Another View of Government Health Care

Being in Manila without regular access to Fox News, just CNN and BBC, I don't get to see the truth, I meant news, of course, as much as I like. Evidently Neil Cavuto interviewed someone who supports the government taking over healthcare and who cited the military health care system as an example of the success of government in handling health care.

Here is a letter written by my eldest who is the wife of a career service member. The truth is somewhat different from that presented by the Administration.

Mr. Cavuto

I apologize if this email isn't very timely. I watch your show on AFN News here in Misawa, Japan. My husband is active duty Air Force.

As I watched your show today, you had a guest who used Tricare as an example of a government health care system being run correctly. While I do agree with her that Tricare is a good system, she did not talk about the reasons why it runs well.

First, if the government had to pay the "going rate" for my husband's work, we could not afford this health care system. Everyone knows that military members do not make a lot of money and one of the ways that the government makes up for this is with our health care.

From the doctors, nurses and administrators that I have known through the years and talked to, I have heard that Tricare doesn't work "in the black." So I am not sure that your guest could use it as an example of being well run. Wouldn't a well run system at least break even?

And my final and most important point is this, most people covered under Tricare are in good health. Now you may ask about all our wounded warriors, well the VA handles most of the long term care, which can be the most costly. For the most part, everyone else is in the "prime of their lives." The retirees have to use the VA or MediCare and we both know how well those are run.

So, from someone in the Tricare system and one who uses it for themselves and their family, it is a wonderful system. BUT it would NOT work for the nation as a whole and should not be used as an example of how the government can "do it right."

Thank you!
Shannon Smith
Misawa AB, Japan

I urge you to write your Representatives and Senators and demand that they stand-down from the proposed take-over of 1/6th of the economy by the government.

Your views are, of course welcome.