A Feb. 9 GAO report shines light on rural veterans’ access to mental health care. (Photo: JBrazito)
A Feb. 9 U.S. Government Accountability Office, or GAO, investigation found that rural veterans are significantly less likely to seek mental health care than their urban counterparts.
While urban veterans have a utilization rate of 79 percent — that is, nearly four in five urban veterans seek mental health care services when they feel they need them — rural veterans only have a utilization rate of 21 percent.
Moreover, the GAO report notes that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs does not have a mechanism for analyzing rural veterans’ utilization of VA mental health care, suggesting the department does not know “which programs effectively reach rural veterans.”
To that end, GAO found that common factors affecting rural veterans’ ability or willingness to seek mental care include transportation issues, staff shortages, and “demographic differences.” These factors are particularly evident in the western half of the United States, including veterans living in California’s interior and eastern counties.
The VA agreed in principle with GAO’s assessment and recommendation to begin analyzing utilization rates of mental health care programs by rurality in hopes of addressing obstacles or areas that are especially affected by low utilization rates.
As of yet, the VA has not publicly proposed any policy changes, but the GAO report does indicate that a plan is in place to address this issue.
Readers can find the full GAO report here.
Author: Christian Southards
Coming from a family with a proud military background and wanting to contribute his writing skills to a worthy cause, Christian began writing for the California American Legion in August of 2020. His father is a 25-year Army Veteran and his grandfather served in the Navy during Vietnam.
