Tomorrow, Tuesday, 14 July, a group of House Republicans will announce landmark health care legislation – iThe Improving Health Care For All Americans Act/i. This bill is radically different than other proposals in Congress which center on a government-run system and come at the expense of patients and their doctors. Instead, this new legislation will allow people to keep what they have if they like it and place American families back in control of their health care.br /br /In my 22 years on active duty in the Army, I experienced government provided health care, and it was great. However, I am physically big, was rapidly promoted, and am capable of being both assertive and aggressive. I could and did demand to see the doctor or nurse in charge of an area if I felt things were not right. As a result, I got excellent health care and was able to influence to some extent the care that my troops received. However, if I’d been the Spanish-speaking wife of a PFC with no one to intervene for me, I know that the care would have been very different. And this is definitely not a cheap-shot at military medicine; these folk have to do a huge job with limited resources. And that’s exactly what it’ll be like if we have national health care. One difference, unlike my military health care troops, our civilian government-employed medical folks will belong to unions and will not be able to work extra hours to see patients.
