators Max Cleland and then in 2003 with John Kerry.

Most military people past and present should have good reason to wonder if the current Bush administration truly values their service beyond its immediate effect on its battlefield of choice. The casting of suspicion and doubt about the actions of veterans who have run against President Bush (and many other republicans) or opposed his policies has been a constant theme of his career. This pattern of denigrating the service of those with whom they disagree risks cheapening the public's appreciation of what it means to serve this great country.

The political tactic of playing up the soldiers on the battlefield while tearing down the reputations of veterans who oppose them and then failing to take care of them with adequate VA health care funding will eventually cost the Republicans dearly. It may be one reason that a preponderance of the Iraq war veterans who thus far have decided to run for office are doing so as Democrats.

A young American now serving in Iraq might rightly wonder whether his or her service will be deliberately misconstrued 20 years from now, in the next rendition of politically motivated spinmeisters who never had the courage to step forward and put their own lives on the line.

Rudyard Kipling summed up it best many years ago.

"An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;

An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool - you bet that Tommy sees!"

And hopefully, in the next elections, many more Americans will also.