Work the chain gang or else!

This is something I've already talked about in "Bureaucracy's Earache," but apparently, self-employed folks who don't have access to group health care are not the only ones seeing the gaping holes in the system. Unfortunately, it's having more repercussions for the men and women who are losing limbs in Iraq.

Wounded military members are coming home to the VA, for sure, but there are some spooky stories out there about the red tape fight that goes on. One soldier claims that after he lost part of his brain in an attack, the VA classified it as only 10% rating for disability, and attributed 80% for facial disfigurement. Another claims that the VA told him his injuries (sustained in Iraq while driving a truck) are not service-related.

Then I found this tidbit in Reader's Digest (o Mother of all Bathroom Reading!):

Since then, however, members of Congress have courted the vet vote by defining the law much more generously. Now a veteran doesn't have to prove that military service caused his disability, only that it appeared or got worse during his service. So if you develop diabetes while stationed in Germany, you're covered for it, for life. Veterans don't even have to show that the condition has affected their ability to earn a living.

Well, this discrepancy would have been helpful to present to Congress, allowing that Mr. Crowley got his facts right. Because of this fact, he says, is why hemorrhoids are getting a whopping $14 million to 120,000 vets, and others are getting benefits for contracting STDs (most definitely NOT service-related) and hypertension:

According to a 2003 Congressional Budget Office report, almost 300,000 veterans get disability payments for conditions that are "generally neither caused nor aggravated by military service." The annual price tag for these cases is $970 million.

At least the VA is covering some of the sick folks in this country. Apparently you need to be spic-and-span to even get individual insurance. It's been a month since I submitted my paperwork, and now they want even more health records from me. Now I don't even know if I want to be insured by these guys, especially since I found out that California is an "all-or-nothing" state for coverage: If they don't want to cover you for anything, any little thing at all, they'll just deny you coverage. No pre-existing condition rules in place there. Great.

No question, the repercussions of covering those who were legitimately injured in Iraq will reverberate for many years to come. There are soldiers coming home, some in their early 20s, with major physical and psychological damage. Between this and Medicaid preparing for the baby boomers, I have a feeling the system is going to crumple up for us working folk, especially those on the periphery by working on their own.

An interesting blog entry I found last night embraced all the ill-will I have towards the system, but the comments left were even more interesting. Not only were people sympathizing with the situation, but some interesting "solutions" came up. Workarounds, if you will. Like joining a local Chamber of Commerce. Or getting a Sam's Club membership. Looking at http://www.nase.org/.

So maybe this isn't the end of the journey, even if I get the Big Red X on my application. But it's very clear by some of the comments that our neighbors up north (and even one from Norway)are enjoying the fact that they can pay more taxes in order to have health insurance, always. At this point, if there weren't such a taboo on raising U.S. taxes, maybe I'd pay for a little help, too.

I don't want to even START on the benefits that our government employees receive. Someone should plant themselves in the audience and ask these guys: "So, you think you have an answer to health care? Tell me, what benefits are you getting right now, and would you give those up benefits in order to take advantage of your own health care plan?" You all know what the real answer would be.