The results of the Annual Alumni Survey for 2014 conducted by the Wounded Warrior Project were released recently with over 21,000 wounded veterans responding. The survey represents the largest sample of injured service members to respond since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. According to the results, legislation that was recently passed regarding the improvement of care provided at the Department of Veteran Affairs just happened to occur during a time when the Department has been experiencing a substantial increase I the number of injured veterans looking for care.
The survey results also indicate that there have been two issues that veterans reports experiencing most often when seeking care – the most common issue is being able to schedule appointments and the second most common is inconsistent treatment resulting from changes in providers or cancelled appointments. Additionally, the results showed that the primary type of health insurance that veterans claimed to have is that which is provided by Veterans Affairs. Just over 59 percent of veterans claimed to have VA coverage which is up more than 6 percent from the 2013 survey results. Fully 72 percent of veterans reported receiving disability benefits which is nearly 10 percent more than in 2013.
Some of the other important findings that the survey revealed are as follows:
- 80 percent of veterans have at least one close friend who was either killed or suffered a serious injury while serving.
- 7 percent of veterans have become permanently housebound as a direct result of injuries suffered in the theater of battle.
- Nearly 14 percent of veterans in the labor force are unemployed
- 30 percent of veterans require the assistance and aid of another individual as a direct result of injuries suffered and other health issues and of those, 25 percent require aid on a full time basis (at least 40 hours per week).
