Twitter
StumbleUpon
Facebook
Delicious
Digg
Newsvine
Google
Yahoo
TechnoratiLack of Health Care Killed 2,266 US Veterans Last Year: Study
WASHINGTON - The number of US veterans who died in 2008 because they lacked health insurance was 14 times higher than the US military death toll in Afghanistan that year, according to a new study.
![[US soldiers attend a "Veterans Day" ceremony at Camp Eggers in Kabul. The number of US veterans who died in 2008 because they lacked health insurance was 14 times higher than the US military death toll in Afghanistan that year, according to a new study.
(AFP/Massoud Hossaini)]](http://www.commondreams.org/files/article_images/veterans_nohealthcare_died.jpg "veterans_nohealthcare_died.jpg")
The analysis produced by two Harvard medical researchers estimates that 2,266 US military veterans under the age of 65 died in 2008 because they lacked health coverage and had reduced access to medical care.
That figure is more than 14 times higher than the 155 US troop deaths in Afghanistan in 2008, the study says.
Released as the United States commemorates fallen soldiers on Veterans Day, the study warns that even health care provided by the Veterans Health Administration (VA) leaves many veterans without coverage.
The analysis uses census data to isolate the number of US veterans who lack both private health coverage and care offered by the VA.
"That's a group that's about 1.5 million people," said David Himmelstein, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program who co-authored the study.
Himmelstein and co-author Stephanie Woolhandler, also a Harvard medical professor, overlaid that figure with another study examining the mortality rate associated with lack of health insurance.
"The uninsured have about a 40 percent higher risk of dying each year than otherwise comparable insured individuals," Himmelstein told AFP.
"Putting that all together you get an estimate of almost 2,300 -- 2,266 veterans who die each year from lack of health insurance."
Only some US veterans have access to medical care through the VA and coverage is apportioned on the basis of eight "priority groups."
"They range from things like people who were prisoners of war, who have coverage for life, or who have battle injuries and therefore have coverage for their injuries for life," said Himmelstein.
Veterans who fall below an income threshold that is determined on a county-by-county basis can qualify for care, but many veterans are "working poor" and fall just above the bracket.
"The priority eight group, the lowest priority, are veterans above the very poor group who have no other reason to be eligible and that group is essentially shut out of the VA," according to Himmelstein.
The study comes as the US Senate weighs health care reform legislation and whether to offer government health insurance.
Himmelstein warns that congressional proposals could still leave veterans uncovered and favors a national health care program similar to those in Britain and Canada.
21 Comments so far
Show Allhttp://www.indypendent.org/2009/11/12/you-must-go-to-jail/
How many vets' lives were saved?
How come Nationalist Propaganda Radio hasn't reported on that military mass killing?
Eligibility for VA health care benefits depends solely on active military service in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, or Coast Guard. Most of the nation’s 24 million veterans are eligible for some aspect of VA’s health care services if they choose to enroll. Enrolled veterans are assigned to one of eight priority levels (P1 through P8) based on their service-connected disabilities, income levels, and other factors. Under this priority system, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs decides each year whether VA’s medical budget is adequate to serve veterans in all priority groups who seek care. http://www.dvds-online-rental-review.com
No where but in the treatment of the veterans, is the corporate masters' disdain for the serfs who fight their wars more obvious. They use the idiots, abuse them and if they're not killed by the people they invade, then, they toss them aside as if they were garbage and forget them. This should be an eye-opener for anyone who's considering selling their soul in exchange for a community college education.
Amy had an excellent report on this topic on today's program of DemocracyNow! They also touched on the differential treatment of women in VA hospitals - no better than dogs. Another interesting fact that they touched on is the fact that 1 out of every 5 homeless persons is a vet. Way to go Amerika! The more I see, the more I learn, the less I like you and the bastards that run you.
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/11/11/study_over_2_200_us_veterans
Selling your soul as a description of servuice to your country describes your type of person quite well. Look to your garbage before speaking of others. Your assumed moral superiority is sickening.
