The two completing needs of the veterans in the United States are the ability to access healthcare services and the lack of policies and practices that are specifically designed to address the healthcare needs of this population. Vyas et al. (2017) determined that veterans, in particular, do not receive the help that would address their mental health needs, which results in the high prevalence of mental health issues and high suicide rates among this group. This is the result of both access and the fact that there is a small number of programs that specifically target the needs of veterans in the domain of mental health care. This section will consider the policy briefs and issues relating to the unaddressed needs of the US veterans and discuss the ethical implications of the potential policies for veterans.
A relevant policy or practice of a healthcare organization that can be used to address the needs of veterans in the United States is the expansion of Veteran Affairs (VA) healthcare to address the needs of both the veterans and their families. More specifically, Firth (2019) states that only half of the registered veterans in the United States are enrolled in the VA’s services, which means that these individuals do not receive the appropriate care. Moreover, the families of these veterans also require help and guidance regarding the ways of helping their loved ones, for example, to help them deal with trauma and PTSD. Hence, the policy that allows expanding of the VA’s coverage is a vital one for enabling better care provision for the veterans and their families. The inclusion of the family members into the programs that target veteran care is essential for providing mental health care and support because the families of these individuals are in contact with them on a regular basis and can help the veterans recognize the symptoms of mental health problems and reach out for care.
The expansion policy needs to target the awareness of mental health care among the veterans and their families because not many veterans seek the proper care or are aware of the services they can receive. Firth (2019) argues that despite VA’s efforts, many of the veterans and their family members still do not seek and receive care and specialized facilities, which requires attention and practices that would target the promotion of mental care and normalizing seeking help for the mental health issues.
Some critique toward the expansion of the VA’s coverage from the ethical viewpoint can be offered. Mainly, the issue is that the healthcare coverage in the United States is a statewide problem since some groups of people, especially those living in underprivileged communities, receive no care or access to vital services. Therefore, the question of whether the veterans are the group or community that is in need of the additional benefits and policies that would help them receive better access to care arises since there are other vulnerable populations who may require can serve as much as the veterans. Hence, such policies and programs that target the expansion of care, mental care, and raising awareness may be critiqued considering that some populations in the country do not receive the basic care for their physical health. However, to counter this argument, one must consider the contribution that the veterans have made to the protection of the state and the latter’s responsibility to address the needs of these individuals properly.
One more policy that can help address the needs of the veterans and balance the ethical considerations discussed above with the veterans’ needs should address the most pressing out of the issues that the veterans face, which is the prevention of suicides. According to Hendin (2017), this community accounts for the majority of the suicides in the United States. Therefore, mental health coverage and a policy that would actively promote the provision of help to veterans would be essential for ensuring that this group’s health needs are addressed. Considering that the VA already states that only half of the veterans receive the care they are eligible for, a policy that targets suicide prevention and awareness has to target not only the veterans enrolled in the existing VA’s programs but all veterans. From an ethical perspective, suicide is the most detrimental consequence of lacking the appropriate care, which is why this issue must be a top priority for policymakers. Moreover, Vyas et al. (2017), Hendin (2017), and Beehler et al. (2021) state that the issue of veteran suicide is multifaced and requires the attention of specialists who will specialize in veteran mental care and understand the trauma that this particular group of people is exposed to due to their work. In summary, this section addresses the ethical considerations regarding the veteran care policies and justifies the need for the development of a specialized program that would target mental care and suicide prevention, as well as engage the families of veterans and promote awareness of the mental health care for this group.
References
Beehler, S., LoFaro, C., Kreisel, C., Dorsey Holliman, B., & Mohatt, N. V. (2021). Veteran peer suicide prevention: A community‐based peer prevention model.Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 51(2), 358–367.
Firth, M. (2019). Expand VA health care for veterans and their families.
Hendin, H. (2017). Healing the hidden wounds of war.Handbook of Military and Veteran Suicide, 166–177.
Vyas, B. B., Brown, L. M., Dosa, D., & Elmore, D. L. (2017). Managing suicide in the older veteran.Handbook of Military and Veteran Suicide, 201–212.