When it's good to be part of the 25 percent*

Tuesday mail brought a Tricare rundown of my 29 October hospital visit, following a sudden loss of vision in my right eye. Every big Tricare breakdown brings a “Dang.” Tricare does not pay total amount billed, nor does any other insurance plan that I know of. But, almost always the medical people take what is approved. Tricare and Medicare have been good to me.

At 18, or however old you were when receiving the spiel about bennies if you stay in 20 or more years, most of us just said, “Yeah, yeah. Where’s the beer? They said there would be beer.” Fifty-eight years later, though, those years were worth it. I got the bennies with an outlay of only 16 years, so I guess I am ahead. Going to get a roto-rooter on a carotid artery in 15 days, so Tricare and Medicare will be opening the cash drawer again.

* Roughly the percentage of Americans who qualify for military service.