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VAST COSTS LOOM IN VETERANS' DISABILITY CLAIMS
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Taxpayers have only begun to pay the long-term
financial cost of the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
Story here...
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/11/washington/11veterans.html?ref=us
Story below:
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Data Suggests Vast Costs Loom in Disability
Claims
By SCOTT SHANE
Nearly one in five soldiers leaving the military after serving in Iraq
and Afghanistan has been at least partly disabled as a result of
service, according to documents of the Department of Veterans Affairs
obtained by a Washington research group.
The number of veterans granted disability compensation, more than
100,000 to date, suggests that taxpayers have only begun to pay the
long-term financial cost of the two conflicts. About 567,000 of the 1.5
million American troops who have served so far have been discharged.
“The trend is ominous,” said Paul Sullivan, director of programs for
Veterans for America, an advocacy group, and a former V.A. analyst.
Mr. Sullivan said that if the current proportions held up over time,
400,000 returning service members could eventually apply for disability
benefits when they retired.
About 2.6 million veterans were receiving disability compensation as of
2005, according to testimony to Congress by the V.A. The largest group
of recipients is from the Vietnam era. Of the 1.1 million who served in
the Middle East during the Persian Gulf war in 1991, 291,740 have been
granted disability compensation.
The documents on the current conflicts provide no details on the type of
disabilities claimed by veterans. Most were found to be 30 percent
disabled or less, and one in 10 recipients was found to be 100 percent
disabled. Payments run from a few hundred dollars to more than $1,000 a
month depending on the severity of the disability.
A separate V.A. health care report shows that the most common treatments
sought by recently discharged troops are for musculoskeletal disorders
like back pain, followed by mental disorders, notably post traumatic
stress disorder. About 30,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have sought
treatment for post traumatic stress, which afflicts soldiers who have
been under fire or in prolonged danger of attack.
A V.A. spokesman, Terry Jemison, said “service-related” disabilities
could include an amputation as the result of a bomb injury or a case of
diabetes or heart disease that was first diagnosed or found to get worse
while in uniform. Mr. Jemison said officials had no cost projections for
disability payments to Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.
The documents were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the
National Security Archive at George Washington University.
The documents show that 37 percent of active duty veterans have filed
for disability compensation, compared with 20 percent of those who
served with National Guard or Reserve units. Also, 18 percent of claims
filed by Guard and Reserve soldiers are denied, compared with 8 percent
of those filed by active duty troops.
The report offered no explanation for the differences, but veterans’
advocates said efforts to explain V.A. procedures might be better for
those leaving active duty than those offered to reservists.
“The Guard and reservists may be falling through the cracks at a higher
rate,” said Joseph A. Violante, national legislative director for
Disabled American Veterans. “The V.A. needs to study why there’s a
difference.”
Mr. Violante, a Vietnam veteran, said young soldiers returning from war
often shrugged off their injuries and did not necessarily seek
compensation right away. “But as they get older,” he said, “and their
injuries cause them more problems, then they’re more likely to file.”
In recent years, disability compensation programs have seen a number of
changes that are likely to increase the filing of claims by veterans.
Congress told the V.A. last year to advertise the availability of
compensation to veterans in states where payments had been
disproportionately low, a program that the agency has predicted will
attract nearly 100,000 new applicants.
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Larry Scott
