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August 12, 2005

 

 

Your VA Benefits are Not Safe

 

PTSD claims under fire from VA

 

Opinion by Larry Scott

 

 

Rep. Steve Buyer was right!  Everything is ?on the table? when it comes to your VA benefits.  Rep. Buyer (R-IN), Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans? Affairs, is smiling today.  He?s won the first round in the battle to re-write the VA benefits handbook.

 

On August 11, the VA announced it would be reviewing 72,000 PTSD claims filed between 1999 and 2004.  The claims to be reviewed will be ones where full disability for PTSD was granted.  This amounts to about one-third of all PTSD claims.

 

The VA?s reasoning is that many PTSD claims were approved without proper medical evidence.  What?  Then, why were they approved?  Do you smell a rat here?  How can a claim be approved if the veteran doesn?t meet the standards set for that claim?  This doesn?t make any sense.

 

What does make sense is the amount of money the VA could save if it overturns these claims.  At about $2,299 a month for full PTSD disability, 72,000 claims would equal nearly $2 billion a year! 

 

The VA will now require proof of a specific ?stressor? for these claims that are being reviewed.  A year in a combat zone doesn?t count.  The veterans must prove that a specific incident was the ?stressor? that caused the PTSD.  There will be NO second look at denied PTSD claims in the six-year review window.

 

What we see here is just the opening salvo in a well-planned war to dismantle veterans? benefits as we know them.  With Rep. Buyer on point, the anti-veteran forces are moving swiftly to accomplish their goals. 

 

First was demonizing the VA and veterans who receive benefits.  Then a constant campaign of distortion and disinformation.  Add a Presidential Commission whose charge it is to determine ?whether the death or disability of a veteran should be compensated.?  Then change the VA rules to require a second review of all PTSD, IU and 100% disability claims.

 

Over the past year I have written about these attacks on veterans? benefits.  Now, here?s the proof.  The VA, the agency designed to serve veterans, has now turned traitor and has instituted programs to deny and even take away benefits.

 

Where does it go from here?  Downhill fast!  Those who agree with Rep. Buyer?s agenda of putting all VA benefits ?on the table? control the House and Senate.  The politically-motivated and politically-stacked Veterans? Disability Benefits Commission is well on the way to completely re-writing the VA benefits handbook including the definition of who is a veteran and whether or not they should get ANY benefits.

 

Fellow veterans, what more do you need to know?  The attack is on!  It?s time to strike back with all the political power at our disposal.  It?s time to get the VFW and the American Legion and the DAV and every other VSO to start screaming at the top of their lungs.  The combined power of these organizations CAN put a stop to this.

 

Then, as individuals we need take a long look at all the politicians who support the dismantling of veterans? benefits.  This policy could not have come about without the support of the political appointees who run the VA.  And, that starts at the top with VA Secretary Jim Nicholson. 

 

Since we elect the politicians and they, in turn, appoint the VA hierarchy, this whole problem ends up right back in our laps.  We have the power to protect our VA benefits.  So, here?s the message to your elected representatives:  SUPPORT VETERANS OR GET UNELECTED.