Charles Norwood: “when millions of older Americans decided to begin their military careers, one of the primary selling points used by the…”

“when millions of older Americans decided to begin their military careers, one of the primary selling points used by the recruiters back then was the Federal Government's promise of retirement benefits. Those benefits included free lifetime health care. The sales pitch went sort of like this: ``The pay is not very good, your family will have to move every couple of years, and there is a distinct possibility that you might be killed or crippled. But if you can live through it for the 20 years, you will have the satisfaction of having served your country along with a decent retirement. And you will not have to worry about health care costs eating up that retirement check because you will have free health care for life at military hospitals, as long as they have room for you.'' Well, Mr. Speaker, today 400,000 American veterans are dying prematurely. Many of these veterans are military retirees and now have no medical care option left but Medicare. Some do not even have Medicare coverage. They counted on the lifetime military health care promise, the promise that they were given upon entering the military, and did not sign up for Medicare Part B, not ever considering that the Federal Government might go back on its word. Now these men and women do not even have health coverage this Congress provides for draft dodgers.…”