Friends, The letter appeared in the printed edition on August 17, 2020. Kagiso, Max
More money in aging infrastructure, less for nuclear
weapons | READER COMMENTARY
FOR THE BALTIMORE SUN |
AUG 14, 2020 AT 8:28
AM
Firefighters
and BGE personnel work at the scene of a major gas explosion in the 4200 block
of Labyrinth Rd. on Monday, Aug. 10. The explosion killed two people. (Amy
Davis/Baltimore Sun)
"The Trump administration is always looking for ways to cut
your healthcare, regardless of who you are, where you live, or what you
do."
'What a
Disgrace': Pentagon Weighing $2.2 Billion in Cuts to Military Healthcare Just
After Passage of $740 Billion Budget
commondreams.org/news/2020/08/17/what-disgrace-pentagon-weighing-22-billion-cuts-military-healthcare-just-afterAugust 17, 2020
Published on
Monday,
August 17, 2020
by
"The
Trump administration is always looking for ways to cut your healthcare,
regardless of who you are, where you live, or what you do."
by
Secretary of
Defense Mark Esper testifies before the House Armed Services Committee on July
9, 2020 on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Michael Reynolds-Pool/Getty
Images)
Shortly
after both chambers of Congress approved a
$740 billion Defense Department budget for fiscal year 2021, Pentagon officials
are reportedly pushing for more than $2 billion in cuts to military healthcare
over the next five years, potentially threatening the coverage of millions of
personnel and their families amid a global pandemic.
Politico reported Sunday
that the proposed $2.2 billion cut to the military healthcare system is part of
a "sweeping effort" by Defense Secretary Mark Esper to
"eliminate inefficiencies within the Pentagon's coffers."
"Ever
notice that it's never a cut to things used to send kids to war?" asked Josh
Moon of the Alabama Political Reporter. "It's
always—always—a cut to the promises we make to get them to volunteer for us.
What a disgrace."
"Ever
notice that it's never a cut to things used to send kids to war? It's
always—always—a cut to the promises we make to get them to volunteer for us.
What a disgrace."
—Josh Moon, Alabama Political Reporter
According
to Politico, "Esper and his deputies have argued that
America's private health system can pick up the slack" for any
servicemembers who lose coverage.
"Roughly
9.5 million active-duty personnel, military retirees, and their dependents rely
on the military health system, which is the military's sprawling government-run
healthcare framework that operates hundreds of facilities around the world," Politico noted.
"The military health system also provides care through TRICARE, which
enables military personnel and their families to obtain civilian healthcare
outside of military networks."
Rep. Mark
Pocan (D-Wis.), co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said the
push for billions in healthcare cuts shows once again that the Pentagon
"puts more effort in protecting defense contractor profits than the lives
of our troops."
Alongside
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Pocan co-sponsored an amendment to the National
Defense Authorization Act that would have cut the proposed $740 billion budget
by 10% without touching the military healthcare program. The amendment failed last
month by a vote of 93-324,
with 139 Democrats joining 185 Republicans in voting no.
A companion
amendment in the Senate led by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Ed Markey
(D-Mass.) also failed to pass.
Unnamed
Defense [sic] Department officials told Politico that, if
approved, the cuts "could effectively gut the Pentagon's healthcare
system," adding to the rapidly swelling ranks of the uninsured. A study released
last month by advocacy group Families USA found that at least 5.4 million
Americans have lost their health insurance during the coronavirus pandemic.
Politico reported
that the proposed $2.2 billion in cuts includes "eliminating all basic
research dollars for combat casualty care, infectious disease and military
medicine for [Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences], as well as
slicing operational funds."
"What's
been proposed would be devastating," warned one anonymous senior official.
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"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives."
Eugene Victor Debs
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