“Free health care for all veterans” could help Biden win

If Joe Biden wants to achieve universal health care coverage, a bold first move could be to provide free coverage to all active duty military veterans. Such a proposal could help him win the 2020 election, and could actually pass Congress while covering millions of American vets.

Under the current system, only disabled veterans are fully covered by the VA (Veterans’ Affairs) health care system (although all veterans are eligible for certain benefits). And since only a small percentage of veterans are rated as “disabled,” many millions more would be covered if the VA simply enrolled all veterans.

The VA health care system already operates more cost-effectively than private care, and is of excellent quality. It is a single-payer system (similar to Medicare for all) that already works.

As a proposal, “VA care for all veterans” could appeal to a huge constituency. Single payer itself is already very popular in the U.S. A strong majority of Americans, and even a majority of Republicans in some surveys, support the policy.

“Free care for all veterans” should be even more popular because Americans love veterans and tend to believe that they deserve greater social benefits than others. Witness the steady stream of politicians who claim to want to end homelessness among veterans. They all apparently agree that veterans deserve housing for life. That all veterans deserve health care, even if they are not disabled, should be an equally easy sell.

Add the fact that most veterans support Trump, and you have a policy that is likely to win the support of many Republican voters, as well as most Americans writ large.

And despite McConnell-era obstruction, the policy might even pass Congress, with or without Democrats controlling both Houses. Recall that in 2008, Congress passed The Post 9/11 GI Bill, which George W. Bush signed into law. That bill provided a massive expansion of college tuition benefits, and even stipends for all active duty veterans. The bill increased the benefits of the previous GI Bill, which had not kept up with the skyrocketing costs of college tuition.

Veterans’ suicides could also decrease with a universal veterans’ health care system. Under the current system, many suicidal veterans do not receive full VA health coverage, and are therefore less likely to seek mental health or crisis counseling from the VA than they would be if they had full coverage. If they all had free VA care, more veterans would seek counseling and other services, and fewer would commit suicide. (The VA does offer mental health counseling to all suicidal veterans, but not all are aware of this.)

Consider, also, that many veterans are bankrupted each year because of health care expenses. Zero uninsured veterans would mean zero veterans who become bankrupt or homeless because of a lack of health insurance. In turn, fewer veterans would grow miserable and ultimately become homeless or suicidal.

A few familiar groups, of course, would oppose free VA care for all veterans. Health insurance and pharmaceutical industries would fight against this proposal with predictable ferocity.

But if Democrats such as Biden are as committed to pathways to universal health care as they claim to be, fighting for expanding veterans’ care would be a smart stratagem. It would put opponents on the defensive, and if passed, would expand free health care for millions, while helping to solve the social problems that plague veterans and their families.

It is a policy worth fighting for and a political winner.