Orchid of the Day: My daughter Katy Krieg, who turned 38 today. At 38 she is not slowing down. She can run circles around the Energizer Bunny. In addition to being a wife, a mom of three kids 10 and under, and a federal agent in charge of three states, in the last year she has completed an Olympic level triathlon, a half an ironman triathlon and moved into a new home. She works out everyday and always has time for her husband Brad and her three children, Alaina, Nolan and Kaylen. Leah and I have been blessed.
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Quote of the Day: “When it comes to burn pits, I don’t think anyone understood what it was when we were actively throwing trash, batteries, electronics, everything that was not of use to the United States serviceman or woman, into a giant fire pit,” “How many of those elected officials and politicians have sent their children there? And do they have effects from this? They don’t want to do anything now for the people that went and did the dirty deeds that our government suggested or made us do,” Veteran Andy Chomko, a U.S. Army Ranger who served in four combat deployments from 2003 to 2007.
For the last few days, I have been following the controversy about the recent senate vote on the PACT Act, or the Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act., which provides additional coverage for veterans who have been suffering from various diseases related to the exposure of toxic burn pits while serving our country. After passing the Senate earlier this year with bi-partisan approval of 86 senators (14 Republican Senators voted against it), the bill was returned to the Senate for final approval last week and now an additional 27 Republicans voted not to pass it. With the 41 Republicans failing to pass it, it cannot exceed the filibuster threshold of the Senate and it will not pass unless something changes. In the meantime, our veterans suffer.
Senator Pat Toomey, Republican from Pennsylvania has been the focal point for the Republicans and on this issue. Toomey was one of the original 14 Republicans who didn’t vote for the bill, so he has been consistent in his objection. I have watched Toomey’s interviews and have read his responses on why he cannot support the bill in its current form. Unfortunately, the timing of the reversal of the other 27 Republican senators now voting against it sounds like retribution against the Democrats, specifically Senator Manchin for his willingness to change his vote to approve the Biden’s expansive climate change bill.
I cannot understand how anyone can vote against benefits for our veterans. In fact, I do not know why Congress should be involved at all in piecemealing coverage out to our veterans. If Congress really wanted to show their appreciation for armed forces members who had served in our country, all members of the armed forces who were honorably discharged should have lifetime health insurance, equal to the equivalent of Medicare part A and B, plus a Medicare complementary plan. They should be allowed to receive their services anywhere just like a Medicare patient. VA hospitals should be converted to become facilities that specialize in military specific illnesses and injuries as a complement to services a veteran can get at a local hospital.
If someone is willing to put their life on the line for their country, the least we can do is take care of their health care needs for the remainder of their life, in a manner consistent with what is available to our Medicare and Medicaid patients. But then again, what do I know about healthcare.
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I am watching the Monkeypox virus with interest at this point. Who knows how it will progress? As I think about it, I wonder if we have learned lesson from the current covid-19 pandemic. I am sure we have learned about the importance of vaccines, when and where masks work, when and where social distancing works, and so many other of the physical things that work. What I am not sure is if we have learned anything about the mental health damage that has been done because of the pandemic.
The increase in mass shootings, continues to point out the deficiencies in our mental health services at the national, state, and local levels.
We learned early on during the pandemic, there was a major increase in mental health issues throughout the population, including within our mental health providers. We have also learned that our response to the pandemic in our schools has taken an increased mental health toll on parents and teachers. Most important we learned that distance learning had a major mental health toll on our children, many of whom missed out on two years of the important social and academic development which occurs in a classroom/school setting. We have also learned that students who spent more time in a classroom had less mental health issues than those who spent more time distance learning.
Throughout the pandemic I always thought getting our students into the classroom as fast as possible should have been the politicians, administrators, and teachers’ highest priority. I never understood why keeping the schools open was not mandatory. If we had made the mental and physical well-being of our students the most important factor in deciding whether to open schools or not, the schools would have been open much sooner. I hope the people who made the decisions to close the schools have learned from the errors of their decisions.
The lack of mental healthcare in this country is going to get worse if something is not done soon. We are heading for a perfect storm as less people are going into the mental health profession and the impact of the pandemic on the mental health of our citizens, especially the youth has increased.
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Elections Matter. Pray for peace and tolerance. What are you doing to stop the violence and mass killings?
Onion of the Day: The Detroit Tigers. Their inability to hit is unexplainable.
Question of the Day: Should our veterans receive lifetime health benefits if they are honorably discharged?
Video/Image of the Day:
