when you raised your right hand 50 years ago, the gubment promised your dependents would also get free health care for life - as a reward for their sacrifice of being part of a nomadic family. That’s longgone with the wind, along with free health care for veterans not based on income. Which is pretty sad considering only about 1% of the population is military and their (now grown and old) dependents
Actually, I seem to remember a thread recently about what percentage of the population served and was surprised to learn that it was actually about 7%. Here’s a link that sheds some light on the numbers. Still a small portion.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/what-percentage-of-americans-have-served-in-the-military/