Of the eighteen (18) million veterans living today, an estimated 8.3 million veterans are aged 65 years old or older. An estimated 4.9 million veterans are 75 years old or older and 1.3 million veterans are 85 years and older.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) projects that by 2035, the number of veterans aged 85 years old and older will increase by thirty-three (33%) percent and women veterans aged 85 years old and older will double.
This dynamic trend is based on statistics in the general population and will put a significant strain on the nation’s healthcare infrastructure to provide sufficient long-term care support for aging Americans.
Currently, the VA operates several long-term care programs, from providing intensive bed-based care to lower levels of home and community-based care options.
Most veterans prefer to remain in their homes as long as possible.
The VA offers several programs to support them including the Homemaker and Home Health Aide Care; the Home-Based Primary Care Program; Skilled Home Health Care Program; Respite Care; Adult Day Health Care and the Caregiver Program.
For disabled veterans who need the more comprehensive support offered at a skilled nursing care facility, the VA can place veterans in a VA-operated Community Living Center (CLC), a contracted community nursing home, or a State Veteran Home, such as the Ohio Veterans Home (OVH) in either Georgetown or Sandusky.
While it appears that the VA has developed an excellent overall strategy in long-term care programs for aging disabled veterans, there is a significant void which should be addressed.
This void is disabled veterans who are unable to remain in their homes due to physical, social, or financial reasons – but who do not yet require the full level of intensive support offered by a nursing home. For these disabled veterans, assisted living care would be an ideal option.
Assisted living allows veterans disabled veterans to live semi-independently in an apartment or room located within a larger facility, whether they are offered prepared meals, housekeeping, medication management, and personalized help with activities of daily living (ADLs), such as bathing, dressing, or using the bathroom.
Assisted living, such as described above, could fill a significant gap in long-term care, allowing the VA to provide a full spectrum of care to meet veterans’ needs as they get older and need greater assistance.
My Opinion: Congress and the VA should work together to fill this void of disabled veterans’ health care. Congress should enact legislation to require the VA to offer assisted living care options to service-disabled veterans.
This new Congressional legislation should include: (1) VA-operated assisted living; (2) State Veteran Home assisted living; and (3) contract community options for assisted living care. This legislation would fill the gap in the VA’s strategy for caring for our disabled veterans as they age.
Assisted living care would provide disabled veterans who are no longer able to live independently or at home with a less expensive option than skilled nursing care.
In developing assisted living care programs, Congress and the VA must work jointly for our disabled veterans.
The VA should consider the establishment of graduated care facilities that allow veterans to move seamlessly from independent living to assisted living to nursing home care as their needs change.
Two (2) other factors also enter the situation of caring for our disabled veterans. They are: (1) the physician/doctor shortage projected in 2035 throughout the United States; and (2) the existing shortage of nursing care professionals.
These two (2) factors will be discussed in future issues.
BioSketch: John Plahovinsak is a retired 32-year Army veteran who served from 1967 to 1999. He is the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) Department of Ohio’s Hospital Chairman and the Adjutant of Chapter #63 (Clermont County). He can be reached at: plahovinsak@msn.com.