New Veterans Fight New Battles After Coming Home -- CBS
America has a new generation of veterans. More than 1.6 million troops are back from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and they are unlike any other group of veterans the nation has ever seen.
More of them are Reserves and National Guard. More are women. They have different injuries than those who fought before them. And nearly half of them are seeking benefits for service-related disabilities. Claims are being filed faster than the government can process them. The average wait to get a new claim handled is about eight months.
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My Comment: The paragraph that caught my eye was the last one ....
.... The cost of veterans' benefits and health care peaks decade
More of them are Reserves and National Guard. More are women. They have different injuries than those who fought before them. And nearly half of them are seeking benefits for service-related disabilities. Claims are being filed faster than the government can process them. The average wait to get a new claim handled is about eight months.
Read more ....
My Comment: The paragraph that caught my eye was the last one ....
.... The cost of veterans' benefits and health care peaks decades after a war ends, says Harvard University economist Linda Bilmes. These peaked in 1969 for veterans from World War I and in the 1980s for World War II. They haven't peaked yet for Vietnam veterans.
Finances are likely to be even tighter 30 years from now when costs for the newest veterans are greatest, she said. Unless a special fund for them is started now, "It's quite plausible many people will feel we can't afford these benefits we overpromised," Bilmes warns.
Read more ....
My Comment: The paragraph that caught my eye was the last one ....
.... The cost of veterans' benefits and health care peaks decades after a war ends, says Harvard University economist Linda Bilmes. These peaked in 1969 for veterans from World War I and in the 1980s for World War II. They haven't peaked yet for Vietnam veterans.
Finances are likely to be even tighter 30 years from now when costs for the newest veterans are greatest, she said. Unless a special fund for them is started now, "It's quite plausible many people will feel we can't afford these benefits we overpromised," Bilmes warns.