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Socialized Medicine Works for the Military
In the Navy, Christopher J. Brownfield was a patient under socialized health care and lived to tell the tale. He explains why the public option for health care is good enough for the military—and America.
“Socialized medicine” is the straw man that’s killing the public option for health care in America, but why? Is it that Republicans truly fear socialism as the greatest evil that mankind has faced in our long climb from the swamp to the stars, or is it something more pragmatic and banal?
Perhaps “socialized medicine” is killing the public option because Democrats seriously hope that government can solve all of America’s health-care problems, when at best government is only part of a complex solution. If Americans are to find common ground on public health care, we must be able to come to grips with these hopes and fears.
I was a patient under socialized health care—and I lived to tell the tale. The care I received was part of the standard benefits for all active-duty personnel who serve in the armed services of the United States.
Nary a single member of Congress, from sea to shining sea, is proposing a bill with “socialized” anything. So what’s the real problem?
My journey with socialized medicine started in 1997 when I joined the Navy. Those were the good old days, when the ship’s doc handed out free cough syrup and 800-milligram tablets of Motrin like they were candy (we called it Vitamin M). We shopped at the “commissary” for subsidized groceries in our gated socialized community of freedom-loving, red meat-eating, modern day warriors; our “public option” for health care seemed to work just fine.
Did anyone warn the military about the evils of its socialist ways? Or were we too preoccupied with the real sacrifices that our servicemen willingly made for the benefit of others in society to demonize the socialized nature of their health care?
Socialized military medicine is good enough for my comrades in arms, and it’s good enough for the rest of America. That being said, socialized medicine is irrelevant to this debate, because nary a single member of Congress, from sea to shining sea, is proposing a bill with “socialized” anything. So what’s the real problem?
In a completely free market, private insurance companies would not be willing to insure active-duty personnel at an affordable price; their chances of being sent to Iraq and injured are simply too high to justify the downside risk of the policies. This is a classic example of a market failure where the government has intervened successfully by providing a “public option” to the troops. The market may work fine for most cases, but there are special cases where government intervention can help by filling in the gaps.
The controversy comes when the government threatens to compete with private insurers in the broader market, potentially distorting prices through unfair competition. This could become a classic example of government failure, where too much intervention can cause the market to stop functioning.
Specifically, a public option with unfair subsidies would distort the market in the health industry and destroy the incentives for profits. And contrary to popular opinion, profits are not evil. Profits are good incentives for the kinds of innovation that have led to vastly improved medicines and longer, more fulfilling lives for people around the world. To me, this march of human progress with America in the lead is worth paying a premium over what we should expect to pay for basic medical needs. And yes, that means that some CEOs will make a lot more money than I will. In the long run, humanity will be better off when innovation is driven by real incentives instead of tax dollars.
John Talks Joe
Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Jacob Bernstein is a senior reporter at The Daily Beast. Previously, he was a features writer at WWD and W Magazine. He has also written for New York magazine, Paper, and The Huffington Post.
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Christopher Brownfield drove nuclear submarines before volunteering for duty in Iraq. In Baghdad, he worked as a liaison between the State Department, coalition militaries, and the Iraqi government. He is studying international energy policy at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He has written a book, My Nuclear Family: Growing up with Energy & Violence.
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Christopher Brownfield drove nuclear submarines before volunteering for duty in Iraq. In Baghdad, he worked as a liaison between the State Department, coalition militaries, and the Iraqi government. He is studying international energy policy at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He has written a book, My Nuclear Family: Growing up with Energy & Violence.
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Christopher Brownfield drove nuclear submarines before volunteering for duty in Iraq. In Baghdad, he worked as a liaison between the State Department, coalition militaries, and the Iraqi government. He is studying international energy policy at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He has written a book, My Nuclear Family: Growing up with Energy & Violence.
In the Military, things are EXPECTED to be ordered and rationed. Civilians will NOT tolerate the "Socialistic" leanings of the proposed Healthcare changes. We are too demanding as a society. Everyone should take a turn in the Military, then they would appreciate the freedom that you have once you are out.
Too demanding of a society, or too damned spoiled? Truth is I am retired, and free to do what I want when I want. I have a great job, and govt, single payer health care (Tricare) as part of my retirement package. It is outstanding! Not to mention the fact that I save my employer lots of money, i have access to the finest doctors, specialists, procedures, etc... without waiting near as long as my wife who has employer provided health insurance.
