Tuesday, September 8, 2009

American Soldier Dies for Health Care Coverage

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist


Army Specialist Gregory James Missman died of war wounds suffered in Afghanistan. He had been in the war zone only five short weeks when he was killed by the explosion of an improvised explosive device (IED) on July 8th of this year. SPC Missman was thirty-six-years old. He was survived by his four-year-old son, Jack, a sister, and his parents.

SPC Missman had served in the United States Army eleven years earlier. When he completed his three-year tour he got out and found work as a computer consultant. Earlier this year he was laid off from that position and lost health care coverage for himself and his son. He eventually made a fateful decision to go back into the military so that his son would have health insurance.

Little Jack Missman will now be covered by the Army's health care (Tri-Care) until he reaches the age of majority. He told reporters, "Dad was a strong soldier. He loved us. We loved him."

The moral of this story is, of course, that any boy or girl in America can have health insurance - if they have a parent who is fit enough to get into the military, and willing to die for it!

Surely that premium is too high!