# Could America introduce Universal Health Care via selective service? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 7, 2015, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-america-introduce-universal-health-care-via-selective-service/721893 "2015-06-07T14:40:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2015, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-america-introduce-universal-health-care-via-selective-service/721893/1 "2015-06-07T14:40:38Z")
As I - a Brit - understand it, America has the embryo of a UHC system through its doctors and hospitals for servicemen, veterans, and their families. And all children are also covered, as are the elderly. So, could America extend that to everyone registered for selective service (women do have to register now, don’t they?) on the pretext of maintaining the health of their war-ready population and thus de facto implement UHC? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2015, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-america-introduce-universal-health-care-via-selective-service/721893/2 "2015-06-07T14:54:06Z")
No, women are not required to register. I am not even certain women are _able_ to register for that system. Making everyone sign up isn’t what that particular program is designed for anyway - you’d need to sign up people 100 years old and infants, too. What you’re talking about isn’t “selective service”, it’s the Veteran’s Administration health care and/or Tricare, which is health coverage for people in service and their families. How about we just _sign everyone up_ under UHC and be done with it, instead of jury-rigging things or pretending it’s something it’s not or forcing systems never designed for it to accommodate it? Plenty of other countries have UHC. Pick a system. Implement it. ---
**Author:** ![davida03801](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5e925/32.png) [@davida03801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davida03801)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2015, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-america-introduce-universal-health-care-via-selective-service/721893/3 "2015-06-07T14:54:54Z")
I do not believe that registering for the selective service is yet an achievement of the woman’s movement. Only men. Certainly an injustice that needs to be corrected. > [@Quartz](#): > > As I - a Brit - understand it, America has the embryo of a UHC system through its doctors and hospitals for servicemen, veterans, and their families. And all children are also covered, as are the elderly. So, could America extend that to everyone registered for selective service (women do have to register now, don’t they?) on the pretext of maintaining the health of their war-ready population and thus de facto implement UHC? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Joker\_and\_the\_Thief](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e79b87/32.png) [@The\_Joker\_and\_the\_Thief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Joker_and_the_Thief)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2015, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-america-introduce-universal-health-care-via-selective-service/721893/4 "2015-06-07T15:18:17Z")
Although some liberals in the past did advocate for such a thing, the [VA scandal](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veterans_Health_Administration_scandal_of_2014) effectively put an end to any such notions politically. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2015, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-america-introduce-universal-health-care-via-selective-service/721893/5 "2015-06-09T15:10:20Z")
I imagine that draft-age American are pretty clearly the same demographic as the people who _least_ need health insurance. If w’re going to expand coverage, start with age groups that would be better served by the benefit. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2015, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-america-introduce-universal-health-care-via-selective-service/721893/6 "2015-06-09T18:10:48Z")
Also only people born during or after 1960 had to sign up for selective service iirc. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2015, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-america-introduce-universal-health-care-via-selective-service/721893/7 "2015-06-09T19:06:32Z")
The Selective Service has nothing to do with healthcare. It’s just a list 18 year olds have to submit their names and contact info to, in case WWIII breaks out and we have to call them up to fight. You’re talking about Tricare (for those in the military) and the VA (for those out of it). While Tricare covers dependents, I’m not so sure about the VA. Besides, if you make any money at all, the VA doesn’t cover you. It’s a sliding scale, and Veterans who are decently-employed basically have to pay full price. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2015, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-america-introduce-universal-health-care-via-selective-service/721893/8 "2015-06-09T19:54:45Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I imagine that draft-age American are pretty clearly the same demographic as the people who _least_ need health insurance. If w’re going to expand coverage, start with age groups that would be better served by the benefit. Indeed, and those who have been registered would be covered. > [@DrCube](#): > > You’re talking about Tricare (for those in the military) and the VA (for those out of it). Ah, thank you, I was looking for that name. Yes I am, and my OP suggested that it be extended to all those registered for Selective Service. Of course, that women do not register for SS is a bit of a blocker. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2015, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-america-introduce-universal-health-care-via-selective-service/721893/9 "2015-06-09T19:57:32Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Also only people born during or after 1960 had to sign up for selective service iirc. Which means that every adult male in America would be covered. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2015, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-america-introduce-universal-health-care-via-selective-service/721893/10 "2015-06-09T20:30:31Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Which means that every adult male in America would be covered. Every adult male under the age of 55, you mean. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2015, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-america-introduce-universal-health-care-via-selective-service/721893/11 "2015-06-09T20:35:44Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > Every adult male under the age of 55, you mean. I’m not sure of this. Don’t they get taken off the list when they reach an age when they’re no longer eligible to be drafted. 30? 35? Something like that? ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2015, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-america-introduce-universal-health-care-via-selective-service/721893/12 "2015-06-09T20:48:37Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I’m not sure of this. Don’t they get taken off the list when they reach an age when they’re no longer eligible to be drafted. 30? 35? Something like that? Only until age 26, according to [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_Service_System). I was just responding to Quartz’s math. I’m not sure if he misread that as 1860 or assumed no males born before 1960 are alive anymore, or what. …Although there _were_ previous drafts. The wiki page says that “Only men born between March 29, 1957, and December 31, 1959, were completely exempt from Selective Service registration.” I’m not sure that those old records are still kept. Though there’s this: > [@](#): > > In 2014, a clerical error at the Pennsylvania Department of Transport resulted in the names of 14,250 men born in the years 1893–97 being provided to the Selective Service System, to whom draft registration notices were then sent ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2015, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-america-introduce-universal-health-care-via-selective-service/721893/13 "2015-06-09T20:55:51Z")
> [@](#): > > … The wiki page says that "Only men born between March 29, 1957, and December 31, 1959, were completely exempt from Selective Service registration. … My birthday was within that span, and I was very grateful at the time, which was a very bad time (around the end of the Vietnam war, all kinds of sturm and drang about dominoes and other wars we’d be in soon), that I was protected from it all in a minor way. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2015, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-america-introduce-universal-health-care-via-selective-service/721893/14 "2015-06-09T22:37:41Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > Every adult male under the age of 55, you mean. Yup. Maths fail on my part. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-america-introduce-universal-health-care-via-selective-service/721893/15 "2015-06-10T02:37:45Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I imagine that draft-age American are pretty clearly the same demographic as the people who _least_ need health insurance. If w’re going to expand coverage, start with age groups that would be better served by the benefit. We did that in the 1960’s. The question is when we are going to expand it further. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-america-introduce-universal-health-care-via-selective-service/721893/16 "2015-06-10T16:17:48Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > The Selective Service has nothing to do with healthcare. It’s just a list 18 year olds have to submit their names and contact info to, in case WWIII breaks out and we have to call them up to fight. > > You’re talking about Tricare (for those in the military) and the VA (for those out of it). While Tricare covers dependents, I’m not so sure about the VA. Besides, if you make any money at all, the VA doesn’t cover you. It’s a sliding scale, and Veterans who are decently-employed basically have to pay full price. Not everyone out of the military uses the VA. Retirees, like me, still use Tricare. And it does cover dependents.