Sure the military is regimented, and of course that is a critical part of warfighting, yet it wouldn't hurt if we all were a little more regimented. Coming out of the Army I see people whine about having to come to work by 8:00 (oh my!). Complain because they have to stand in line at Wal-Mart. Bellyache about one thing after another, and it is sickening. Now, don't get me wrong. Soldiers gripe. That's their right, and they take full advantage of it. What they don't do is think that they are owed something like special privileges because they have rank. The colonel sees the same doctor and receives the same level of care as the private. I have shared a hospital room with a colonel and a young spec-four and the nurses didn't treat us any different.
What you're talking about is that you think if you make $100,000 a year you should have better and quicker access to care than the guy working a Jiffy Lube, and the idea that you might have to wait like he does chaps your ass. That's the real message behind all the BS guys like Hannity, Levin and Rush are puking up on the radio every day. Special treatment for special people. Don't level the playing field. Don't make me have to rub elbows with the unwashed and the blue collar, 'cause I'm special.
Maybe that's why these guys never spent one damn day in uniform.
If I understand Christopher Brownfield to be saying we need decent universal health care and something better than COBRA in the following:
'There are genuine market failures in America when it comes to lack of universal access and transitional coverage. These uncorrected market failures curtail the freedoms of the poor, who become bogged down by their health problems and lose their opportunities to follow the American Dream. A measured reform with a public option and planned oversight by civil society can correct these market and government failures and help our nation to grow stronger.'
Then this is a brilliant article and sums up things very nicely. It's early in the day and I have yet to consume my first cup of coffee.
Love this! Fantastic article, Christopher!
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Christopher, oh how you miss a big point. They say "Socialism works, until you run out of other people's money."The military is a small subset of the total economy. Without the private sector people working, making money and paying taxes, you'd never be able to enjoy the socialized medicine you had in the military. I'd wager that if the rest of us weren't paying for the health care the military receives (and I was in that group myself once) the military health care system would be unsustainable. That is to say, if Tricare had to function solely on premiums paid for by its members (military members) it would be unsustainable.
And that is where the issue is. They tyranny of the non contributor. In the military, at least every beneficiary is contributing. Even the lowest private has a job and pays taxes. In a widespread public option, the amount of non-contributors in the plan will ultimately spell its doom.
I always get the feeling that people think that the uninsured are on welfare. They're not. Welfare recipients get Medicaide. Many of the uninsured are working and paying taxes, but either their jobs don't offer health care, the health care coverage is inadequate, or they can't afford the premiums. Most of the unemployed are looking for jobs and will be employed again, but may be denied coverage due to pr-existing conditions. Many people have been dropped by their insurance companies because it became too expensive to treat them. Some have reached lifetime limits to coverage. This isn't about lazy people sitting around and expecting to get government hand-outs. This is about hard-working Americans who may be facing bankrupcy or serious health crisis because of unfair insurance practices.
You're kidding right? the military is a small subset of the total economy? Have you looked at the budgets? They are HUGE! We spend more for defense than any 17 countires on the planet...
Civil society!!
This phrase hit me like a canon shot.Here we are,going to church every sunday,listening to the sermon--we are our brothers keepers!!!And yet we forget that the members of congress,the senate,federal employees,the judges,the military, etc,all use government sponsored health care!!And no one calls this socialism--even those making the loudest noise about socialized medicine.Are we not as good as our public servants who use government sponsored health programmes?
For some reason I thought an article entitled "Socialized Medicine Works for the Military" would explain how socialized medicine works for the military. Not a swan-song to Obama and the Democrats.
I lived under military healthcare for nearly 10 years. One of the key reasons I left was because the care was worse than in the civilian world. Never mind that the population of the military skews young and thus probably has fewer health issues, but I had something very disconcerting happen late in my military career. (In fact, in the 10 years since I've never had something come up like that.) When I went to the military ER, I was not seen by a doc. I wasn't even seen by a Physician's Assistant. I was seen by an inexperienced medic. I never saw the PA, who did prescribe some medicine and I had to pay for it too! So much for free healthcare. I'd rather pay the ER co-pay and see an actual doctor who can allay my fears and can answer questions.
