pureheart

US veterans with no health cover nearly 1,700,000

20 Oct 2004

According to a new study, nearly 1,700,000 US veterans had no health
care cover at all in 2003. The study was carried out by Physicians for
National Health Program and the Public Citizen group.

According to the report most of the vets have jobs.

In 2000, 9.9% of vets were uninsured, in 2003 the figure rose to 11.9%
- an increase of 235,159. 30% of veterans under 25 and 10% of those
45-65 have no health cover.

At a news conference, Dr. Steffie Woolhandler of Harvard Medical
School, said "Like other uninsured Americans, most uninsured vets are
working people. And uninsured veterans are denied the care they need
-- turned away because they can't pay."

In January 2003, the US government suspended eligibility for Category
8 veterans (middle income veterans earning $25,000 plus per year). The
report was highly critical of this move.

Dr. Sidney Wolfe, Director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group,
said "The armed services are aggressive in encouraging people to join
the military to serve their country and to be all you can be. But
after leaving the service, almost 1.7 million veterans do not have the
right to health care, in a way, being discarded by the government
after serving their country. Without access to health care, no one can
be all that they can be."

In this study, no health care cover means - no private insurance, no
access to Medicare or Medicaid or to any Veteran programs either.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/?newsid=15234