Disabled Veterans Programs

The United States offers benefits specifically for disabled veterans and their survivors in more program areas than any of the five other nations GAO studied--Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Major differences exist, however, in the kinds of benefits offered, the eligibility requirements for benefits, and the methods used to compute benefits. Countries without special programs for disabled veterans often help these men and women via programs that serve the general population. In fact, Germany and the United Kingdom run most of their special veterans programs through general social service agencies rather than a separate veterans agency like the United States, Australia, Canada, and Finland have. Countries differ in the extent to which a veteran's disability must be service-connected for the veteran to receive benefits. Most foreign countries require that a disability be closely related to the performance of military duty to qualify for disability benefits; no such link is required in the United States. The upshot is that the United States provides benefits for some disabilities that other countries do not. In a July 1989 report (GAO/HRD-89-60), GAO recommended that Congress consider tightening the U.S. criteria.

GAO found that: (1) the United States offers several benefits to its veterans, such as life insurance, job assistance, and educational benefits, that most of the other countries do not offer; (2) most countries provide health care for disabled veterans; (3) all the countries have programs that provide cash benefits for service-connected disabilities, but each country uses different criteria to establish eligibility and the amount of compensation; (4) all the countries provide benefits to survivors of veterans who died of service-connected disabilities, but there are differences in eligibility for benefits when the death of these veterans is from nonservice-related causes; (5) most countries require that a disability be closely related to the performance of military duty to qualify for disability benefits; (6) the United States provides benefits for some nonservice-related disabilities; and (7) in general, foreign countries will compensate veterans under many of the same circumstances that the United States will.