Veterans' Health Care

In a March 1994 report (GAO/HEHS-94-113FS), GAO profiled veterans who used medical centers that were run by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). That report focused on veterans' family incomes and showed how family income varied in relation to a range of characteristics, including employment status. This fact sheet examines married veterans, analyzing the percentage of family income attributable to veterans and spouses and comparing married veterans' incomes with those of single veterans. In addition, this fact sheet further refines veterans' employment status to differentiate between veterans receiving employee compensation and those with self-employment income.

GAO found that: (1) about one-third of the married veterans that used VA centers in 1991 had individual incomes of less than $10,000, while about two-thirds of their spouses and single veterans had incomes of less than $10,000; (2) about 20 percent of the married veterans had incomes of over $30,000 compared to about 5 percent of the spouses and single veterans; (3) about 10 percent of married veterans had family incomes of less than $10,000, and 29 percent had family incomes of over $30,000; (4) two-thirds of the married veterans contributed over 60 percent of their family incomes; (5) in general, married veterans with service-connected disabilities had higher incomes than married veterans without service-connected disabilities; (6) about 40 percent of the 2.2 million veterans who used VA medical centers during 1991 received employee compensation; and (7) 8 percent of the veterans had self-employment income and over one-third of those veterans also received employee compensation.