How about some health insurance to go along with the parades?
Across the nation today, parades and concerts and assemblies honor the nation's veterans and politicians make grand speeches about the sacrifices of our brave men and women who served our country. But in
23 states the Republican politicians making those speeches are
withholding health care from tens of thousands of those brave men and women.
Last year, the Pew Trusts analyzed data from the Urban Institute and determined that more than 258,000 veterans—along with tens of thousands of their spouses—weren't eligible for VA health care and lived in states where lawmakers were refusing to expand Medicaid. Since then, Pennsylvania adopted the expansion and extended Medicaid to over 19,000 veterans, as did Michigan with over 20,000 uninsured veterans. Which still leaves over 200,000 veterans in the cold.
Many vets didn't serve long enough to meet the service requirements to qualify for care through the VA. Plenty more live in rural states or far away from VA medical facilities, so getting care there isn't feasible. Veteran populations are highly concentrated in Florida and Texas as well as other Republican states. One Texas veteran describes what being an uninsured vet means.
While some work full time, others are in school; caring for a grandchild or sick family member; or struggling with the physical and emotional demons that haunt many veterans and other Americans, even when they’re hard to document. Compound all this with the effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. We have many veterans suffering the experiences of wars fought in the past 10 years or longer.
Without insurance, the patchwork of remaining health care options is inadequate, expensive and oftentimes simply not available. Many Americans assume all veterans have full access to Veterans Affairs benefits, but many live far away from the closest VA clinic and the level of VA benefits depends on a veteran’s years of service, extent of injuries and other factors.
Like other Texans, uninsured veterans can count on the ER to stabilize them in an emergency. But if you need help with an enlarged appendix, you’ll probably have to wait till it bursts. If you need ongoing cancer treatment, the ER can’t help. If you want preventative care to avoid getting sick in the future or to get healthy before you become pregnant, there’s nothing the ER can do for you.
What's true in Texas is true in every state that refused Medicaid expansion. Remember that when you hear all those pretty speeches from Republican politicians today.