The Veterans Health Care Trust Fund Act

3/29/2017

The only ones who are really paying for the wars we wage today are the service members who fight them and their families (fewer than 1% of the people in this county). For the rest of us — we’ve put the expense on the national credit card to be paid by future generations.

Harvard’s Linda Bilmes found that over the next 40 to 50 years, the costs related to health care and disability compensation for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will be nearly a trillion dollars. Further, peak costs occur decades after the end of the conflict. For example, the peak costs for World War I veterans was in 1969; the largest expenditures for World War II veterans were in the late 1980s; and costs for Vietnam and first Gulf War veterans are still climbing.

We are failing to account for the true cost of war and in turn failing to ensure the necessary resources are available to care for our nation’s veterans.

That is why today I introduced the bipartisan Veterans Health Care Trust Fund Act which will require everyone in this country to participate in paying for the full cost of our wars — most importantly, taking care of our veterans — as we wage them. Those not required to pay into the trust fund are those who have already paid far more in service to our country — our service members and veterans.

Taking steps to address these costs now ensures that Congress fully accounts for these costs when considering the use of military force and that our nation is better postured to address the long term and unforeseen health care needs of its veterans.