Military Health Care Systems
Military Health Care Systems 
The military health system has a responsibility to provide health services to the members of the military. This is one of the enterprises that are under the United States Department of Defense. The system was developed to provide health services to the military personnel so that they effectively perform their missions. It also responds to humanitarian crises that arise in the other parts of the world and responds to natural disasters in the country. The other people who benefit from it are the retirees and the military personnel’s dependants.
To reduce non combat loses the military health services is mandated to promote quality health, optimize physical performance and healthy behaviors, and lastly to ensure that the beneficiaries receive a full casualty care. The responsibility to ensure that service men, sailors, soldiers, and marines are adequately protected from biological attacks also falls under the health affairs of the military. The operations and the staff required are catered for by the government and so it does not operate as a profit generating system.
The veteran health services are offered by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. It comprises of 253 medical centers, 207 veteran centers, 136 nursing homes, 882 ambulatory care and community based outpatient centers all for the service of the veterans. The services offered to the 24 million living veterans in the US are mental health counseling since some might have undergone traumatizing situation while in the service of the country, rehabilitation of those that might be having disabilities, hospitals care and pharmaceutical dispensing.
Unlike the other health services provided by the State to its military, the veteran health administration is responsible for the health of the war veterans who have been honorably been discharged from the military. The beneficiaries are people who have served the nation patriotically and at one time might have incurred psychological or physical impairment.
The private health services are provided by numerous legalized health service providers who are wide spread in the country. They are owned and operated by the private sector. The United States health care is unique and one of the most complex integration of the public and private sectors. It responds to the diverse needs of a population of 300 million people from different backgrounds, races, and religions. Half of the spending is catered for by the Government while the other half is generated from the private sectors. One of the components of the private health services is the Medicare that has the elderly people and the disabled as the main beneficiaries.
They are entitled to receive health care from the same hospital as the other proportion of the population. The other part of the public gets its financial support through the insurance. Unlike the other two health services discussed earlier where the Government has the full responsibility to finance and provide health benefits, the private health service system has the Government and the private sector integrate to provide health services to the citizens.
The policy of the military health services is to offer the best health assurance services to the military. The advances of dealing with traumatic surgery and advances in the counseling of soldiers have benefitted the private medicine. We can refer to the process as two way traffic because the civilian system offers medical technology and also trains some or the physicians that at last work in the disciplined forces.
To answer the question there is the need to be aware conversant with the operations of each in order to understand the merits of each of the systems. To answer the question adequately there is also need to know why the system was developed and the intended beneficiaries. On the other hand, each system has the financial implications hence the need to know if the support from the Government is worth. For instance, any government should as much as possible serve the citizen in all aspects, either civilians or military personnel.
The country’s wealth is generated from the people and so their health is fundamental to the development of an economy. Therefore, the political resources should be used to ensure that the citizens lead an active healthy life. The other reason why the issue is worth the effort is because the veterans are citizens who served the country patriotically and so there is a need for them to have a healthy life as an appreciation.