Also consider that if military doctors hurt you, you can't sue. There was a little girl dependent in Germany who had appendicitis but was misdiagnosed with the flu. She nearly died. I am for tort reform but the good aspect of torts is that bad doctors have to pay for their mistakes and patients are compensated for needless pain and suffering. No such accountability exists in the military healthcare system. And did everyone forget the great horror of inadequate medical facilities at Walter Reed? Liberals hung that around Bush's neck but have conveniently forgotten about it when government healthcare is on the table. Go to Duke University Medical Center - across the street is the VA Hospital. It's like looking at East and West Berlin. (You can guess which is which).
Take it from a vet, government healthcare is not something you want forced on you either directly or indirectly.
Good points! On a national scale, what you and I have said scares the hell out of me!!! People just don't have a clue what it will be like. Hope all is well with you nowadays!
But surveys of the VA systems show it performs better than civilian organizations. It's all too easy to pick a few isolated caes and denigrate a whole system. There are far too many horror stories of the mis-deeds of private medical insurance and hospitals to make your stories all that credible indictments of the whole system. Indeed, many vets want their families to benefit too, and lobby for extened benefits. If it was so very terrible there be more of an outcry about it, not people wanting to jump on....
VA also has the benefit of dealing with a specific class of patient - a general system will have to deal with all types. And I'm wondering who's filling out those surveys? Medical mistakes happen everywhere but the accountability in the private sector is much stronger than in the government sector. You can't sue the Federal Government!
No industry is free from error and you will find some if you look hard enough. During my military career I found very few doctors, nurses, and yes even physicians assistants that placed their own self-interest above that of the patient. The same cannot be said about our health care system. Also one can't blame Walter Reed for a severe lack of funding.
Your experience are not even close to mine. My family and I recieved outstanding care. My wife gave birth to our children in military hospitals, had cancer surgery, doctors set my son's arm when he broke it, and doctors treated me for heat stroke. Comparing military healthcare to the VA is like comparing apples to pineapples.
The VA is a poorly funded and frankly should be abolished. The hospitals were built and staffed according to politcal whims. Money was cut when people weren't looking, and put back when Vets found their voice. It has never (at least since the 1950's) been given a serious chance.
Gotta tell you I think you had a bad tast of the Army and you - like so many who quit - had to come up with reasons to quit. I don't know that of course, but 22 years of leading soldiers you start to recognize the excuses.
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This article is certainly food for thought....
Great article. Cuts through the nonsense.
Extremely appreciated this commentary. The only part I wonder about is how we measure innovation when it comes to human well being. Should the unit of measurement really be in profits? Is it more profitable for a drug company, lab testing company, doctors office, hospital etc. for a patient to remain unhealthy?Ans: No. Not that it is the intent of doctors to have sick patients, don't forget the hypocratic oath. However the constant advertising for medicienes and or procedures that should not really be decided upon by patients is concerning.
If the said patient is insured, then the insurance company would then have to pay for the increased visits, pills, tests etc. Which lowers their profits.How do they make profit? By having healthy insurees. How do they accomplish this? Long term solution: Treat Patient, hope for best. Short term solution: figure out how to drop patient.
Then the issue gets even more complicated in my mind.
It just seems the underlying issue is that maybe profits for both the healthcare industry and the insurance industry are driving the people of the country into the poor house. I don't know if you can or should directly link innovations to profitability in this area.
Which begs the question-
If capitalism thrives in a communist repressive state like China,
what's so wrong with a little socialism in the USA.
Taking over more than 1/6th of the economy, jscott, is hardly "a little socialism".
Socialism works fine in convents and monasteries, too. But, as has been proved by nation after nation, it doesn't scale up.
STOP!!! Alright, I'm still active duty and I'll give you the skinny and hopefully some points to ponder.
1) We're talking about 3 million or so people, not 300 million...BIG difference.
2) Because it's small and run by the government, it can be effective, but is NOT efficient.
3) If you want to be worked on by inexperienced doctors, go socialized. You have to go through many layers before you get to the experienced guy or gal.
4) If you have an operation....congratulations, you are the guinea pig and every resident will be surrounding you to see how the procedure is done. Better hope it's general anesthesia.
