Va Predicts Cost Of Disability Pay For Vets Will Soar

[Gimpy]

The service-connected disabilities of Vietnam veterans are getting worse with age, leading to new claims and appeals.

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VA predicts cost of disability pay for vets will soar


By Cory Reiss
Sun Washington Bureau


WASHINGTON (12/04/06)? Gil Gresham of Port Charlotte went decades without tying bouts of depression, insomnia, irritability and anger to his service in Vietnam.


Turns out he has post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.


Now unemployed and in his third marriage, Gresham said his symptoms got worse in the past three years with the carnage in Iraq.


"It's like a big flashback," said Gresham, 59. "We've got body counts every night on the news and pictures of the war. And it brings back a lot of stuff."


Last summer, Gresham sought help from the Department of Veterans Affairs for a heart ailment, and doctors recognized his psychological problem. He now attributes to PTSD troubles that led to him leaving his job in a data center for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune before the diagnosis.


Gresham filed a disability claim for service-connected PTSD in August 2005 and received a 50 percent rating that pays him about $750 a month. Last week, he filed an additional claim for his heart condition, which Gresham attributes to stress from long-term, untreated PTSD.


Gresham is part of a surge in disability claims and appeals that are expected to send disability and survivor entitlements soaring by more than 81 percent in 2007 over 2000 levels, an increase of $15.4 billion. The VA predicts these payments will hit $59 billion in 2016, up from $34.3 billion in 2007.


Budget numbers are often cold and inhuman, but these figures show troubling trends for veterans and their health.


Veterans groups and congressional aides say the rise in disability compensation reflects the aging of Vietnam veterans, the effect Iraq has on PTSD victims from prior conflicts, an influx of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, and a system that in many ways encourages vets to appeal for more government money.


The House and Senate have passed a $78 billion veterans spending bill for 2007, with barely a word about an additional $4 billion for disability compensation, but have yet to send it to the president's desk. Little attention has been given to what the trend suggests about the veterans population and the future of the VA budget, even though lawmakers frequently criticize the VA for backlogs in processing these claims.


Veterans, lawmakers and President Bush have sparred annually about increases for health care, which next year will have increased by almost 70 percent since 2000 and yet still trail increases for disability checks. Veterans, a vocal constituency, have opposed President Bushs' attempts to reduce funding for VA health care and have fared fairly well in recent budget battles with a wartime Congress.


Unlike medical care, which is funded at Congress' discretion, disability compensation falls on the side of the ledger called mandatory spending, akin to Social Security or Medicare. Congress can do little about the cost without changing the policies.


"If someone truly was injured while serving our country, I believe they need to be compensated," said Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, a Florida Republican on a veterans disability subcommittee whose district brims with veterans. "Do I think we should have an open checkbook? No, I don't. But there's a process in place."


The VA estimates disability rolls will top 2.9 million veterans in 2007, not including benefits to spouses of deceased vets ? up from 2.3 million in 2000. Average payments, including cost of living increases, will have gone from $6,750 to about $10,300.


The VA, in a written statement last week, attributed the growth to a 39 percent increase since 2000 in disability claims that have also become more complex, and to better outreach to active troops before leaving the service.


Congress and the President created a special commission in 2003 to examine the VA disability system and recommend changes. The panel is already late in producing a report now expected next fall.


Meanwhile, claims continue to mount.


Rick Weidman, legislative director for the Vietnam Veterans of America, said the war in Iraq stirs memories in Vietnam veterans like Gresham and fuels growth in disability claims for PTSD and appeals for higher ratings.


"It's reawaking, because of the similarities, PTSD symptomology in Vietnam veterans, some of whom had never ever sought help before," Weidman said.


Iraq and Afghanistan are adding to disability rolls. Last month, the National Security Archives obtained a July memo from the VA under threat of litigation that shows one in four discharged veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, or nearly 153,000, had filed disability claims since 2001.


"We're sending these men and women over there to fight," said Joe Violante, legislative director for Disabled American Veterans. "We've got to take care of them."


Experience from past conflicts suggests the VA will not know the true cost of these wars for decades.


The service-connected disabilities of Vietnam veterans are getting worse with age, leading to new claims and appeals. Veterans also admit there are financial incentives for seeking disability status or higher ratings as they near retirement.


"You're going to continue to see these counts grow as the veterans population ages," said Quentin Kinderman, deputy director of legislative services for the Veterans of Foreign Wars. "This is a cost of war."


Veterans say they are under-compensated at the low end of the scale, prompting some to appeal. For example, a single vet with no children who is 100 percent disabled receives $2,393 a month but only $690 for a 50 percent rating.


Congress (in a negotiated process that created the Veterans Disability Benenfits Commsssion ) also in 2003 allowed some disabled veterans who retired from the military to collect both their pensions and disability checks at the same time, an issue known as concurrent receipt. But the new rule only applies to vets who are 50 percent disabled or higher with 20 or more years of service. Experts said some with lower ratings seek increases to avoid having their disability subtracted from their military pensions.


Wartime helped veterans gain traction in their fight to win concurrent receipt for all retired veterans with disabilities, but the expensive proposal prompted a rare fight over disability benefits.


Republicans concerned about the cost suggested redefining the term "service-connected" to narrow eligibility, which drew howls from veterans . Congress rejected the idea, approved a compromise concurrent receipt bill for vets with ratings of 50 percent or higher and 20 years of service, and then along with the President created a commission to study the entire disability system.


That 13-member panel, the Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission, is knee deep in analysis. But under heavy lobbying by veterans groups it has rejected one idea that would save the VA large amounts: a lump sum payment.


The panel will consider other steps that could limit benefits, narrow eligibility, or increasing payments for some vets. Ray Wilburn, the panel's executive director, said the commission is not on a mission to cut costs.


"That is absolutely not true," he said. (BULL$HIT!----says the Gimpster )


Veterans groups would likely fight proposals to rein in benefits if they survive commission debate. Moreover, with Democrats in control of the House and Senate next year, veterans are expected to again press for concurrent receipt for all disabled retirees.


Wilburn said it is likely that some recommendations from the commission would reduce costs while others would increase them.


"If they come up with anything very draconian," Brown-Waite said, "I don't see Congress legislating anything to accomplish that."

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