Virginia vets have fewest Veterans Affairs facilities
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}May 17, 2014: Exterior of a Department of Veterans Affairs building. (AP)
As scandals swirl surrounding the Department of Veteran’ Affairs, a new report finds Virginia ranks dead last in the nation for the number of VA hospitals per 10,000 veterans.
A national study by Wallet Hub on the best and worst states for military retirees, published just in time for Memorial Day, points out that Virginia have the lowest ratio of homeless veterans to total veterans, and ranks third in the country for the most job opportunities for veterans, right behind the District of Columbia and Maryland.
In Virginia, however, which boasts more veterans per 100 residents than any other state, the glaringly low proportion of Veterans Affairs health facilities to residents is a blight to Virginia’s 15th overall ranking. Virginia veterans have just .3 hospitals for every 10,000 veterans.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“Health care really lags behind,” said Odysseas Papadimitriou, CEO of the personal finance site WalletHub.com. “… It seems like there is a disconnect for sure between the number of residents and the kind of access they have to health care.”
Papadimitriou said his company decided to gauge the best and worst states for veterans based on metrics like job availability and health care because deciding where to retire is perhaps the most important personal finance decision a veteran can make.