Originally Posted by alanbikehouston
... And, one other "blow" to my plans for aging gracefully. I thought that the ONE good thing that might come out of spending 1969 in Viet-Nam with the 1st Air Cav, and 1970 with the 9th Infantry MIGHT be that I could rely on the Army's promise of "free medical care" in my old age.
The guys who were well-informed on the "benefits" of being in Viet-Nam would say "Well, it ain't fun getting shot at for $370 a month, but when you are old, you are guaranteed great medical care...don't cost a thing".
To fund its "tax cut plan" the Bush administration is changing the rules for WHICH vets get "free" medical care, which vets get SOME medical care, and which vets get NO medical care through the VA system.
Someone once said that "Old age is a shipwreck". I'm beginning to see a leak in the boat already.
We should all be very upset over that. Here's some info that I recently read that makes it even worse.
American veterans can take recourse to the same solution for their plight. The Bush administration plans to cut veterans' benefits by $28 billion over the next 10 years. Democrats claim the cuts could cause half of all veterans to lose their only source of medical care and could even prevent them from receiving their disability pensions.
Not to worry. All the 6 million poor and disabled Americans need to do is acquire Mexican citizenship and re-cross the border as illegal aliens. Once Americans acquire the status of illegal aliens, their medical care is provided free without even a co-pay.
Not to worry, veterans who defended your country, just become Mexican illegals, and you will be cared for.