Most behavioral health organizations in America are already serving Veterans — whether they know it or not. While many American Veterans receive healthcare through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans are a part of virtually every healthcare system’s patient population.

As the official Veterans Week Partner for the 2025 Behavioral Health Tech Conference, Luminary Labs is collaborating with Ipsos to help illuminate the realities of this often-misunderstood patient community. Data from Ipsos reveals surprising truths about this diverse population, where they receive care, and what they need from behavioral health tech organizations. This is the first in a series of articles and podcasts leading up to the conference, during which we’ll share data-driven insights and hear directly from Veterans about the gap between perception and reality in their healthcare experiences.

Who Veterans are and where they receive care

Veterans are everywhere, and they represent a substantial portion of the American population: approximately 6% of adult civilians, or nearly 16 million Americans. Yet despite their prevalence in communities across the country, most Americans — and many healthcare organizations — operate with outdated or incomplete pictures of who these Veterans are.

The data we do have points to a population far more diverse than people may expect. Veterans span all education levels, income brackets, and career fields. They live in urban centers and rural communities alike. And critically for behavioral health organizations, Veterans are navigating the full spectrum of life experiences — not just those related to military service.

According to the 2021 Veterans Civic Health Index, a collaborative effort by the National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC), The Mission Continues, and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), military Veterans demonstrate stronger civic health and are more actively engaged in their communities than their civilian counterparts. This trend holds true across multiple forms of civic participation, including voting, volunteering, and donating to charities. The report reaffirms that Veterans are crucial assets who continue to strengthen American communities long after their military service has ended.

Another important focus of the 2021 report is the post-9/11 generation of Veterans — the most diverse generation of Veterans in American history. (For example, 17% of post-9/11 Veterans are women, and nearly 35% are non-white.) These Veterans show particularly high levels of civic engagement, especially in volunteering. For instance, younger Veterans (under 50) are more likely to volunteer than their civilian peers. On the whole, Veterans not only volunteer at higher rates but also contribute more volunteer hours on average than non-Veterans across age groups.

Equally important are Veterans’ voting rates. For example, in the 2020 presidential election, Veterans were more likely to vote (65.8%) than non-Veterans (61.7%), with nearly 80% of Veterans registered to vote, compared with about 73% of non-Veterans.

Nearly 60% of all Veterans, and over half of younger Veterans, regularly contribute money to charity, compared with only 52% of non-Veterans. Veterans also show higher levels of social connectedness; they are 20% more likely to spend time with their neighbors than non-Veterans.

Among Veterans surveyed in a recent Ipsos study, one-quarter (25%) reported using VA primarily for their healthcare needs. This means that three out of four Veterans, or approximately 12 million Americans, are receiving some, if not all, of their healthcare outside of VA and in community settings. The remaining 75% represent an enormous population within civilian healthcare systems. These Veterans are in waiting rooms of private practices, enrolled in employer-sponsored healthcare plans, and seeking care at community health centers. Yet many of these organizations have no systematic way of identifying their Veteran patients.

While sometimes community care is a preferred choice, Veterans enrolled in VA care prefer direct care services over those in the community. Often, community care is offered by the VA as an option for specific procedures if providers in the community can offer appointments sooner.  Veterans will accept alternative options to direct VA care based on a number of considerations like wait times, geographic accessibility, family needs, provider preferences, and a need for specialty care.

What this means for behavioral health organizations

Recognizing the Veterans in your system

The first opportunity for behavioral health organizations is simply to recognize the Veterans they’re already serving. Without standard intake questions about military service, these patients remain unacknowledged. Veterans themselves may not volunteer this information either. Some may not see it as relevant to their current health needs, and for others, military service may not be a central part of their identity.

Understanding unique needs while avoiding assumptions

Data from a recent Ipsos survey reveals important gaps between what Veterans actually need and what others assume they need. While both Veterans and non-Veterans identify mental healthcare as a top need (59% of Veterans vs. 64% of non-Veterans), Veterans are significantly more likely to say that Veterans need physical healthcare (41% vs. 34%), employment support (33% vs. 26 %), and education (10% vs. 3%).

