Memorial Day is when we remember those who have given their lives for us.  

While arguably more apropos of Veteran’s Day, today had me thinking about Tricare and VA Benefits; health plans that serve the living.

TRICARE is “the military health system that provides care to almost 10 million active-duty service members, retired personnel, and their families.”

I’m frankly a bit surprised to see there are a dozen different TRICARE plans. (When first started in the 90’s, there were just three. Get it?)

Click HERE to learn more.

Providing care to over 9 million veterans, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is the largest integrated health care system in the United States, with 1,298 health care facilities, 171 VA Medical Centers, and 1,113 outpatient sites. (Eat your heart out, Atrium Advocate Aurora, or whatever you’re calling yourself this week!)

Fun fact; did you know roughly 60% of all medical residents obtain at least a portion of their training at VA hospitals? More about the VA HERE.

Another ‘fun’ fact(s); 61 million Americans are enrolled in Medicare, 80 million in Medicaid and 7 million in CHIP.

If you’re keeping score, our government run health plans insure more people than Great Britain, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland combined.

How’s that for a ‘fun’ fact!!

Back to those making the ultimate sacrifice for us;

“Slava Ukraini!