Heather.

Good article.

I am a veteran and use the VA medical system. Most of the guys I run into there are old now, mostly from Vietnam (like me), some from Korea, very few now from WWII.

I sit in waiting rooms and listen to them chat. Many are Trump supporters and hate the ACA. It is not uncommon to hear them bashing “socialized medicine.”

Which is ironic, given that the VA embodies “socialized medicine.” Every VA medical employee, from neurosurgeons to janitors, works for the government. Period, And yet, they just can’t, or won’t, admit that.

Moreover the proof that single payer health care works is that they are there for their care. The VA does work. It would work better if it was better funded and better staffed, but even as it is (and it can be slow and cumbersome), it provides good care for many people who would have none otherwise.

Socialized medicine is the bogeyman that we in American have been propagandized for generations to fear. The propagandizers have done their work very well indeed. We certainly wouldn’t want that here.

And yet, the VA, the largest health care provider in the US, is here and does work. It is a starting point for what we could all have if we would just wake up.

Which I doubt we will.

Thanks for the thoughtful piece.

Mike