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Pat in Shreveport just doesn't understand the nature of the Progressive Heaven which our current administration shall usher forth.
Military medicine isn't cheap, but service members are all volunteers, serving in an overtly authoritarian regime with abridged civil rights.
Thus, if it can be shown to reduce costs, there will be a lawful order passed that the smoking lamp is secured.
Should you feel sufficiently oppressed, you're free to eject from the regime at the end of your enlistment, or resign your commission, as the case may be. But this is merely the a hint of the kind of shenanigans we'll enjoy once government-run health care extends beyond the healthy young volunteers of the military to cover everyone in the country.
The good news for the Obama Administration is that is shall be long gone from office (modulo an unforeseen Honduran surprise) before long. Long before citizens who've paid and paid and paid their taxes for a medical system which they didn't need so badly in their youth makes a comparative effectiveness decision with negative consequences for them.
The problem with this Progressive Heaven which we're entering is that, like other after-life discussions, there is no cooling off period. This could be highly desirable, when the destination reveals itself to be Hell.
I can not imagine anyhone resiging over smoking - *in and of itself*. But as the old Africa Corps saying goes " It could be the straw that broke the camel's back".
ReplyDeleteie add this to a long list of petty (to some major to others) grievances and a lot of good men may leave.
My opinion is biased - I smoked when in the Corps. Not only that but you taxpayers provided cigs in each ane every C-rat meal! And I did smoke 'em all.But Nam was many decades ago and I am aware that many things have chanded. Change is not synonymous with improvement; in fact it may mean degradation.
Far be it for me to knock "Hope 'n' Change".
My a** that is precisely what I'm doin!
an old exJarhead
Cerritos, Cal
@exJarhead,
ReplyDeleteMy father was fairly close to retirement in the late '80s when the Navy started to change policy in the direction of treating smokers like pariahs.
Of course, the complaining sailor is the happy sailor: it's when they go silent that one really starts to worry.
You're a doll Smitty, now gimme a light, would ya?
ReplyDeleteUgh - Nanny state military. Too much.
I'm active duty right now, and I ave a wife and a baby girl. Military medicine isn't bad, but it's not great, either. I'd say the right phrase would be "mostly competent and dependable." And it's phenomenonally expensive.
ReplyDeleteOn top of this, the patients are largely screened for health beforehand, and kicked out if health problems interfere with duty (med-boarding). They're also generally younger. And are often rigidly limited in the kinds of risky behavior in which they can engage (want to own/ride a motorcycle in the military? hooboy! get ready for numerous mandatory safety classes and inspections and boring rules about using it), and violation of such limits can amount to a criminal charge.
Consider all that and ask yourself if this is the model for national health care.