Obama's fiscal 2011 VA budget would help address the needs of female veterans, providing services such as counseling and specialized medical care.

A FY 2010 appropriations bill approved by Congress grants the VA $109.6 billion for veterans' programs along $48.2 billion in advance appropriations for veterans medical care programs in FY 2011. The bill will benefit women veterans' programs, medical and prosthetic research, and mental health initiatives, among other programs.

Secretary Eric Shinseki announced a new study of the effects of military service on the mental and physical health of women who served during the Vietnam War. 

Obama signed the Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act of 2009 into law, allowing veterans' care to be funded a year in advance. Before signing the bill, Obama said the advance appropriations will allow VA hospitals and clinics to have "more time to budget, recruit high-quality professionals, and invest in new health care equipment."

The VA awarded a $26.9 million contract for a new spinal cord treatment center in Milwaukee.

A new 10-year study of Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans will look at "chronic medical conditions," reproductive health, "use of health care" and other issues related to a veteran's health. The VA said the study will help the agency provide the best care for veterans.

The Department of Veterans Affairs announced a three-year "large-scale testing" of a prosthetic arm that "allows those who have lost a limb up to their shoulder joint to perform movements while reaching over their head." The VA said such movement has previously been impossible for those with prosthetic arms.

In the conference version of the FY 2010 budget resolution, passed by both chambers, the proposed VA budget is $112.8 billion, a 15 percent increase from FY09. The increase is aimed at improving health care for veterans, including medical services, support and compliance, and facilities.

The first priority listed in Obama's budget outline for Veterans Affairs is to improve health care for veterans. The blueprint, which would increase discretionary spending by 10 percent to $53 billion, would provide additional specialty care for veterans in areas including prosthetics, vision and spinal cord injury, aging and women’s health.