Stars and Stripes: Bin Laden shooter eligible for military healthcare

The former Navy SEAL who shot Osama bin Laden is, in fact, eligible for healthcare benefits from the government, the military publication Stars and Stripes said in response to a high-profile article about the shooter.

The profile ran Monday on Esquire magazine’s website, and noted the lack of transitional services available to “the Shooter” once he left the Navy. It noted that his Tricare benefits ended once he left the service and he has had to purchase an individual policy.

{mosads}But the Navy veteran should be eligible for a transitional healthcare program, Stars and Stripes wrote. He’s eligible for five years of healthcare benefits through the Veterans Affairs Department (VA), the newspaper reported.

Phil Bronstein, who wrote the Esquire feature on “the Shooter,” said no one told the former SEAL those services were available, standing by his story’s statement that the military offered “nothing” to the shooter.

Esquire also defended its piece in a statement Tuesday morning, noting that even the temporary VA coverage would not cover the shooter’s family.

“What good does it do the man if he can go to a government chiropractor for his neck when (heaven forbid) his child could get sick and wipe out the family?” the magazine’s editors wrote. “It is a simple fact that when your family doesn’t have healthcare, you don’t have healthcare.”