“The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism. But under the name of ‘liberalism’ they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program, until one day America will be a Socialist nation, without knowing how it happened.”

Socialist Party presidential candidate Norman Thomas


Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Do you have to be a smoker to qualify for VA benefits?

So B'ham VA hospital is literally across the street from my building here at UAB and when it's raining as it is now, it's convenient to skip on down to the VA-Canteen and grab a bite for lunch. They have a better than average deli, grill, salad, or meat&3 option.
In order to get there i had to hold my breath as I ran a gauntlet of about 30 patients over a half block, who were standing on the sidewalk smoking.....a third of them preposterously on oxygen. You can circle the block any time of day and outside every exit door to the VA stands/sits never less than a half dozen smokers in wheelchairs, on oxygen, etc.
Is it a qualifying rule that you must be a 2-pack a day smoker to get VA benefits? Or is it more likely that the aging veterans who're determined to kill themselves with cigarettes are mostly the ones who need the care precisely because of the cigarette addiction, so naturally that's who's loitering around outside the hospital in a cloud of smoke?