My Dad, a Vietnam era veteran in hospice care, recently died.  During our last dinner together he could not chew his meal because dental coverage is not funded.

Nice, right?  The story of my father is a long sad one.  A story that is too often told – veterans that can’t get the care they need.  In this case – simple dental care.  If I were elected to Congress – the first legislation I would draft is immediate healthcare reform – specifically including dental coverage for all veterans who are entitled to medical V.A. coverage / retiree medical coverage.

As a veteran, could you support that?  Could you support a veteran in Congress helping veterans?  If so, why would you vote for anyone else?

Can’t we give veterans decent dental care?  Though my father recently died, he did not pass away before I was able to take him out to a nice dinner.  He was in an assisted care facility for veterans.  A decent place with many caring folks.  I was able to call and visit routinely.  I recollect his last fading weeks, and the chance to take him to a nice place for dinner.  He ordered a steak, which the staff and I politely cut for him.  How we struggle to see people in such a state.  I was particularly dismayed, though, when I saw he could only gum the steak because his teeth were insufficient to chew and swallow the meat.  He had to chew each bite, spitting most of it out, because he was unable to swallow it.  I thought, man, if I were in charge, I would not let veterans find themselves in circumstances where they could not get dental coverage where all other medical coverage was afforded.  Ridiculous, right?!

In fact, I’m in the same boat now.  I’m a retired Army Colonel.  I have my medical coverage from the Veterans Administration.  But, like for many veterans, our medical coverage does not include dental coverage.  This means for many many veterans, necessary dental care is simply unaffordable and unattainable.  I’m just saying that kinda sucks.  But I want to fix this.  And with your help, I can.

Folks, what can I say… I now own a small café in a seasonal community.  My wife and I are not rich and all dental attention must be paid out of pocket – this is in spite of the fact that I do enjoy 100% V.A. medical benefits for years of active duty following 9/11 – but not dental.  And, since we are self-employed, we are only able to get medical insurance for catastrophic medical events.  My wife has to pay for her own insurance and must pay over $13,000 out of pocket before any medical care is covered by the insurance.  This, is supposedly “Good” insurance.  She cannot ride on my military medical benefits until I am at least 60 years old. 

Yes, perhaps a poor choice on our part to operate a small business, which we estimate pays us what the average Utah household makes per year – somewhere in the $65,000 range.  Point being, if our income is average for Utah, then it is likely that there are a lot of people out there, not just veterans, that go without dental insurance or coverage.  Kinda sad, right?  But, I can fix this….

A lot of us, myself included, have spent the last 20 years mobilizing and demobilizing – on and off – to military assignments around the world.  Commendable service indeed.  But the price paid is immense.  Citizen Soldiers have paid a huge price in lost businesses, job tenures, and intermittent employment because the periods in-between mobilizations could not accommodate circumstances where vets could continue an uninterrupted career in tandem with their military obligations.  Now, for many veterans, they either get no medical assistance, or they get full V.A. medical assistance – such as myself – but no dental coverage.  The V.A., with very VERY few exceptions, does not support service men and women with dental coverage.  What do you say we vote out Senator Lee in 2021 and install someone that will fix this?  Something that should have been fixed decades ago.  Something that would already be fixed if we had more veterans in Congress.  What do you say, should we take better care of the warriors?

The current situation, I say, is wrong.  If I were one of our elected representatives, the first thing I would do is drive legislation that supported our service members with the dental care they need when they are awarded and authorized medical disability support from the V.A.  Why can’t we give our folks who have spent so many years down range the help they need to get a freakin tooth fixed too?  I’m not talking about elective cosmetic care – I’m talking about cavities, root canals, crowns, and implants… the same care afforded to a service member when he or she was on active duty.

Dang it!  Let’s let the folks have some dental care – can we do that for them?  Is that too much to ask for the warriors?  I think it’s not too much to ask.  But the folks you have been electing are doing NOTHING about it – in fact neither of our current Senator’s ever served a day of their lives in uniform – why should they care about you?  Let’s get on with this and fix it now.

Give me your support.  The first thing I will do is make sure all disabled vets get some dental care.

Vote in November 2022 Utah Bull Moose Party – COL Mike Seguin (USA, Retd).  Let’s get a soldier in Congress that will be an advocate for the troops.  Why would you vote for anyone else?!

COL Mike Seguin (USA, Retd), Utah Bull Moose Party (www.utahbullmooseparty.com).