5) You can walk in looking like you just went through a wood chipper; they will give you Motrin and tell you to come back later if it still hurts.
6) How much do I trust them? If I went in for an operation, I would write a message with a marker on the area to be fixed and the area to not be fixed....ie, don't let them get confused and go 50 / 50.
7) The doctors are on fixed incomes and whether they do 100 people a day or just 1, they get paid the same. Take the incentive away from our best and brightest....you won't get them going into medicine anymore.
Now, this is regular care back home. The operating rooms and facilities we have here in Iraq, there in Afghanistan and Germany are absolutely top notch. But remember, when you've been shot or blown up, you immediately get the best to save your life...as it should be. Back home, it's just painful. Our system on a national scale is a NIGHTMARE I wouldn't want to come true.
Thank you for your service (and dealing with those scary-looking Camel Spiders) downrange! I'll take those crazy boarhogs in Germany any day!
Thankfully, no camel spiders this time around. In 2003 before we had turned all of our bases into thriving metropolis', they were everywhere....and CREEPY! The worst thing this time of the year is the heat....we're having a heat wave right now. Then, when the heat dies down, we'll be fighting the flies and mosquitos again....lovely part of the world this is.
As I always say. If you have the flu you may die. But if you are riddled with bullets and make it to the DOC still half alive they will bring you back. To use the military medical system in this debate is a huge stretch, and pretty shameful if you ask me. I earn my medical care in the military same as the next guy, none of it is given to me.
Sounds like the griping I heard during my service, but you are forgetting the rural healthcare issues - everyone who discusses seems to think of healthcare from the point of view of metropolitan providers. In rural America, more and more clinics are closing because they don't meet their margins. People are forced to wait for weeks to get referrals to doctors in the larger cities, and experience long waits and in effect rationaing by default.
Whatever we come up with, healthcare for profit has got to go! Necessities such as health care should not be controlled by the market - People before profit!
The military are underpaid and are brainwashed into believing the reason is; they are accomplishing a "higher calling". (I was one). I propose doctors and insurance companies adopt this "higher calling" agenda. If it's good enough for our best and bravest, it's good enough for our medical and medical insurance professions.
Maybe this will explain why socialized medicine works for the Military.
In todays Houston, Chronicle, it was r eported that in 2006, William "Dollar Bill) Mc Guire, CEO of parent compay United Health Group walked off with a $1.1 billion dollar golden parachute (on top of $500 million he had already raked in) - though he had to return some of it in an options backdating scandal. Just think about that amount of money and the health bills it would cover for sick people.
The Military does not have this type of stuff to conntend with and there is much more money going to the patient.
Takes a hell of a lot of paid premuims to justify that kind of greed. Now you know why they want so badly to keep the status quo. Companies like United Health are bleeding American citizens dry.
And Americans are too stupid to even realize what is happening to them. And even if they do
r ealize this... they think as long as it does not affect them it really is not important.
Just wait, when your kid gets brain cancer and the insurance company immediately tells you they are canncelling your health care plan.... you will get the shock of your life.
I have a friend whose health care plan was cancelled because when she filled out her application she neglected to say that she had had a gall bladder attack when she was ten years younger.
The insurance company took her premiums for fiften years before they brought that subject up.
And getting back to United Health Care.. this is the same compay that eighteen mons ago paid a
$400 million dollar fine in New York Stae for consumer fraud charges.
Check it out...be informed.... do not jeapordize your and your families future by being uninformed.
Good points. I believe most of our problems are because we need bloated, for profit insurance companies to help pay for even basic treatment. Imagine if you had to go through this middleman process to get a lightbulb changed in your house, or a tune up on a car. Something tells me light bulbs and spark plugs would be crazy expensive.
I think we need to find a way to minimize the profit motive so the money gets to Doctors and not insurance salesmen and executives and stockholders.
Profit equals happy doctors and nurses and an industry with money to invest into itself. Go social and you'll have hospitals that look like dungeons before long.
For the last four months, Republicans so adamently opposed to any reform in our broken health care system have been heard over and over again spewing statistics from a company
c alled The Levin Group.
The statistics are falsehoods and inuendos about the health care business.Out and out lies. Skewed accounting....
