More than 85,000 US veterans received medical treatment for sex abuse trauma in 2012, while only 4,000 applied for disability benefits. The numbers portray the shocking long-term consequences of sex abuse, days after the Pentagon acknowledged the problem.
The data shows the long-term financial and emotional costs of
sexual assault in the military for both men and women. Of the
85,000 veterans suffering from what the Department of Veterans
Affairs calls “military sexual trauma”, 60 percent were female and
40 percent were male. In comparison, only 4,000 American veterans
sought disability benefits in 2012, which is 20 times less than
those suffering from sex abuse trauma, the Associated Press
reports.
Ruth Moore, a veteran from Milbridge, Maine, first sought
treatment from a counseling center 16 years after she was raped
twice while serving the Navy. She has suffered from post-traumatic
stress disorder linked to the assaults, and has been unable to
work.
“We can’t cure me, but we can work on stability in my life
and work on issues as they arrive,” she told AP.
Earlier this month, the Pentagon acknowledged
that “sexual assault is a persistent problem” among service
members, and that about 26,000 military service members said they
were sexually assaulted in 2012, ninety percent of which chose not
to file a report.
It is undeniable that victims of sexual assault often face
emotional consequences. But Dr. Margret Bell, a member of the
Department of Veterans Affairs’ military sexual trauma team, told
AP that the US government should also be concerned about the costs
of treating so many victims. Veterans who claim to have suffered
sexual abuse in the military have access to free heath care.
“It really is the case that a veteran can simply walk through
the door, say they’ve had this experience, and we will get them
hooked up with care,” Bell said. “There’s no documentation
required. They don’t need to have reported it at the time.”
Receiving treatment for sexual assault is easier than doing so
for disabilities: veterans must be medically diagnosed with PTSD or
a similar problem, submit proof of how they acquired their
disability, and have an examiner confirm their condition before the
disabled can receive health care.
According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, one in five
women and one in 100 men screen positive for military sexual trauma
— but few seek treatment. This indicates that many more than 85,000
veterans have been victims of military sexual activity against
their will. There are about 22 million veterans in the US.
The numbers demonstrate the need for action to reduce the number
of sexual assaults that occur in the military each year, both for
victims’ health and the government’s cost. Moore estimates that her
treatment will exceed $500,000 over the course of her lifetime —
money that the government could potentially save by doing more to
address sexual assault in the military.
This article originally appeared on : RT