VA recounts history of how women Veterans gained access to federal healthcare

Women Veterans gained a defined pathway into the federal Veterans' health system in 1923, according to a historical feature published by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. On September 14, 1923, the Board of Managers of the National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers voted to admit women Veterans, the VA said. Separate facilities were designated in Danville, Illinois, and in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, providing hospital and residential care on the same status as men. Admission required an honorable discharge but not a service-connected disability. The VA said more than 6,000 women served as nurses during the Civil War but were classified as contract workers and were not entitled to the same federal care as male Veterans. Congress granted pensions to Union nurses in 1892. According to the department, more than 35,000 American women enlisted by World War I. Although Congress authorized hospitalization for Veterans in 1919, facilities were not prepared to admit women. The VA said groups including the Women's Overseas Service League, formed in 1921, and the American Legion pressed for equal treatment. Legislation in 1924 further expanded access, and by the end of that decade thousands of women Veterans were receiving care in federal facilities, the department said. Today, according to the VA, women Veterans receive care including primary services, mental health treatment and maternity care.

Source: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Originally published by True News: https://truenews.bagleyenterprises.net/stories/791