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It's Official... Our Government May Lie About Anything
By Thomas D. Segel
December 2, 2002

Everyone has heard the old joke about honesty in government. Question: How can you tell when a politician is lying? Answer: His lips are moving. Well, the joke can now be expanded to include government officials lying, military officials lying... and even those recruiting officers for the armed forces lying. Why? Because the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Washington D. C. has waved its magic wand of legal interpretation and proclaimed that as long as the Congress has passed no legislation authorizing their statements... anyone in the government can say anything and not be held responsible for their utterances.

The actual ruling says that government recruiters had no legal authority to promise free lifetime health care to those who served at least 20 years in uniform.

Starting in 1941 and continuing until 1956 military recruiters, military career counselors, the War Department, followed by the Department of Defense and even the commercial advertisers contracted by the government all told men and women entering military service the same lie. The officials promised that if these people made the armed forces their career and served at least 20 years in uniform, their medical care and any treatment needed by their dependents would be guaranteed for life.

With the downsizing and closing of facilities fewer and fewer retirees were allowed to receive care at military hospitals. An insurance plan called Tricare was implemented by the government, which would allow treatment at civilian health care establishments. There are several versions of this Tricare coverage, with the poorest and least accepted of these being the insurance offered to military retirees. Today, most hospitals and doctors reject Tricare Standard.

In 1956 Congress did create legislation which made retired military personnel and their families subject to being provided medical treatment only on a space available basis. However, this did not change the government program of prevarication. There are documents, which reveal the United States government was still promising military personnel lifetime medical care as late as 1990.

In July, 1996 Colonel George "Bud' Day, attorney, Air Force officer, holder of the Medal of Honor and one of the most highly decorated living military retirees, filed suit for monetary damages in the Federal District Court in Pensacola. His charge, on behalf of his military clients was age discrimination, 5th amendment taking of property and breach of contract.

Since initially filing with two clients, the suit, now called Class Act by its participants, has grown to more than 22,000 military retirees who joined the service before 1956 and are more than 65 years of age. All had been forced to enroll in Medicare because the government failed to honor its own promises.

Of course, from a financial viewpoint it is understandable our courts should agree with the federal government lying to citizens. More than 1,500,000 people who served starting in World War II, Korea and beyond have been denied services which could eventually cost the United States more than $15 billion dollars.

Lying is not a new trend in our history. The government has always lied to those who had little power to dispute its word. Following World War I, for example, thousands of veterans had to march on Washington D. C. in an attempt to make the government honor its promise to pay a war bonus which never materialized.

The practice continues today with the lie being our government has no obligation to honor its promises to those who took up arms in defense of the nation. Now we have our courts becoming party to the same duplicity, which is prevalent throughout the legislative and executive branches of government. Say anything, because lying to citizens is now officially sanctioned.