On this day when America salutes our veterans—thanking them for their service and dedication—I just want to question it all. (And don't get the wrong impression—I do appreciate them, or else my Marine Corps veteran father would kill me. And my grandfather, who was a World War II demolitions expert, would roll over in his grave).
Sure, today the bank's closed and people are giving their social media shout-outs on the web, but there's some honoring that's more important than just a few Facebook status updates. And right now it's beginning to fade.
After risking their lives, many military personnel are returning home to find yet another surprise from their grateful country: little health care availability.
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Turns out TRICARE—the government-created health insurance system providing medical care for military personnel, military retirees, members of reserve units and their dependents—isn't accepted by a number of doctors around the country.
This is backed up by Stephen Brozak, another Marine Corps vet who also happens to be a health care analyst. He analyzed TRICARE availability within New York City limits beginning at none other than Ground Zero.
He wrote today: "Here is what I found: 96 percent of the called offices accepted some major insurance. Medicaid was accepted by 40 percent and TRICARE was accepted by only 25 percent of those surveyed. If you extrapolate the findings from these 200 practices to the possible 22,000 primary care practitioners with offices in NYC, these results suggest that you are almost twice as likely to receive medical care funded through Medicaid than TRICARE. The fact that the majority of respondents were unfamiliar with TRICARE is even more disappointing."
Disappointing, indeed, and now gov't officials are bringing it up on the budget chopping block. Proposals are being made to scale back health care benefits and increase fees for the military.
A more fitting thank you to veterans would be if practitioners accepted TRICARE, and the government didn't aim to reform the military's health care system. No one's asking for special treatment or visits to fancy Park Avenue docs, they're merely asking for what was promised to them and what's (rightfully) owed to them.
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