May 12th, 2008 10:39 AM Eastern
Number of Disabled Veterans Increase, As Does Costs
by Jessica Doyle
Increasing numbers of U.S. troops have left the military with damaged bodies and minds, an ever-larger pool of disabled veterans that will cost the nation billions for decades to come — even as the total population of America’s vets shrinks.
Despite the decline in total vets — as soldiers from World War II and Korea die — the government expects to be spending $59 billion a year to compensate injured warriors in 25 years, up from today’s $29 billion, according to internal documents obtained by The Associated Press. And the Veterans Affairs Department concedes the bill could be much higher.
Tags: Associated Press, disabled veterans, medical costs, soldiers, troops, veterans, war
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Part of the problem stems from VA treating vets who did not retire but served only the minimum number of days to qualify & suffer from non service connected ailments such as COPD, diabetes, arthritis, peripheral artery disease, problems with hearing & eyesight, etc. The majority of these are as a result of aging, poor diet, smoking, alcoholism, etc. Although not being monetarily compensated for these non service connected ailments, the costs to treat them are enormous. Some of these vets may have private medical coverage from their years of work in the private sector but just how effective is VA in billing these third party providers & what percentage of the cost is reimbursed by them? Our number one priority must be to served those who have service connected disabilities. Everything else that follows should be on an if we can afford basis.
Robert’s comments have some validity. As the article lazily get’s to the point that we are experiencing the “Costs of War” in an era when survivability from wounds that would otherwise have caused the death of many “Combat Veterans”, which should be obvious to most, I think that the history of how the VA has been funded over the last 20 years and exactly how these billions are spent is the more relavent subject.
I can see here a very interesting point of view. Kings regards for the author