Full Disclosure: I've served in the Marines, my dad served in the Marines in World War II, my uncle in Korea in the Army, my best friend in the Air Force, my former fiance in the Marines, one of my friends of many years in the Navy, and my cousin in the Air Force as a surgeon. I've also worked on site as a contractor at a major VA hospital for over 2 years where my project manager was a Navy veteran.
To play Devil's Advocate on a controversial issue, I feel as if I may be the only one who sees the pragmatism - on its surface - in the Obama administration's now-scrapped proposal to use private health care for service related injuries.
There's a lot of emotionalism and stereotyping on this issue, so first let me say not all combat veterans end up indigent, unemployed, homeless, or severely disabled. Many actually become quite successful, active, and productive.
Veterans classified as "disabled" account for about 12% of all U.S. veterans. Of Iraq/Afghanistan vets, that number is at about 23%.
Yet given the posts on Kos alone, there seems to be a perception that the numbers are much larger, and that most vets are dependent on free, government-funded care or that they're getting short shrift for their service and sacrifice. It may just be that the administration actually wants to broaden access to care by prioritizing the neediest of our veteran service members.
According to indeed.com and simplyhired,com, salaries of military veterans on average are much better than you'd think. This depends, of course, on the job being performed, etc. Some examples:
New York, NY: $66,000
Chicago, IL: $55,000
Seattle,WA: $54,000
Raleigh, NC: $53,000
Phoenix, AZ: $53,000
Austin, TX: $52,000
Jacksonville, FL: $48,000
Cheyenne, WY: $45,000
San Diego, CA: $43,000
San Antonio, TX: $41,000
According to MilitaryHire.com,
The average hourly salary for a U.S. Worker is $16.62 per hour or a little more than $32,000. And about 80% of U.S. workers earn $50,000 or less.
If you have a Top Secret Security clearance AND have software engineering skills, expect compensation, in some instances, around $100,000.
In over the past 10 years, the number of veterans receiving treatment from the VA has more than doubled, from 2.5 million up to 5.3 million - and care is provided by 10,000 fewer employees.
Based on the Department of Veterans Affairs number from last year, the percentage of homeless vets is about 6%, and - according to CBS News - an estimated 2.9 million disabled veterans or 12%.
The VA estimates that it could cost up to $59 billion to care for the total number of veterans in the system. Despite mid-century veterans dying of natural causes, their number are replaced by new veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, and substantially more of them are surviving their injuries.
For veterans seeking VA treatment, the current wait time can be up to 30 days or more for their first appointment, and at one of the busiest and largest facilities located in Bay Pines, Florida, the wait can easily be twice as long.
The Obama team is likely aware of the financial disparity that exists between the different tiers of service veterans, and by moving the cost of care to private insurance for veterans with significant income and other resources, those making more than the average U.S. worker, this frees up substantially more dollars for truly needy veterans who are in poverty, unemployed, and/or permanently disabled who require extensive or long-term care.
My dad, a decorated WWII vet and a white-collar, middle-class, home-owning sales executive used private insurance for chronic heart problems rather than the VA because he could afford to. But not all vets who can do so. I personally know of a former Navy pilot in his 30s who gets VA treatment for chronic back pain after a bad landing on an aircraft carrier. In civilian life, he drives a Porsche Carrera, shares ownership of a successful bar with a partner, and owns and manages an apartment building. Clearly he has more options available to him than some of his fellow service men and women.
It seems that a pragmatic and wholistic evaluation of means, length of service, access to alternative care, and depth/duration of service-related injuries may be necessary if we want to be able to guarantee that the dollars are indeed there for the veterans with the greatest need.
I know this isn't a popular view, and I'll take my chances in expressing it, but I'm saying I understand the pragmatism behind it. Then-candidate Obama said there would be hard choices ahead. And the voters indicated in November that they understood and accepted that. Now we'll see.