The Honorable Russ Feingold
United States Senate
506 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-4904 Re: National Health Care Reform vs. Mililtary/VA Health CareDear Senator Feingold:As the Congress begins consideration of national health care reform legislation, I urge you to ensure that any national health care reform plan that may be enacted must preserve the unique identity and role of the military TRICARE and VA health delivery systems.

It is essential to recognize the nation's unique responsibilities to those who served in uniform and the Defense Department's special employer responsibilities to the families of those who rendered decades of service to our country.

Military health benefits provide an essential offset to the extraordinary demands and sacrifices inherent in a military career. Unique and specialized VA programs acknowledge special government responsibilities to those who incur service-caused injuries and illnesses.

Both systems are critical in sustaining a career all-volunteer force, and subjecting them to taxation would be a major erosion of benefits that would undermine recruiting, retention, and national security. We must retain them as earned benefits to those who have served and defended this great nation.

Please ensure these earned benefits continue as unique -- and untaxed -- programs rather than seeking to incorporate them in a national system that fails to recognize the government's special responsibilities to the military and veteran populations.Respectfully,Don "Boots" Jensen
Sergeant United States Marine Corps 1973-79