It has been a long time since I’ve been able to muster up enough fortitude to write another political essay. It seems to me that the Obama Administration has been hell bent on remaking America and to tell the truth, their endeavors have left me somewhat depressed and at times fearful of putting my feelings into words lest I come across as just another dissatisfied conservative. Enough is enough and it is time for those of us who oppose an America modified to resemble a member nation of the European Union to speak out. Why is the President attempting to mold us into a social democracy now? Does he not realize that countries such as England, Germany, and France have begun to move away from this failed experiment? Has he brought learned childhood social prejudices such as, economic inequality forced upon the “little guy” by the power brokers of the business world and the supposed virtue of the oppressed proletariat into the oval office? Of course, only he knows the answers to these questions while the rest of us are left wondering. As far as I’m concerned, he is just one in a long line of fiscally successful individuals of a liberal bent who either feel guilty for their financial success or, believe that they can endear working class Americans to their cause by vociferously proclaiming their empathy (A word thrown into almost every conversation coming from the White House) for the plight of us “poor common folk”. I don’t need anyone to feel sorry for me and in fact, I find it somewhat haughty for those in power to assume that they have any idea about my level of success or lack thereof in life. President Obama has reinvigorated the timeless argument over whether big government is a friend or foe for the average citizen. For brevity’s sake, I shall only discuss universal health care.
I retired from the US Army in 1999 at the rank of Sergeant Major. A hip replacement surgery precluded me from continuing to execute my job as a Special Forces Senior Sergeant. The Army replaced my right hip at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. After retirement, I began my long trek through the morass more commonly known as the Veterans Administration. Now let us be clear, the vast majority of the personnel within the VA system are consummate professionals however, the system under which they must operate is so flawed that it borders on ineffectual. Having attained the rank of Sergeant Major, navigating a circuitous trail through paperwork was not new for me but, it still took a Letter of Congressional Inquiry from my congressman to even get me into the system. Once in the system, it took yet another inquiry from his office to speed up the delay for the eventual surgical replacement of my left hip in 2004. I am currently rated at 60% disabled by the VA and I also receive monetary compensation from the US Army for Combat Related Special Compensation. Yet again, my congressman’s office had to get involved to insure that I received all of the financial compensation I am eligible for and the whole process took from 1999 to 2007! I have a BS in Business Management and I am extremely adept at managing paperwork and I still needed my congressman to kick the VA and the US Army in the butt just so I could receive the proper health care and financial support that I had earned after devoting 21 years of my life to our country. Mind you, I’m not complaining but, my intent is to highlight the ineffectualness of big government. What is an uneducated person to do if this type of scenario should become commonplace under government run health care? Don’t be fooled America because by its very nature government is unwieldy and oftentimes unable to adjust to differing situations. After all, the federal government did such a wiz bang job responding to Hurricane Katrina, didn’t it?
Now that I am retired, I am eligible for the military’s health care plan more commonly referred to as TRICARE. I live in Central Oregon and even after 10 years, it still is not available in Central Oregon. In case you are wondering why, the answer is quite simple. It takes upwards of six months before a health care provider receives any compensation from the government for services rendered. What type of business can operate under conditions where it must wait half a year to get paid? For this reason, even in areas in Oregon where TRICARE is available, health care providers are not taking on new patients who use TRICARE as their health care benefits plan.
Government is not the solution. Yes, health care costs need to be reined in but; the question is, how? If I knew the answer to this question I would become wealthy. We need a symposium of heath care providers, insurance companies, government officials, employers and patients to sit down and hammer out some type of solution and I’ll bet a paycheck that the answer won’t be government mandated health care.
De Oppresso Liber
