September 10, 2009

Joe Wilson's Dirty Health-Care Secret















Adam Weinstein, the author of this editorial is an Iraq veteran, is a freelance journalist. He is uninsured.


By Adam Weinstein

Poor Joe Wilson. The conservative Republican representative from South Carolina stepped in it Wednesday night when he broke with centuries of decorum by screaming, "You lie!" at President Obama during his health-care speech to a joint session of Congress.

Cut the man some slack. He's passionate! I know this because he told me, in the sole message that blazes across his campaign Web site: JOE WILSON IS PASSIONATE ABOUT STOPPING GOVERNMENT RUN HEALTH CARE!

Except that he's not─at least not when it comes to his, and his family's, government-run health care. As a retired Army National Guard colonel, Wilson gets a lot of benefits (one of which, apparently, was not a full appreciation of the customs, traditions, and courtesies that mandate respect for one's commander in chief). And with four sons in the armed services, the entire Wilson brood has enjoyed multiple generations of free military medical coverage, known as TRICARE.

Yes, it's true. As politicos and town-hall criers debate the finer points of the public option, employer mandates, coverage for undocumented immigrants, and who's more Hitler-like, they seem to miss a larger point: the United States has single-payer health care. It covers 9.5 million active-duty servicemen and women, military retirees, and their dependents─including almost a 10th of all Californians and Floridians, and nearly a quarter of a million residents of Wilson's home state.

Military beneficiaries like Wilson─who, as a retiree, is eligible for lifetime coverage─never have to worry about an eye exam, a CT scan, a prolonged labor, or an open-heart surgery. They have access not only to the military's 133,500 uniformed health professionals, but cooperating private doctors as well─whose fees are paid by the Department of Defense. It's high-quality care, too: surveys from 2007 and 2008 list TRICARE among "the best health insurer(s) in the nation" by customer satisfaction. Yet Wilson insists government-run health care is a problem.

To be fair, Wilson has been consistent in his policymaking if not his personal life: according to his last congressional opponent, Wilson voted 11 times against health care for veterans in eight years, even as he voted "aye" for the Iraq War (during the debate on the war vote, he even called one Democrat "viscerally anti-American"─several times). He voted to cut veterans' benefits─not his own─to make room for President George W. Bush's tax cuts. He repeatedly voted for budgets that slashed funding to the Veterans Administration and TRICARE. And perhaps most bizarrely, he refused─repeatedly─to approve Democratic-led initiatives that would have extended TRICARE coverage to all reservists and National Guard members, even though a disproportionate number of them have served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan─and many lost access to their civilian work benefits when they did so.

There's one other notable exception to Wilson's tough-on-government record: In July, when the health-insurance debate just started heating up, he offered an amendment that would exempt TRICARE from any system of employer mandates in a health-care bill. It's not clear whether this is necessary, since most such bills in Congress keep government benefits exempt from the rules as a matter of course. But Wilson took the opportunity to make his stand.

"As a 31-year Army Guard and Reserve veteran, I know the importance of TRICARE," he said in a press release. "The number of individuals who choose to enroll in TRICARE continues to rise because TRICARE is a low cost, comprehensive health plan that is portable and available in some form world-wide." He went on to call TRICARE "world class health care," concluding on a personal note. "I am grateful to have four sons now serving in the military, and I know that their families appreciate the availability of TRICARE," he said.

What does that mean? Nothing─except that Joe Wilson was against government-run health care before he was for it. And now he's against it again. Just not when it comes to his own flesh and blood.

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This article was significant to me because of the debate over healthcare amongst my friends (I say that causally). I have a unique view to the southern republican mind since a large number of my acquaintances are southern or southern implants, caucasian and republican. Yesterday I attended a baby shower for a teen Mom who is clueless about the joys and pains of motherhood. During this baby shower, the subject of names for the babies of the other women attending the shower who happen to be expecting came up. As one of the Moms mentioned various names another attendee would tell if the name was that of a Democrat or a Republican in history. If the name was that of a Democrat most in the group would say No or make a moan or a groan. From what I could gather, out of the 10 or so people attending 4 were Democrats.

I have not been able to clearly think of anything else this morning. The feeling that this Democratic and Republican divide is causing amongst my friends is growing. How can we reconcile these issues privately and then publically be civil and genuinely loving? It has to be the Gospel! The Gospel is what binds us. I wonder what the effects are on Missionary work? How many are not sharing the Gospel with others because of these invisible divides?

How does this article correlate? Here is a man that is against a public option in the healthcare marketplace yet he already uses a government run health plan.

2 comments:

Debbie said...

This is such important information. Why is it not out there in the mainstream press?

Karen said...

I would truly pray that the Gospel of Jesus Christ would close the divide between Republicans and Democrats but the sad truth in today's debate against healthcare and most other issues that Dems and Repubs disagree on is that it unfortunately in many cases comes down to race, social class and corporate greed. The sad thing is that many of those siding with the Republicans, (including I am assuming those at the baby shower) may not be in the economic class of those Republicans that are leading the opposition. Many of them do not have healthcare, yet they stand up and speak against it. Many of them do not fully understand the issues, but (I hate to say it because my mama didn't raise me this way) because our President is who he is, an African American, most of what he wants to get done is opposed. That sad truth is surfacing more and more on a daily basis.

We should be able to overcome these obstacles if we are true to our faith and fully embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Those who cannot make that leap...well it's time for them to do some introspection.

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