A Gap in Equity Related to Mental Health Access for Veterans

A Gap in Equity Related to Mental Health Access for Veterans
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A Gap in Equity Related to Mental Health Access for Veterans
Veterans hold significant responsibilities to protect their country from both local and international attacks during their service time as soldiers. The gap that exists in equity that is related to mental health access keeps widening for veterans. The majority of these individuals encounter mental health problems since they face traumatic events during wars. For example, the First World War and Vietnam Wars are among the major battles that left many veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders (PTSD). In particular, PTSD is a mental health issue that is triggered by witnessing traumatic events. Some of the common symptoms of this disease include nightmares, severe anxiety, difficulty sleeping, fearful thoughts, and flashbacks (Brazier, 2019). Due to the lack of access to proper health services to help veterans cope with PTSD and other mental disorders, these individuals end up abusing drugs.
The gap in access to proper mental healthcare services for veterans is not a modern problem, but it has been there historically. For example, the First World War left many veterans with PTSD despite the disease being not well understood. For this reason, these individuals had no one to help them or somewhere to go so that they can be assisted on how to cope with PTSD, among other mental health-related issues (True, Rigg, & Butler, 2015). Despite the establishment of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA) in 1989, it only focuses on war-related physical injuries and not mental health issues. Therefore, the lack of accessibility to proper healthcare services by veterans is not a new problem.
Veterans’ socioeconomic status significantly contributes to their lack of access to proper mental healthcare services. Notably, their compensation while working is average, and many of them find it hard to cater to their basic needs. The majority of veterans do not get employed due to the fear that their mental problems might affect them adversely while working as civilians. Specifically, the number of veterans who do not have health insurance keeps rising, and in 2019 it was 1.53 million based on the study done by New Harvard Public Citizen (Public Citizen, 2020). Besides, about 2 million cannot afford proper mental healthcare services.
The healthcare se...