These differences extend to views on where Veterans want additional VA assistance. Veterans are more likely than non-Veterans to want expanded VA support in areas like employment (40% vs. 32%), legal resources (19% vs. 14%), and education (19% vs. 15%). This suggests Veterans see connections between these social determinants and their overall health that civilian populations are likely to miss or misunderstand.

Society’s views of Veterans are informed by narratives that Veterans are “broken,” in part because of the way nongovernmental organizations fundraise. The reality is that there are more than 15 million Veterans in the United States, and they’re not dissimilar from the general population in their basic healthcare needs. Veterans can require some specialty services, though, as a result of their service: For example, Veterans have higher rates of orthopedic issues caused by jumping out of planes and carrying rucks, and higher rates of hearing loss due to artillery training and combat. Many Veterans have experienced toxic exposures that may increase their risk of a variety of cancers, or have incurred a traumatic brain injury during deployments. While Veterans can require specialized mental health services, and increased use of mental health services, their needs are not dissimilar to those of the general population.

For behavioral health organizations, this means recognizing that Veterans aren’t a monolith requiring only PTSD treatment. They need the full spectrum of behavioral health services, delivered with an understanding of how military service might influence — but not necessarily define — their healthcare needs.

The innovation opportunity

Veterans are not passive participants in their care: They’re partners in advancing behavioral health innovation. Veterans demonstrate higher engagement with healthcare innovation — 19% have participated in medical research compared to just 13% of the general population. Many Veterans also demonstrate equal willingness to participate in future research, whether it’s conducted by the VA or civilian institutions. This represents an engaged, motivated patient population that could be valuable partners in advancing behavioral health solutions.

These higher rates of research participation and trust in healthcare institutions also position Veterans as early adopters and valuable contributors to developing new solutions. The unique needs of Veterans are well acknowledged, as 87% of Americans and a striking 96% of Veterans consider it important for Veterans to have access to medical treatments specifically developed for their military experiences and injuries. Similarly, 86% of the general public and 92% of Veterans believe that Veterans should have access to cutting-edge medical research and novel treatments. Veterans want to be part of advancing healthcare, not just receiving it.

As a patient population, Veterans are extremely engaged in and knowledgeable about their healthcare. They have a higher level of medical training and awareness than the general population with regard to readiness, safety, CPR/basic first aid training, and even how to administer a tourniquet to stop bleeding or an IV bag for hydration.  Veterans are also community focused and motivated to participate in advancing health services in ways that could benefit others. Veterans expect high-quality care and are willing to participate in research and innovation opportunities to ensure healthcare advancements are made available to the broader Veteran community.

This presents a huge opportunity for behavioral health tech organizations willing to recognize and engage with their Veteran patients. But success requires organizations to start with understanding — not assumptions — about what Veterans actually want and need from their healthcare.

Looking ahead

The data reveals a fundamental perception gap: Veterans are everywhere in our healthcare systems, but remain largely unrecognized and misunderstood. Over the coming weeks, this series — brought to you by Luminary Labs and supported by data from Ipsos — will explore opportunities to bridge that gap, featuring firsthand perspectives from Veterans themselves and unveiling new research about what Veterans want from their behavioral health care.

Luminary Labs’ panel on Veteran health at this year’s Behavioral Health Tech Conference will dive deeper into these insights, bringing together Veterans and healthcare leaders to share practical strategies for better serving this population. In an upcoming episode of the Expanding Access podcast, we’ll share highlights from new Ipsos research exploring the gap between perception and reality — as well as how a deeper understanding of Veteran patients can help innovators serve those who have served.

The first step toward providing better care is to better understand the full identity and experience of the patient in front of you. Because when we see Veterans as they really are — diverse, engaged, and present throughout our healthcare systems — we can begin building the behavioral health solutions they actually need.