Is it not a little strange this is coming from agence france presse?
I used to have lunch in the same bar as a private who was waiting to be called back after recovering from five thirty caliber holes in his chest.
He told me the recruiters hadn't wanted to accept him when he first joined because he was a high school drop out. He was lean and muscular and sat there for two weeks drinking one coke after another.
His new assignment was to be on the deck of an aircraft carrier, according to him the most dangerous job in the military.
I was not sure whether to believe him or not, but it made sense. It would be only a matter of time before those wounds would cause other health problems----problems the military would not have to pay for if he were killed in the line of duty.
Don't worry about this.
All you need is a bumper sticker.
"Death to Americans!(who cant pay our premiums)"
Al-Aetna leader Osama bin Leiberman
I see. Let's get data from extrapolation, profiling and supposition. It's easier that checking actual facts about how many folks who died without health care actually were veterans and what, exactly, they died of. I'm not saying the authors aren't correct but it certainly needs corroborating evidence.
Then there's the 150,000 tylenol overdoses with temporary or permanent liver damage or the 100,000 hospital deaths that are caused by hospitals or doctors every year and lots more I can't remember offhand.
Well, that's news. All along, I've been told that the VA is single payer for those veterans. Let's add replacing VA for single payer. In the meantime, I don't want to see those Big Insurance klutzes having another field day badmouthing single payer by blowing the VA mess out of proportion.
Many, many cases are denied, in part because the government wishes to deny its role in sickening and killing its recruits by exposing them to chemicals, radiation, and bio hazmats as well as the prevalence and seriousness of PTSD even in persons not otherwise seriously injured.
I am surprised too. I thought every veteran was eligible.
Joe
Same here, today, I found out that its on a sliding scale depending on their salary. After a certain amount, they're disqualified and back on private insurance. Some way to treat the suckers that fight their wars, huh?
they figure you signed up knowing there was a chance you might die . . .
(apologies if you were drafted)
40 years ago recruiters sold the "Health care package", whatever happened you had health care for the rest of your life. Then they changed their minds I guess, with some finagling that made World War II veterans all "service connected" because of their age. The rest of us got short shift. The comment about agent orange and the rest of the nuclear stuff is all true. They drug their feet for as long as they could to keep from providing services hoping the vast majority would die on their own without assistance from the VA. You'd get a tiny stipend for burial expenses that wouldn't buy a cheap suit for a corpse and that was it. PTSD, the guys coming home from Irag and Afganistan have a lot to be thankful for because those of us who went to Vietnam fought like hell to get councilors and vet centers. They would not be here if it was not for our dogged insistance. Most of my brothers have walked away from the VA for years, but now they are the hospital of last resort and even at that the VA makes it difficult to come in out of the cold.
All I can say is thank god they weren't killed by a Muslim Psychiatrist. THAT would have been truly tragic.
Most of the people that make sure the Veterans don't have health insurance are from the American Judeo-Christian community which makes the Vets deaths from lack of insurance completely acceptable, almost a righteous thing.
We live in a strange country where the senseless deaths of a few by a deranged shooter is unacceptable, but the senseless deaths of thousands by a deranged health care system is completely acceptable.
I wonder if Obama will give one of his eloquent speeches for the vets that have died for lack of insurance?
Good comment NC-Tom. Certain kinds of deaths get memorialized, almost ad nauseum sometimes, and others ignored. Always ask why.
Joe
Right after reading this article I heard Obama making a Veterans day speech and telling the Vets; "Just as the contributions that our servicemen and women make to this nation don’t end when they take off their uniform, neither do our obligations to them,”
Once again I found myself yelling at yet one more hypocritical statement coming out of my TV. So much of what is said by our "leaders" is just theater for the masses. The little folk get comforting lies, while the rich get billions in bailouts. Pretty disgusting stuff.
Obama's health care "reform" will require vets to buy bogus insurance so they can die after the insurer denies their claim. But they will not die uninsured!