An Affirmative Action Health Care Plan

I realize that no Republican expects Obama to do much good for the country and that he will be experimenting and doing this and that to appease his constituencies, from the hopeful center to the manic left. But it just occured to me that there is something he could do to please me. That is to demonstrate his brilliance in the place he has unquestionable authority.

If Obama can revolutionize health care for the US Armed Forces, then maybe we in the private sector will stand up and take notice.

The current news isn't good of course, but it only makes it easier for him to prove that he can do the right thing.

Personnel costs represent the second largest "piece" of the budgetary pie; DoD plans to allocate $125 billion for personnel this year, roughly 20% more than it will spend on acquisition. 

While increased pay and bonuses account for some of that increase, the real growth has been on the health care side. According to Michael Fabey of Aviation Week, the Pentagon's health care budget has grown 144% since 2001. As you might expect, a portion of that growth reflects combat medical costs in Afghanistan and Iraq. But according to defense analyst Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute, most of the increase can be traced to "the constantly escalating costs of routine medical services." 

In other words, the Pentagon is paying more to operate its own medical facilities and for TriCare, the DoD-sponsored health insurance program for military personnel, retirees and their dependents. That should come as no surprise, since other, government-run medical programs have experienced similar increases over the same period.

The health of the Army is said to be a high priority matter for Obama, and did manage to got everybody jumping up and down over his choice of Shinseki to head the VA. So here is an opportunity, fruaght with possibilities, that he can make the health care standards of the US Army a beacon of light to the world. The countdown starts today. If he can do it with that percentage of Americans who live to defend us, then he can do it for ordinary folks.

We tend to forget that there are certain times when innovation for the whole of society comes from the organizational principles of national armies. That includes command and control and a host of other beneficial concepts. It is a little known fact, for example, that malaria was destroyed in France by Americans because of the necessity of saving the lives of Allied troops during WW2. These are precisely the areas where the President has full reign and Obama should exercise his power in this way.

Just as Affirmative Action through the integration of the Armed Forces made huge changes in the way our civil society operated, social engineering of health care from the Pentagon is the President's prerogative. Let that trickle down.