Happy Veteran’s Day to those of you who are veterans, or are family of veterans. To celebrate, a new study by Harvard researchers published in the American Journal of Public Health tells us that 1.46 million veterans between the ages of 18 and 64 were uninsured in 2008, resulting in the deaths of 2,266 of them. For those of you keeping score, that’s 14 times the number of soldiers killed in Afghanistan in 2008, and more than twice as many as have been killed in Afghanistan since 2001, and about half as many as have been killed in Iraq since 2003. So, one might say it’s safer to be deployed to a war zone than to be a veteran stateside (not counting the fact that as much as 20% of Iraq/Afghanistan veterans suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, the suicide rate for male veterans is double the national average, and veterans account for some 25% of all the homeless in this country ).

“Like other uninsured Americans, most uninsured vets are working people – too poor to afford private coverage but not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid or means-tested VA care,” said Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, a professor at Harvard Medical School who testified before Congress about uninsured veterans in 2007 and carried out the analysis released today [Tuesday]. “As a result, veterans go without the care they need every day in the U.S., and thousands die each year. It’s a disgrace.”

Don’t worry, though. While the health care “reform” just passed by the House won’t really do much of anything to change that (nothing at all, until at least 2013), Joe Lieberman will make sure that not even a hint of a public insurance option will pass in the Senate.

So, anyway, Happy Veteran’s Day!