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NEWS STORY: VA DISABILITY BENEFITS FROM
HEMORRHOIDS TO SHAVING BUMPS -- Says VA
is a behemoth bloated and backlogged in part by
overgenerous benefits for minor maladies
barely tied to military service, if at all.
This is in four parts. First is the
news story. Second, an editorial about VA benefits. Third, a
look at the most "popular" VA benefits. Fourth, the number of vets
getting compensation state-by-state.
Story here...
http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/20676
Story below:
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Thousands of
vets get payments for hemorrhoids, other minor claims
By LISA HOFFMAN
As it braces for a flood of war-disabled veterans, the nation's
disability compensation system for former troops has become a $26
billion behemoth bloated and backlogged in part by overgenerous benefits
for minor maladies barely tied to military service, if at all.
Case in point: More than 120,000 vets from earlier eras are collecting
lifetime benefits for hemorrhoids, which they are not required to show
resulted from their military duty.
Thousands of more veterans are receiving monthly compensation for bumps
on their faces from shaving or for scars so small they are hard to see _
and will for the rest of their lives.
In fact, hemorrhoids are the 11th most common disability for which U.S.
vets are compensated, after such conditions as defective hearing,
arthritis, diabetes and hypertension. A conservative calculation of the
cost of the benefits to veterans for hemorrhoids alone could be $14
million a year or more.
With the first wave of what could be as many as 700,000 veterans of the
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan already applying for benefits, worries grow
that they could soon suffer from delays or a funding crunch because the
system has expanded far beyond its initial intent of compensating
veterans for loss of earning power due to service-related illnesses or
injuries.
As a result, some critics estimate that perhaps 775,000 of the 2.6
million veterans on the rolls in 2005 are getting monthly checks for
ailments that don't hurt their ability to work, often are treatable, are
common in the civilian world, and frequently are the result of the
ordinary aging process.
Darryl Kehrer, former staff director for the House Veterans Affairs
subcommittee on benefits, says the combat veterans of the "war on
terror" will be ill-served by a system that some studies have shown
spends $1 billion a year on such claims, which also contribute to the
current 600,000-claim backlog. The average wait now for benefits is six
months, a lag that could balloon to twice that, or more, once Iraq and
Afghanistan vets fully enter the pipeline.
"This does a disservice to veterans who are truly disabled, (and) to the
men and women coming back from combat," who now must get in the back of
the line, Kehrer said.
For the first time in 50 years, these issues and others weighted with
similar emotion are being examined by a blue-ribbon commission charged
by Congress with finding fixes for a system that all agree is overloaded
and under fire.
While veterans service organizations such as the American Legion and the
Disabled American Veterans find plenty to fault in the current system,
they vehemently object to any effort to limit the kinds of disabilities
for which veterans can be compensated, or to require more stringent
proof that a condition is directly connected to time in uniform.
They serve as vigilant defenders of the parameter that has come to
underpin the disability compensation system: that any disease or injury
that occurred during active military service, or was aggravated by it,
entitles a former GI to lifetime indemnity payments that the nation owes
to those who serve in uniform, in compensation for their sacrifice. If
the price tag is astronomical, so be it.
"Whatever it takes, for anyone with a service-connected condition.
Period," said David Autry, deputy director of communications for the
disabled vets group.
Government audits for more than a decade have criticized the system as a
post-World War II relic predicated on 1945 standards that don't reflect
the change in America's economy from a farming and manufacturing base to
a service one. Vast advances in medical care and technological progress
has led to new devices that improve life for the disabled and allow them
to work.
The Department of Veterans Affairs uses a rating system for allocating
benefits that classifies a vet's condition as between 0 percent and 100
percent disabling. By the most recent count, more than 700,000 of the
2.6 million veterans receiving compensation were rated 10 percent
disabled _ the lowest level eligible for cash benefits. At that grade
today, the monthly check for a veteran is $115.
Vets do not have to show that their service caused the impairment or
that their wages are lower than they could have been. And, although it
is not explicit in the disability laws Congress has passed, there exists
an implied intent to compensate vets for losses in their quality of
life. That does not have to be proved.
Instead, the standard is, essentially, that a condition must have
manifested itself during the time the soldier was in uniform _ whether
or not the ailment was a direct result of military duty. And, once
approved, the benefit continues _ even for those who are retired or in
well-paying jobs _ until the veteran dies. The only disqualification
comes if the condition occurred as a result of misconduct.
Among those recently granted a new 10 percent disability was a veteran
who had been wounded in combat in Vietnam, hit by a fragment from a
grenade in October 1966. Nearly 30 years after that injury, the vet
filed for benefits at the Veterans Affairs office in Chicago, not for
the shrapnel wound _ for which he already was being compensated _ but
for his hemorrhoids.
