To the list:

Every 10 years or so there seems to be a push for universal health insurance, and it gets stuck in political fighting ... I think we should push for an expansion of the VA system, a clinic in every town, a hospital in every city, and eligibility for veterans, their spouses and children. And maybe their parents, too.

This comes from my early years when I was living on the edge. I had my first wife trained pretty well: if anything happens to me, just get me to the VA hospital. In those days a lot of veterans were poor, like me. In fact we were poor because we served. If we had dodged he draft we could have gotten into those fat jobs that started drying up just as the Vietnam War was winding down. I'm doing OK now, but I think a lot of veterans and their families are not.

I'm thinking that maybe half, maybe more of the uninsured in America could be covered through VA this way. Maybe combine VA with Indian Health Service for off-reservation Indians so you build one good hospital in Phoenix, Albuquerque, Minneapolis, instead of two second-rate ones.

This isn't much about guns, I know, but think about it. How many of us are veterans? How many of us can cover if their wife, children, parents, need hospital care?

I keep writing my Senator, Congressman, etc. on this topic. Universal health care is gonna be a big fight, but we could beef up the VA system a lot easier, 'cause it's already in place.

I got no illusions. I had friends killed by VA doctors. But even an imperfect system is better than nothing. And I think it would even save money, by taking care of a lot of the people who now end up as indigent cases in the emergency rooms of local hospitals.

Well I could go on and on and on. But thinkabout it, OK?

jn
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