Nat'l Guard and Reserves Now Have $180 Per Month Gov't Healthcare

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So, Federal employees including members of congress are covered by a government sponsered heath care option, senior citizens are covered under MediCare, the poorest of the poor have basic health care options under MediCade, active members of the military have government run health care, retired members of the military have The Veterns Administration, and now members of the National Guard have a government option under (TRS) TRICARE Reserve Select which provides a health plan option to members of the Reserve and their families when they are not on active-duty status.

The health plan option delivers coverage similar to TRICARE Standard and Extra to eligible members and features continuously open enrollment.

The Army Reserve’s top general calls it a "steal." The National Guard’s Enlisted Association says "where can you get health care for your entire family for just ($180) a month?" An Ohio National Guard private calls it "untouchable." Another Soldier said it’s "one of the many often unmentioned benefits of Guard service." So it’s no surprise that increasing numbers of Guardmembers are purchasing TRS, especially in these tough economic times.

With President Obama and the democrats on the hill trying to provide for a public option for the segment of Americans left out of the health care picture, it is amazing how the medical insurance industry has managed to enlist hard working, middle class republicans into taking action against health care reform by painting it out to be a death blow to democracy and freedom.

They have funneled obscene amounts of money into "grassroots" organizations by playing upon the undisputed sense of patriotism that is at the core of the republican party. At the same time, they have encited and called to arms a racist segment of the far right based soley on the the Presidents mixed race.

Many of these townhall protestors are among the uninsured because their employers don't provide health care or because like many, they simply can't afford the monthly premiums imposed by the private medical insurance industry that operates unopposed by competition.

I doubt that any of these protestors would consider the elderly, the military, and memebrs of the National Guard and Army Reserve to be unpatriotic or socialist for taking advantage of affordable health care options for themselves and their families.

When townhall protestor Katy Abram appeared on MSNBC and described her famalies "health care savings account" which has a $5000.00 deductable, I was shocked that she somehow felt that that was something worthy of praise. Then she went on to say that "over the course of a year, we'll pay for all of our medical needs, doctor visits out-of pocket.

Abram has been led to beleive that a public option will take away her choice to maintain that $5000 dollar anual health care plan and I can assure her that it will not. Whomever is collecting over five thousand of the Abram famalies hard earned dollars each year before they even have to out one thin dime, will be more then happy to keep that arrangement going.

However, should the Abram family at some point see the benefit of taking advantage of a public option at $180 or $200 per month, or even $250 per month, that is still only $3000 per year and far below the $5000 dollar deductable that the Abram family has to meet before the insurance company starts paying out benefits.

Even if they can take that $5000 as a tax deduction, it's still real money that has to be paid out of pocket with each and every doctor visit until they have forked over five grand.

Now at this stage of the game, nobody knows what the average cost of a government sponsered public option will cost on a montly basis, but that fact of the matter is that if turns out to be more costly then private insurance, then the plan will die on the vine and that will be that last that anyone ever hears about a public health care option in this country.

What most of these public option protesters fail to realize is that they are unwhitting agents of the medical insurance industries plan to make sure that we've already heard the last about a public option before one can even be rolled out. But if the government cal roll out a very well recieved health care option at $180 per months for Reservist and their famalies, they can do somthing similar for the segment of America that drives our economy.

This isn't about socialism, or the systematic dismantling of our country. Those are just talking points written down on 3x5 cards by people who have been duped into believing that they are part of some patriotic call to duty against the liberal loonatics running amuck in Washington.

Government control has traided hands back and forth between political parties in this country for more than 250 years and we're still standing. And we'll continue doing just that because at the end of the day, we are all Americans, and we all love our country. However, we have arrived at a frightening crossroads where some people love the country so much that they have become willing to take it down rather then to surrender control. Some are either unable or unwilling to accept the fact that an overwhelming majority of Americans have chosen a Democrat to take control and lead the nation in a new direction.

A direction different from that in which we've been headed over the passed 8 years. I don't drink Kool-Aid, nor do I march in lock-step with the democratic party. Barack Obama is not the be-all, end -all that many of my liberal friends have painted him out to be. In fact, since January, he has systematically been downgraded, in my opinion from A+, to A around March, to B- around May, to C over the passed month and he's about to get a C- if he continues to prise republicans who go out the very next day and spread the same false information that has so many Americans mis-informed.

In the unlikely event that President Obama should happen to Google this blog post among the millions out there in the abyss of the world wide web, I would say this: ENOUGH! - I don't want to hear anymore Republican praise until an honest attempt to participate in government is shown. I don't care if some Republican pulled a dozen kids from a burning school bus! - Zip It! - Push the agenda G-Dubya style if need be. Hell....have some lawyers at the DOJ write legal opinions that mandate a public option if you have to. Just git er done!