VA Health Care

In 1993, the President proposed a major overhaul of the nation's health care system that would guarantee universal coverage to all Americans. For many veterans, this reform would allow them, for the first time, to choose between the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) medical centers and other health care providers. Employment status and income levels are expected to be major factors affecting veterans' decisions. This fact sheet profiles veterans who, during 1991, used VA medical centers. It describes veterans' income, age, marital status, usage rates, disability status, employment, family size, and other characteristics. GAO collected this information using VA patient records and Internal Revenue Service tax records.

GAO found that: (1) of the 2.2 million veterans that used VA medical centers in 1991, two-thirds had family incomes under $20,000; (2) lower income veterans tended to be nonservice-connected, unmarried, younger veterans; (3) service-connected veterans with disability ratings between 10 percent and 40 percent had the highest incomes; (4) both service- and nonservice-connected veterans received the majority of their incomes through employment or retirement benefits; (5) of the veterans whose incomes were under $20,000, 85 percent were unmarried; (6) 45 percent of the veterans with incomes under $10,000 were under age 65; (7) 555,000 veterans used VA inpatient services and nearly all veterans used VA outpatient services; (8) inpatient and outpatient usage rates did not vary for veterans of comparable income levels; (9) 40 percent of the veterans that used VA outpatient services were employed, 46 percent were married, 60 percent had a spouse who was employed, and the majority had higher incomes than single employed veterans; (10) 45 percent of the veterans that used VA medical centers in 1991 were retired; and (11) 16 percent of the veterans had dependents, 22 percent were single, and the majority of veterans with dependents had higher incomes than those veterans without dependents.