Veterans

On March 3, 2020, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report that details challenges the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) faces in meeting growing demand for long-term care (LTC). Three major challenges the VA faces includes workforce shortages, ailing care geographically, and meeting needs for specialty care. The VA currently provides or pays for LTC for over 500,000 veterans in the U.S. in both institutional and HCBS settings.

Over 15% of people ages 60+ are veterans. This issue brief from the National Council on Aging analyzes the unique needs of older veterans. It highlights demographic characteristics, financial data, and statistics on health outcomes for this population. Overall, the brief concludes that while older veterans generally have a higher income, they tend to have worse health than their counterparts, emphasizing the need for targeted outreach to connect veterans to benefits.

This guide covers educational assistance programs. It is a source of information on scholarships, academic programs, and federal aid opportunities that servicemembers should know about in their endeavor to higher education.

This inventory lists resources for health and social service professionals interested in enhancing their outreach and support for older Veterans and other older adults who have or are at risk for behavioral health conditions. It covers resources on topics including post-traumatic stress disorder, suicide prevention, long term services and supports, and more. This entry has been updated to include the 2019 edition of the Inventory.

This paper from AARP describes promising practices on how aging and disability network agencies, Veterans Affairs Medical Centers (VAMCs), and Veteran Benefits Offices in seven states have forged partnerships to better support Veterans in community living. The paper includes a checklist for these local organizations to enhance collaboration and truly create a “no wrong door” for Veterans and their family caregivers to receive services in the community.

The Compendium is a web-based tool that pools disability statistics published by various federal agencies together in one place. This one-stop tool makes it easier for individuals to find data relating to persons with disabilities. This year's compendium includes aging data for the first time with over 100 tables representing age ranges. Additionally, the 2015 Disability Statistics Annual Report accompanies the Compendium.