Nearly 1.8 Million U.S. Veterans Without Health Care Coverage

Main Category: Veterans / Ex-Servicemen
Also Included In: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 30 Oct 2007 - 16:00 PDT

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In 2004, almost 1.8 million U.S. veterans and 3.8 million members of veterans' households were without health care coverage. Uninsured veterans and veterans' households accounted for 12.2 percent of uninsured Americans.

Researchers analyzed data from two national surveys, including the annual March Supplement to the Current Population Survey, to determine the number of uninsured veterans, trends in coverage and access to medical care. Among all veterans, 7.7 percent were uninsured, including 12.7 percent of those aged 64 or younger. The lack of health insurance among veterans seems to be worsening, with an increase of 300,000 uninsured veterans between 2000 and 2004.

"Like other uninsured adults, most uninsured veterans are low- to middle-income workers, who may be too poor to afford private coverage but are not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid or free VA [Veteran's Health Administration] care," the study's authors said. "We owe veterans care not because they can pay for it nor because they are heroes but - as their sacrifices remind us - because members of a society are obligated to serve and protect each other." [From: "Lack of Health Coverage Among U.S. Veterans from 1987 to 2004." Contact: David U. Himmelstein, MD, FACP, Department of Medicine, Cambridge Health Alliance/Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Mass., david_himmelstein@hms.harvard.edu .]

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