Though his medical exam when he left the service after his Vietnam tour
documented no sign of the hemorrhoids, and he first sought VA medical
care for the affliction in 1993, his hemorrhoids were ruled to be
military service-connected. As such, the vet was eligible to receive
$115 a month for the rest of his life in compensation, the VA's Board of
Veterans' Appeals deemed last May.
The former soldier, whose name was not publicly revealed by the board,
thus joined the ranks of more than 124,000 veterans who are receiving
monthly disability checks for the painful but treatable condition and
will continue to do so for the rest of their lives
Hundreds of thousands of other vets get perpetual benefits for other
relatively minor ailments, including "shaving bumps," a skin malady
known as pseudofolliculitis barbae, that erupts in reaction to shaving.
Also qualifying for monthly cash in perpetuity are those with small,
superficial scars _ such as ones on the tip of a finger or toe.
For example, a veteran in Albuquerque, N.M., who retired in 1975 after
23 years in uniform, had received benefits since 1996 for a quarter-inch
scar on his left eyebrow stemming from the removal of a cancerous
growth.
The veteran, also unnamed in the veterans' appeal board records,
appealed last June to increase his 10-percent disability to 20 percent,
and thus to boost his check to about $225 a month. The board noted the
scar was neither tender nor disfiguring and denied the claim.
Veterans groups say it is far more common for vets to be denied
legitimate claims than approved for illegitimate ones. The Legion's
benefits expert Steve Smithson and others also contend that the military
is a singular institution that comes with inherent stresses and strains
that, in some cases, may not trigger medical problems for years. Unlike
those in other professions, soldiers do not have the luxury of quitting
a job at will. "Service members are on duty 24-7," Smithson said.
And, though some might consider service-connected hemorrhoids to be "a
bizarre sounding thing, you can get hemorrhoids from military duty," he
said.
Former House panel counsel Kehrer contends that hemorrhoids are a good
example of the sorts of afflictions that many vets would suffer as they
aged, whether or not they had served in the military. Experts say about
3 out of 5 American adults will suffer from the painful swelling of
veins in the rear region at some point in their life, usually beginning
in middle age.
A U.S. Government Accountability Office report in 2003 classified
hemorrhoids as one of an array of conditions that are generally neither
caused nor aggravated by military service. Also included were
osteoarthritis, uterine fibroids, arteriosclerotic heart disease and
hysterectomy.
Another government report, this one by the Congressional Budget Office
the same year, found that about 290,000 veterans had collected $970
million in benefits due to those illnesses in 2002.
Since then, GAO has recommended that Congress consider eliminating them
from the list of service-connected ailments. Other critics have
suggested doing away entirely with the 10 percent disability category,
for which $1 billion in benefits were paid in 2005.
These issues are on the table in a top-to-bottom examination of the
overtaxed and controversial system. In 2004, Congress created a select
commission to study the criticisms and suggest fixes. The Veterans'
Disability Benefits Commission is slated to release its report by
October 1.
A companion study is under way by the National Academy of Science's
Institute of Medicine to evaluate the medical underpinnings of the
disability system. It is specifically studying the use of the percentage
rating method and researching the medical basis for determining
disability.
Monitoring these efforts closely is the veterans community, which is
poised to vociferously object and mobilize millions of vets to protest
to Congress if efforts begin to limit the disabilities or veterans
covered.
"You start picking and choosing, you get on a really slippery slope,"
the Legion's Smithson said.
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Editorial here...
http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/20675
Editorial below:
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Veteran's compensation should be for truly
disabled
An editorial / By Dale McFeatters
As the recent outrages inflicted on soldiers receiving outpatient care
at Walter Reed Army hospital showed, the nation's system of veterans'
medical benefits is foundering, overloaded by current demands and poorly
positioned to handle the flood of disabled troops yet to come. It is
certainly in no position to waste money and time on what seem like
thoroughly sketchy claims.
Yet, as Scripps Howard News Service reporter Lisa Hoffman writes,
estimates are that "perhaps 775,000 of the 2.6 million veterans on the
rolls in 2005 are getting monthly checks for ailments that don't hurt
their ability to work, often are treatable, are common in the civilian
world, and frequently are the result of the ordinary aging process."
And, as critics have noted, often show no demonstrable connection to
their time in the military.
