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Almost 2 Million U.S. Vets Lack Health Insurance
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Others reasons veterans can't get VA care include waiting lists at VA hospitals, high co-payments for VA specialty care and a lack of a VA facility in their community, the researchers noted.
"Veterans deserve a right to health care," Woolhandler said. "We think that every American deserves a right to health care."
One expert thinks that the uninsured veterans are in no worse shape than the rest of the uninsured population.
"I don't think the VA was ever supposed to be a health insurance program for all veterans," said Greg Scandlen, the founder of Consumers for Health Care Choices. "I don't think the VA is doing something it's not supposed to do."
"Veterans face the same problems as everyone else," Scandlen said. "They don't get any special treatment when it comes to private coverage," he said.
Attempts byHealthDayto reach Veterans Administration officials for comment were unsuccessful.
More information
For more on eligibility for VA health-care benefits, go to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
SOURCES: Steffie Woolhandler, M.D., associate professor, medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston; Greg Scandlen, founder, Consumers for Health Care Choices, Hagerstown, Md.; Oct. 30, 2007,American Journal of Public Healthonline
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