Hundreds of thousands of U.S. veterans lack any health insurance, survey finds
WASHINGTON | Nearly 1.8 million U.S. veterans are without health insurance, and more than half of them said they had no place to go when they were sick, researchers reported Tuesday.
The finding contradicts many Americans’ assumption that all veterans qualify for free health care through the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The uninsured veterans are primarily low- to middle-income workers, ages 44 to 64, who are too poor to afford private insurance coverage but not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid or VA health care, the Harvard Medical School researchers said.
Analyzing data from two federal surveys, the researchers found that more than one-fourth of the uninsured veterans said they did not get needed medical care or delayed it because of its cost. Nearly half said they had not had an office visit or contact with a health professional in more than a year, and two-thirds said they received no preventive care.
The study also found that more than 25 percent of uninsured veterans said they could not afford prescriptions, and more than 20 percent said they could not afford eyeglasses.
The researchers said the main cause for the large number of uninsured veterans was the narrowing of eligibility for health care provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs. In 2003, the Bush administration limited VA health-care eligibility to veterans with combat-related health problems or those making less than $30,000 a year.
“I was not surprised to hear that (1.8 million veterans are uninsured) … given the large number of uninsured in this country,” said John Rowan, president of the Vietnam Veterans of America.
There are nearly 24 million U.S. veterans, according to the VA.
The study is based on an analysis of government surveys released between 1988 and 2005. It will be published in the December issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
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