Noteboom The Law Firm

Cost of Veterans Health Care Rising Substantially

October 15, 2010 - The cost of treating veterans is going to raise substantially. Veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, however, only account for a small fraction of the costs. The cost of providing health care for veterans will increase somewhere between 45% and 70% over the next 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) spends about $48 billion every year for health care. Iraq and Afghanistan veterans only use about $2 billion of that total amount. By 2020, however, that amount will likely rise to somewhere between $5.4 billion and $8.3 billion. Total costs for health care should sit somewhere between $69 billion and $85 billion every year.

The CBO takes multiple elements into consideration in establishing the range of the health care cost estimates. These elements include:

• The amount of troops deployed within a year;
• Fluctuating parameters in enrollment eligibility making care available to more veterans; and
• The rate of inflation for health care for VA programs which remains at 5% per year.

One thing not considered is the national health care reform because the effect on the VA's system would me minimal. There is currently a lot of pressure on Congress to prevent federal spending from growing at all. Many federal programs are facing severe cuts while the VA is asking for more money. It may end up being that in order to increase VA spending on health care other VA programs must be cut.

Health care for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are fairly manageable because of the young age of the veterans. As those veterans age, however, the costs of treating them will increase substantially.