Military Health Care in Jeopardy (Mooching War Widows?)

So much news today! I'll deal with this issue first since it is a military issue. The gist is that longterm military health benefits are in jeopardy.

Military Health Care in Jeopardy

"It's costing mightily and it's in competition with some of the weapons systems," Senator Warner said.

But he said that having a first-class health plan for retirees was a crucial selling point for recruiting and retaining soldiers. "There's no sense in buying modern weapons," he said, "unless you've got healthy, intelligent people who can operate them and are willing to stay there."

The cost of military health care is now bigger than the Army's budget for buying new weapons, the Navy's budget for new ships and submarines, or the Air Force's budget for new planes....

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is "very concerned with the growth" of new benefits and entitlements "that accrue principally to those who've left service, especially the retired community," said David S. C. Chu, the under secretary of defense for personnel. "The nation adopted them for good reason, but they are causing a significant cost issue for future defense budgets."

The retirees persuaded almost every member of Congress to support Tricare for Life, a permanent entitlement. Many lawmakers believe that criticizing it would be political suicide, said Representative Mark Steven Kirk, a Republican from Illinois and a Navy reserve officer, one of the few members of Congress who has publicly questioned the price of the promise.

So, basically we've created this welfare state for everyone, including people who have never worked a day in their lives, and this welfare is a sacred cow. However, they're willing to talk about taking away benefits for people who risked their lives for this country. Gee, that makes a whole lot of sense sense.

The truth is that Tricare for Life is a recruitment tool, not a handout. When people join the army, they take into consideration the fact that the army is going to take care of them for the rest of their lives, whether that be the next five minutes before a jihadi explodes an IED near their convoy or for the next fifty years.

Also, let's make some other cuts first before we cut into this recruitment tool and well-deserved reward. I'm not saying that a change in the system should be up for discussion, just that there is a lot more fat to trim before we make this sacrifice.