It’s Time to Talk About the VA
Every November 11th is Veterans’ Day, and if you visit the Veteran Affairs website, they lead with a mission statement: “to fulfill President Lincoln’s promise…by serving and honoring the men and women who are America’s veterans.” Below they list four that help them to achieve this goal. Veteran’s Health Care claims to serve 9 million veterans every year and Veteran Benefits are tasked with helping veterans “transition back to civilian life in the country they fought to defend.” They maintain 142 cemeteries as “national shrines” while their Fourth Mission’s purpose is to “improve the Nation’s preparedness for response to war, terrorism, national emergencies, and natural disasters.”
They promise to do a lot in the name of people who gave their minds and bodies in service of our country, and the government websites will happily declare these promises fulfilled. However, statistics don’t always back up their claims. Government programs like the VA are severely underfunded and don’t spend their small budget wisely.
More than 9 million veterans are enrolled in the VA’s health care system, and this reality is glaringly clear.
This is obvious in the VA’s mental health care. It’s estimated that between 11% and 20% of those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, 12% of those in the Gulf War, and 30% of those in Vietnam suffer from PTSD. These statistics are only representative of those who actually went to get help from the VA’s services after getting accepted in a maze of criteria and paperwork and only cover PTSD. When you turn to statistics on sexual harassment and assault, the numbers only grow. It doesn’t help that many veterans collectively understand that the VA likely won’t help them.
It doesn’t help that many veterans don’t seek help. Even when you haven’t come home after active duty, finding help can be overwhelming and confusing. The issue is only made worse when one realizes that to be in the military, most must learn to “suck it up” and ignore or repress signs of mental and physical illness. Not all are even aware that they’re behaving differently. It’s a complicated, hard-to-find process intended to weed out competitors who shouldn’t have to compete, and not everyone qualifies.
Beyond mental health, the VA’s hospitals are a nightmare. A “rough 70 percent” of VA hospitals, the median time patients have to wait for admission in the emergency is longer than at regular hospitals, sometimes by hours. According to a USA Today analysis, VA hospitals, while reporting lower death rates and are better at the “prevention of post-surgical complications,” dozens of their hospitals have higher rates of preventable infections and severe bed sores, both of which are signs of neglect. While the VA prides itself on the healthcare it provides, both statistics and veteran stories beg to differ.
Beyond healthcare, veterans struggle to find and hold down jobs as they transition back into everyday life. In 2021, the veteran unemployment rate was at 4.4%. Though it’s dropped to 2.7% as of October 2022, veterans are 50% more likely to become homeless than other Americans. Roughly 1.5 million are considered at-risk of homelessness, all due to “poverty, lack of support networks, and dismal living conditions in overcrowded or substandard housing.” Decreases in both these areas are a blessing brought on by an increase in activism that is slowly succeeding at more veteran support. If you want to join the cause, https://veteranlife.com/veteran-life/best-charities-for-veterans/ lists a number of charities that need your donations. If you want to read more, the sources below are an amazing place to start.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/10/us/military-enlistment.html
