While President Barack Obama is celebrating the survival of his so-called “Affordable Care Act,” he is busy making health care less affordable for the nation’s military families. As the Washington Free Beacon reports, the President is threatening to veto a defense appropriations bill unless military families have to pay higher fees for TRICARE, the military’s health insurance program. The Obama administration ostensibly wants to help the Pentagon save money; the real motive is to make TRICARE less attractive than costlier Obamacare exchanges.
The Free Beacon notes that the bill that passed the House of Representatives, with bipartisan support, refused to incorporate the President’s request for higher TRICARE fees–and the administration has expressed displeasure.
Once again, we see that Obama’s supposed devotion to military families–a cause purportedly dear to the First Lady’s heart–does not extend beyond using military families as political props, whether as salve for Obama’s anti-war sentiments or as campaign-commercial fodder to make Obama look like a better leader than he actually is. Despite President Obama’s penchant for referring to “his” solders, his affected affection evidently only goes so far. Obama’s real goal is to protect Obamacare, and to advance his ambition of transforming the nation–and if the health care of America’s military families must suffer, so be it. It’s not as if he’s relying on military votes.