Issue Brief

Family Caregivers for Veterans

Tens ofthousands of family members of veterans, whose livelihoods have been severelyinterrupted to care for their loved ones injured in war, need governmentassistance while they care for veterans on the road to recovery.

• Families of severely injured veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF)/Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) face daunting challenges. Often, these families need to drop everything to take care of the physical and mental injuries of their sons, daughters, and spouses.
• When caring for a disabled veteran, caregivers face the disruption of their own family life, having to rearrange and possibly put off personal and professional goals and employment.
• Caregiver spouses often give up their employment, or withdraw from school, to care for and advocate on behalf of the veteran.

The Challenge

• A complex system of overlapping and changing entitlements is a great challenge to all caregivers. Eligibility rules, co-payment requirements and covered services often do not mesh across the system of care resulting in a state of confusion for the caregiver.
• Typically, caregivers are not properly trained to care for a wounded veteran.
• TRICARE, the mental health benefits program provided by the military, provides inadequate assistance for military families, not even providing relationship counseling, which is critical during such a challenging time. Under current law, the spouse of an enrolled veteran is only eligible for limited Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) mental health services and counseling, which is not always available when and where needed.

• Congress should formally authorize a full plan of social and psychological support services as an earned benefit to family caregivers of severely injured and ill veterans. This would include, at minimum, relationship and marriage counseling, family counseling, and counseling for the psychological burden faced by caregivers.
• The VA should assign each veteran an advocate who would coordinate all military, VA, and other federal programs coming to injured veterans and his/her family.
• A strong case management system should be implemented to promote a smooth and transparent handoff system for veterans, family and caregivers between the Department of Defense and VA facilities.