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Better health coverage for PTSD Veterans
Introduction
Flashbacks, frightening thoughts, strong guilt, emotional numbness, tension, sleeping difficulty, and tension are just some of the symptoms indicative of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). These are normal reactions by the body after an individual has experienced life-threatening events such as natural disasters, physical or sexual assault, terrorist attacks, and military combat. However, in some individuals, the body’s control over these symptoms may get out of hand resulting in PTSD. Although there are various causes of PTSD, symptoms of this disorder in war veterans has elicited much public interest. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to zero in on the health coverage of war veterans.
Health coverage
According to U.S Department of Veteran Affairs, PTSD occurs in approximately 11-20% of Iraqi and Afghanistan war veterans. Moreover, PTSD also affects 10 Gulf war Veterans for every 100 of them. Furthermore, out of every 100 Vietnam Veterans, 30 of them have become victims of PTSD. These grim statistics are attributable to many other factors apart from combat itself. These include the type of enemy being fought, politics surrounding the war, and sexual harassment and assault within the military. Resultantly, priority and much effort have been directed towards improving the health coverage of Veterans.
As a country, the United States has made efforts to compensate men and women who serve the state in the armed forces. This compensation was transformed from gratuity payment to an indemnity scheme by the U.S Congress in 1917. Therefore, war Veterans became entitled to compensation for suffering from mental or physical disabilities incurred during military service. In view of the foregoing, Veterans are, therefore, in a position to claim for PTSD compensation.
Additionally, continued research has enabled the discovery of new therapies that can be used to treat, not only attack and abusive victims, but also Veterans. Some of the new treatment options are “Cognitive Processing Therapy” and “Prolonged Exposure Therapy”. These methodologies have buttressed the treatment coverage for PTSD victims.
Conclusion
Indeed, the United States has put the best foot forward in striving to treat as many PTSD patients as possible. As has been seen in the above discussion, investment in terms of compensation for Veterans and research have gone a long way to expand coverage for PTSD victims. Much focus has been directed to war Veterans because of their unique circumstances and the service the render to their country. The government, through the health sector, is looking into further measures to enhance health coverage for Veterans.
