London, England—The following opinion piece is authored by Stephen Peters, who proudly served our nation in the United States Marine Corps. He discusses how today’s military families are negatively affected by the Trump/Republican shutdown of the federal government, which is currently the second-longest in U.S. history (the longest being the Trump/Republican government shutdown in 2017). Stephen is a Missouri UOCAVA voter, resident of the United Kingdom, and member of the Democrats Abroad Global Veterans and Military Families Caucus.
As a Marine veteran and military spouse living overseas, I’ve seen how Washington’s dysfunction doesn’t just stay in Washington. With Republicans controlling the House, the Senate, and the White House, the blame for the government shutdown now disrupting the lives of military families around the world lies squarely on their shoulders.
For many military and retiree families stationed or residing abroad, access to health care is through TRICARE Overseas — a Department of Defense-operated system where some families often must pay out of pocket for care and then wait for the U.S. government to reimburse them. During the current shutdown, that reimbursement process has come to a halt for many. Families are being left to shoulder the full cost of doctor visits, prescriptions, and urgent care, with no clear timeline for when the government will reopen and TRICARE’s contractor will again be authorized to resume reimbursement.
Our government promises our military recruits world-class health care coverage upon entering the service, but under this Administration and the current 119th Congress, they’ve been getting, well, outright scammed. To be clear, TRICARE beneficiaries are Americans who have already served and sacrificed, and are now forced to absorb the financial burden of Washington’s failure.
Instead of governing responsibly, Republicans have once again chosen to inflict serious harm on the country rather than demonstrate basic competence. The bottom line is that military families are fiercely patriotic and understand the need to put country over party when it comes to the well-being of our nation and our service members, and they deserve better. They shouldn’t have to question whether their health care coverage depends on the next manufactured crisis. Members of Congress continue to receive paychecks despite the House of Representatives having no plan for returning to session. While military families check for change under the couch cushions to help pay skyrocketing medical bills, it is outrageous that Republican lawmakers continue to kick the legislative can down the road on reopening the government. It’s time for all elected leaders to put the country over chaos and stop using those who serve or have served as collateral in their political battles.
U.S. citizens living abroad, both civilian and military, are highly encouraged to check your voter registration status and request your ballot for any upcoming elections in your home voting state that you are eligible to vote in.
The Global VMF Caucus, proudly consisting of veterans, military family members, Department of War (DoW) (formerly Department of Defense, or DoD) civilians, and strong allies of veterans and military family causes, has over 1,400 members in dozens of countries.
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