It has taken months of research hunting to finally find out that the Levin Group is owned and funded by United Health Care Group.
If you are interested in some outstanding research being done on the health care industry in this country, check out the Rachel Maddow Show on cable. The have the most reasearched news on television. Every evening at 8 PM Central.
Have paper and pencil ready because they will give internet sites to follow up their investigations.
You will be appalled to see what is happening in the health care industry and why the companies are spending a hundred million dollars fighting any changes.
Nice article, but basically a flawed comparison. The 'socialized' medicine aspect the military is subjected to is only part and parcel of a total lifestyle that military members volunteer for, usually for a period of just 4-10 years, but sometimes as many as 30 years. It's important to bear in mind that the active duty military population represents less than one half of one percent of the total US population and is of a certain youth-skewed demographic. The military population has a certain expectation of control that is not shared by the rest of the US population as a whole. Military members expect to be told where to live, what to wear, how to groom, what and when to eat, etc. - restrictions that would NOT go over well with the general population. Military members make these sacrifices to preserve the right of the rest of the population to choose how to live their lives in freedom. In short, the military medical system works because that is the expectation that military personnel have. I don't believe this is a realistic model for the rest of the nation.
Another point to remember is that the military system USED to care for all dependents and retirees but this additional care proved to be too expensive to maintain and was therefore farmed out to a private provider - TRICARE. The true 'military medical system' now provides care ONLY to the young, fit, and overall healthy active duty force. I suppose a similar system would work for the general population - assuming they did mandatory PT, ate well, and were constantly pressured to give up tobacco. Let me know how that works for ya, Joe Q. Public!
My take on this? Government run health care is fine for the 1.4 million or so active duty troops but would be an unmitigated disaster for the general population.
You're far too cute to be this intelligent Christopher.
Of course Mr. Brownfield got excellent medical care in the Navy as a sailor. We're glad of it. He earned it. And he damn well deserved it.
But to use the example of military medicine as an argument for a national, centralized health care system for 306 million people is false and fatuous. (And no offesne to Mr. Brownfield, whom I wish well.)
The American military has been providing medical care to servicemen since the Revolutionary War. The military also feeds, houses, clothes and transports its servicemen. And does a good job of it.
But, is that a good argument for universal, government provided food, housing, clothing, and transport for all its citizens?
The military has only to provide for the 1.5 million people serving in the military and their dependents, perhaps another 1.5 million. That's 3 million people not 306 million.
Those people for the most part are also in their healthiest years and highly fit. They are subject to military control and discipline. the military, deploying these people around the world and in battle, by necessity must provide for them. And, no small thing, military personnel have earned this care-- it is part of their compensation system.
It is telling that in the 50s and 60s, when there were tens of millions of men with recent military experience, there was no large push for universal government care and nobody making the military medicine argument for same.
I am sorry that Mr. Brownman does not understand from his military experience what most servicemen have always understood: the military is an entirely different kind of life and circumstance than civilian life.
The military does most of its duties well. But, few holding responsibility for that would argue that the federal government ought therefore take central control of large swaths of our lives.
I really enjoyed the calm and insightful article! Thanks Christopher.
When last we heard from Mr. Brownfield, he claimed to be suffering from PTSD. No verifiable diagnosis only his hand wringing claim.
Now he treats us to his opinion that "Socialized military medicine is good enough for my comrades in arms" thus why not all? This from a man who was not a combatant but desk bound., And yet suffers from PTSD.
It's time the Daily Beast investigated this writer to determine the legitimacy of his personal claims. There is enough smoke to warrant a look at his background. And from there to his writing.
It is highly unlikely Mr. Brownfield's assertions can withstand such scrutiny.
Having known Mr. Brownfield for the past 7 or 8 years, his personal claims are legitimate as is his background. Feel free to agree or disagree with his opinions, but please do not call his integrity into question.
Have you heard of the Feres Doctrine? Are you aware that it prevents active duty service members and their families from filing suits against the Federal Government for all situations of medical malpractice? Military doctors can't be held accountable for negligent medical care! Our military represents socialized medicine, government run health care, and for those who have received adequate military health care should consider themselves fortunate. Perhaps the Feres Doctrine will someday apply to everyone and not just those who have served our country.Do you need proof visit www.erniesfootprints.com.
Thank you.
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