VA Budget Includes Health Care Money for Women Veterans

Jim Fausone
Veterans Disability Lawyer


A specific line-item made its way into President Barack Obama’s 2013 fiscal year budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs that will devote funding to the gender-specific health care needs of women veterans.

The President’s $140 billion VA budget includes $403 million for women veterans’ health care needs and improving their access to services.

Research from the National Center for Biotechnology Information found that women veterans have different health care needs beyond the traditionally different health care needs of men and women. Combat conditions are different for women because they are often expected to take on different roles. Those conditions have a different effect on women because of an increased prevalence of certain conditions in women and gender-specific issues that only affect women.

Likewise, women veterans are going to have separate health care needs beyond those of civilian women. Women who enter the military tend to have specific socio-economic factors and life experiences. Additionally, exposure to certain chemical, environmental and stress will affect a woman veteran differently, according to the NCBI research.

The President’s budget includes $52.7 billion for medical care, which is a 4.1 percent increase over the previous year.