Alaska Veterans Needs Assessment

Abstract

The Institute of Social of Economic Research conducted a needs assessment of Alaska Veterans starting in the spring of 2014. Our goal was to identify and measure areas for improvement in providing services and determining the methods to achieve improvement. Our approach consisted of three methods: ‐ Survey of Alaska veterans using a list of 2,950 veterans who have requested veteran designation on their driver’s license. ‐ Focus groups: one consisting of women and one of disabled veterans. ‐ Key informant interviews with individuals responsible for helping veterans navigate the benefits available to them. Our findings are far ranging and details can be found in the report below. One of the most important lessons was the difference in needs across age groups. Younger veterans were concerned about education and employment while their older counterparts valued health care and navigating the application process. Consistent with these differences, the focus groups made it clear that targeted reminders that take into account the veteran’s life stage may be more effective. As things stand, the amount of information one is exposed to at separation can be overwhelming and intimidating. Awareness and use of federal benefits was high for health care, housing, and education benefits. Employment services were less utilized but most of our respondents were aware of their existence (Table 19). Across the board, lack of knowledge/awareness of specific benefits does not seem to be systemic. The three most claimed benefits were Health Care, Disability Compensation, Home Loans, and Education and Training. At the state level, the most commonly claimed benefits by the survey respondents are the veteran driver’s license, veterans license plates, hunting and fishing licenses, property exemption, education benefits, and veterans housing and residential loans. Of note is that only 9% claimed Veteran employment services and awareness about state benefits seems to be more of an issue than in the federal case. A third of our respondents had a disability rating of 50% or higher. Disability payments are very important across the board but seem to be essential for veterans with higher disability ratings. These payments were also more important to younger veterans who potentially have had less time to accumulate savings over their lifetime. Health care use is very much associated with age as older respondents were more likely to have applied for Health Care Services. Additionally, disability rating is also associated with frequency of health care use and utilization of VA services. Thirty percent of our respondents think they will use VA as their primary source of healthcare.Younger veterans are considerably more likely to use education benefits. The majority of our respondents used education benefits after active duty. However, more than ten percent have used education benefits both before and after and another seven percent used them only during active service. When asked about living arrangements in case a veteran could not care for themselves, it was clear that proximity to friends and family was paramount. Anchorage was chosen as the location most of them would prefer.Prepared for: Alaska Department of Military and Veterans Affairs Alaska Office of Veterans AffairsExecutive Summary / Introduction / Characteristics of Alaska Veterans and our Survey Respondents / What are the Most Critical Needs for Alaska Veterans? / What do Veterans Know about Benefits - Federal and State? / How are Veterans Using their Benefits? / What Recommendations do Veterans Have for Improving Benefits? / What are our Conclusions