National Health Care and You (Part IV)
Aug 12 2009
As you can imagine, MOAA is getting a lot of mail from members on every conceivable aspect of the national health reform debate, ranging from suspicions about the motives of politicians on one side or the other, to specific aspects of the plan that might affect them personally, to larger philosophical issues of what the country and taxpayers should be responsible for and what they can afford.
Any way you cut it, this issue is a big deal. But it covers so much territory (four bills of 1,000+ pages each so far, with more to come) that it’s nearly impossible to track every detail and chase down all the various assertions and allegations if doing that isn’t your full-time job.
And with MOAA’s limited staff, there’s no way we can assign anyone to spend 100% of their time on national health care reform. So we have to focus our efforts to deliver the best value for our members’ dues buck.
On Monday, MOAA President VADM Norb Ryan sent a personal message to the membership to articulate MOAA’s priorities in this area.
That message also included a link to our Aug 7 Legislative Update item covering our latest assessment of the initiative’s potential implications for TRICARE beneficiaries under 65 and for TRICARE For Life beneficiaries over 65.
But there’s still a long way to go in the process, and we urge our members to protect their interests by using MOAA’s national health reform alert to inform their legislators of their views.
4 Responses to “National Health Care and You (Part IV)”
I appreciate your efforts and updates. I am surprised to learn that MOAA has not assigned a fulltime staff to work for our membership objectives regarding the health care issues now in the congress. I sure funding is an issue but I would bet there is group of retirees in the Washington area that would be glad to provide their support at no cost if MOAA provided the direction and managemt. As a TRICARE user I would like to think that MOAA would rearrange its priorities to meet the needs of the membership. There can be no more important issue than the health care of all active and retired serviceman.
MOAA might not have the staff to devote full attention to this important bill that will change the culture of America about as much as the attack on 9-11, but I’ll bet there are plenty of knowledgeable veterans who would volunteer to work with MOAA on this. Have you asked?
MOAA has two full-time health care lobbyists. The point is that we devote their time to the issues affecting the military and veterans community — how those programs affect military- and VA-delivered care, TRICARE, Medicare, and TRICARE For Life, not the broader social issues such as universal health coverage or how coverage for other americans should be overseen.
On 19 August, The Wall Street Journal reported that in 1997 the VA created a 57 page document on end of life choices. In passage was quoted ‘Aren’t you ashamed of the burden you are placing on your family? Shouldn’t you go away and relieve them of this burden?’ By go away they are implying because of previous text, the veteran should consider suicide. This was created during the Clinton administration when Hilary was trying to roll out something very similar to what is what Congress is considering now. The pamphlet also addressed living wills and the medical choices facing someone with cancer or debilitating pain. The Congress is trying to walk away from the end of life issue, yet this is proof that a death book was created by the very group now pushing health care reform.