Summary

In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed Veterans Administration (VA) efforts to provide health care benefits to female veterans. GAO specifically sought to determine whether VA was: (1) equipped to provide women with medical care; (2) planning for the anticipated increase in women veterans demanding care; (3) informing women veterans of available benefits; and (4) addressing their psychological problems related to service in Vietnam.

VA has made progress in ensuring that medical care and other benefits are available to female veterans. However, because females are a small proportion of the total veteran population, VA has not adequately focused on the unique medical needs of women. Women cannot benefit from some specialized medical care because of the lack of privacy in older VA facilities; and complete gynecological and obstetrical care are often not available. The reliance of many facilities on a fee-basis program to reimburse private health care providers for such services results in the denial of treatment to women with nonemergency conditions which are not connected with their service. This is inequitable because the facilities treat virtually all of the outpatient nonservice-connected medical needs of males. VA does not provide care for normal pregnancy and childbirth, even if the veteran was pregnant when discharged from the military or is unable to pay for hospital care. VA long-range planning has neither identified those programs currently unable to accept women nor projected the number of female veterans expected to seek care, and VA has not planned renovation projects which would increase female patients' access to care. VA has not adequately informed female veterans of their medical benefits; however, the Veterans' Readjustment Counseling Program is specifically addressing female veterans needs, collecting statistics on women treated, and performing outreach toward female veterans.