This is not a new problem nor issue, but a Country that supports Veterans with magnetic ribbons, till they fall off, and lip service, has long ignored the real support and sacrifice, theirs, needed, especially as they support wars of choice and ever increasing defense budgets with no questions!
January 20, 2011 - Of the 2 million female veterans, only about 19 percent utilize the Veterans Administration health care system. Overall, nearly 8 percent of veterans are women.
Male veterans use the system at a rate of 22 percent, and of the country’s 24 million veterans, men and women, 7.9 million are enrolled in the VA health care system.
Why so few women are turning to the VA for services is a question the American Legion is asking in an online survey.
But for us here at the Reformer, the answer is pretty self-evident.
"The Department of Veterans Affairs’ health system was designed for a male military, and it shows," wrote Amanda Ruggeri in U.S. News and World Report.
In a recent study of 19 facilities, only two offered gender-specific services such as cervical cancer screenings, she wrote, and none fully complied with the VA’s policy on privacy for female veterans.
That lack of services, and the VA’s focus on male veterans, has served as a disincentive to women who might otherwise take advantage of its health care services.
Improvements need to be made expeditiously because the VA expects female enrollment to double by 2013.
And the problem could get even worse if women are allowed to assume combat roles, as if they aren’t already at risk of being involved in a firefight, as noted by Ruggeri. {continued}
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