Obama Deals Death Blow To Military Healthcare

                                                         

Largely going unnoticed this past week was Barack Obama's wield of a death blow to the remnants of reasonable military health care.  As Congress forwarded the Defense Budget to the White House this week, Obama made no mention of the defense costs to move squadrons of fighters and navy destroyers into Africa to give him "extra security" during his African visit.  The $100 million dollars expended to assure the comfort of Barack and Michelle and family wasn't questioned.  What caught Barry's eye in the current Defense budget was Congress' failure to hike medical premiums and co-pays for the active and retired military.  Obama immediately promised to veto the Defense bill unless Congress revises the bill to hike military premiums by the thousands.  

Now, anyone who served in the military in the last fifty years will well remember the old enlistment contract.  In exchange for those $80 dollars a month salaries for new recruits, and $200 a month salaries for mid-level supervisors, Congress promised to provide free healthcare for life as a trade-off.  Congress honored that promised until 1991 when they finally said we just can't afford it anymore.  Over the next decade they dropped 70% of military vets from eligibility for VA health care, converting the program to a "means testing" system; if you made over $24,000 a year you're not eligible for VA care.  During that same decade they began charging premiums for both active duty and retiree health care.

No one before then would have dreamed that our government would break a sacred promise.  Surely, this country would never provide free Medicaid to 30 million welfare trolls while taking it away from our military veterans.  Had our military ever suspected that they would I doubt that the U.S. could have maintained a military while paying them less than minimum wage salaries, without the promise of lifetime free health care.

A few opinions about those broken promises:

"I ...consider the dismemberment of the Military Health Services System as breach of implied contract."General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, U.S. Army, Retired.

"Health care benefits are extremely important to the quality of life for military beneficiaries. The Chiefs and I are committed to providing affordable and accessible care for uniformed members, as well as all retirees who have proudly served the Nation."General John N. Shalikashvili, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

"I believe OSD is coming around to understanding the importance of continued medical care for our retiree population. We must continue to make the point that retiree benefits have a profound impact on the Services' ability to recruit and retain quality soldiers. It is a readiness issue. Let me assure you that I, as well as the other Service Chiefs, have agreed that we must collectively strive to protect critical quality of life elements such as medical care, housing, pay and retirement benefits."General Dennis J. Reimer, U.S. Army, Chief of Staff

I believe very strongly that our retirees have earned lifetime medical care. I think it is critically important to protect those benefits, especially as these senior veterans become 65 years of age."General C.C. Krulak, Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps.

"The people --- past and present --- who make up the total Air Force team are the most important thing for our service to focus on. Rest assured, I will continue to do all I can to ensure they receive the benefits [medical care] they have earned and so richly deserve"General Ronald R. Fogleman, USAF, (Ret), Former Air Force Chief of Staff

"Caring for those who served our country so heroically is not a policy option or a partisan program. It is a national tradition and a national responsibility. We know what we owe them. We must and we will fulfill that promise. I am committed to seeing that pay and benefits [such as medical care] earned through service to this country are not sacrificed in our efforts to reduce the budget."President Bill Clinton

"One area of growing concern to the military community is medical care. We must remember our responsibilities to the military and that commitments made to the military personnel were earned --- the result of honorable and faithful service. If we do not keep faith with our veterans and retirees, it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to recruit and maintain the high quality personnel necessary for a strong national defense."Former Senate Majority Leader and Presidential Candidate Robert Dole

"I believe the promise of earned lifetime military medical care in exchange for service is valid."Former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, Dr. Stephens Joseph

"We promised people over the past three to four decades that we would be there for them, cradle to grave, with no-cost health care. I believe that in the'60's, the '70's...but in the 90's, as we got smaller, we closed 40% of the Air Force beds. Health care for life, [is] perhaps the most treasured benefit and one of the strongest inducements to military service."LtGen Edgar R. Anderson, Jr., USAF (Ret), former Air Force Surgeon General

On Tuesday, our Commander in Chief, reneged on a 75 year promise to take careof the medical needs of our military vets and retirees.  The exorbitant increase in military health premiums and co-pays are going to leave millions of vets out in thecold....and all the while, under Obamacare, our President has promised to use taxpayer dollars to provide free health care to 30 million legal and illegal people.

The next time you see Obama doing a photo-op in a military hospital, hovering over a badly wounded soldier, you might think twice about where his concerns lie.