Take hemorrhoids. Hoffman notes that more than 120,000 vets of earlier
eras are receiving lifetime benefits for hemorrhoids at a cost of $14
million a year. Disability benefits have been approved for tiny scars
and skin rashes. Indeed, the congressional Government Accountability
Office recommended that a whole list of ailments _ osteoarthritis,
uterine fibrosis, arteriosclerotic heart disease _ be dropped as
compensable disabilities because they're generally not caused or
aggravated by military service.
Veterans groups told Hoffman that government denial of legitimate claims
is a far greater problem than approving illegitimate ones. And estimates
are that about $1 billion a year _ out of $26 billion in disability
benefits _ is spent on trivial or questionable ailments. Further, the
benefits are generally small, typically $115 a month, and it's hard to
blame vets for applying for them if the government is going to grant
them.
But these demands contributed to the current 600,000 and growing backlog
of claims, and that, one expert told Hoffman, is a disservice to both
the truly disabled and the men and women returning from Iraq and
Afghanistan who must go to the rear of a lengthening line.
Hope for reform lies in a congressionally impaneled select commission on
veterans' disability benefits whose report is due out next October. The
quality of veterans' care tends to drop out of public sight when there
isn't a war on. In fact, there are two wars under way. Walter Reed
thrust disabled vets into public sight and now is the chance to make
real improvement in the quality and efficiency of care for those who
have borne the battle.
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Common disabilities chart here...
http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/20679
Chart below:
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Chart showing causes of disability benefits
national
Total number of veterans receiving service-connected disability benefits
according to their percentage degree of disability, 2005. Shows that
about 1 out of 3 veterans have minor disabilities. Source: U.S. Veterans
Benefits Administration. Totals may not add up due to rounding.
Disability degree Number of veterans Total annual amounts paid
0 percent 14,750 $12.9 million
10 775,854 $1 billion
20 408,667 $1 billion
30 327,007 $1.4 billion
40 246,987 $1.5 billion
50 151,943 $1.3 billion
60 172,694 $2.6 billion
70 153,190 $3.3 billion
80 102,979 $2.5 billion
90 54,161 $1.4 billion
100 228,747 $7.2 billion
Total 2.6 million $23.4 billion
Most prevalent service-connected disabilities, 2005. Source: U.S.
Veterans Benefits Administration.
Disability Number of veterans
Defective hearing 423,989
Tinnitus 339,573
Musculoskeletal conditions 300,098
Scars 283,337
Arthritis, due to trauma 272,047
Post-traumatic stress disorder 244,876
Knee impairment 235,158
Diabetes mellitus 220,532
Hypertension 193,055
Osteoarthritis
or degenerative arthritis 162,004
Hemorrhoids 124,859
Most prevalent disabilities among veterans receiving benefits, by era of
service, 2005. Source: U.S. Veterans Benefits Administration.
World War II:
Defective hearing
Frozen feet, residual
Tinnitus
Korean War:
Defective hearing
Tinnitus
Frozen feet, residual
Vietnam War:
Diabetes Mellitus
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Defective hearing
Persian Gulf War:
Generalized musculoskeletal conditions
Tinnitus
Arthritis due to trauma
Peacetime:
Generalized musculoskeletal conditions
Impaired knee
Arthritis due to trauma
Veterans who began receiving disability compensation in 2005:
Tinnitus
Defective hearing
Diabetes Mellitus
---------------
State-by-state here...
http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/20678
List below:
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Chart showing vets receiving benefits, by state
national
Number of veterans receiving disability compensation, by state, 2004.
Source: Department of Veterans Affairs.
Alabama 54,247
Alaska 11,648
Arizona 50,224
Arkansas 31,473
California 229,915
Colorado 49,580
Connecticut 21,005
Delaware 7,584
Florida 179,850
Georgia 84,118
Hawaii 15,895
Idaho 14,185
Illinois 62,169
Indiana 42,855
Iowa 20,642
Kansas 24,213
Kentucky 37,657
Louisiana 37,475
Maine 18,751
Maryland 36,808
Massachusetts 53,584
Michigan 64,204
Minnesota 39,990
Mississippi 25,620
Missouri 49,126
Montana 12,444
Nebraska 23,143
Nevada 20,620
New Hampshire 13,470
New Jersey 46,903
New Mexico 25,258
New York 119,963
North Carolina 90,745
North Dakota 10,655
Ohio 85,527
Oklahoma 51,213
Oregon 35,449
Pennsylvania 101,755
Rhode Island 17,301
South Carolina 44,708
South Dakota 9,823
Tennessee 54,108
Texas 208,986
Utah 14,748
Vermont 6,894
Virginia 81,297
Washington 85,094
West Virginia 20,681
Wisconsin 44,102
Wyoming 5,871
Total 2,493,576
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Larry Scott --
