Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Economy, The War On TerrorismThe government is disputing the validity of some veterans claims. Why? What else? Money.
Well, we sent them into war. Don’t we owe our veterans better?
The spiraling cost of post-traumatic stress disorder among war veterans has triggered a politically charged debate and ignited fears that the government is trying to limit expensive benefits for emotionally scarred troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.In the past five years, the number of veterans receiving compensation for the disorder commonly called PTSD has grown nearly seven times as fast as the number receiving benefits for disabilities in general, according to a report this year by the inspector general of the Department of Veterans Affairs. A total of 215,871 veterans received PTSD benefit payments last year at a cost of $4.3 billion, up from $1.7 billion in 1999 — a jump of more than 150 percent.
The costs are certainly daunting, but it doesn’t mean we can’t afford it. After all, we’re the world’s only remaining superpower, right?
Read the whole thing. Seriously.
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December 27th, 2005 at 10:19 am
The costs are certainly daunting, but it doesn’t mean we can’t afford it.
See previous post re: Tax cuts.
December 27th, 2005 at 12:03 pm
If the military (IMO) is the number one concern of the Federal govt, then taking care of it’s veterans ought to be the number two concern.
The number of vet’s that are left on their own, with nothing but an Honorable Discharge is appalling.
December 27th, 2005 at 2:11 pm
Exactly Elyas. I think it’s shameful that we’re going to continue to cut taxes and yet we can’t pay for the care that our men and women in uniform need. Ridiculous.
December 28th, 2005 at 9:59 am
So we’re concerned about spending $4.3 billion to take care of those who are scarred for life due to their service to us? Remind me again how much we spend each year on defense. Oh yeah, enough to make $4.3 billion look like a drop in the bucket. We owe it to them to spend a small percentage of our defense budget on their needs. The fact is we owe our veterans much more. It’s too bad we’re more interested in spending money on making war than we are in spending money on dealing with the aftermath of war.
July 26th, 2006 at 12:00 pm
Here is a copy of the letter I recieved from West Virginia Senator John D. Rockefeller on the issue of backlogs of VA claims. I had written to him advising him of my disgust in the VA claims processing. I thought I might pass this on to fellow veterans.
United States Senate
Washington , DC 20510-4802
July 14, 2006
Dear Michael,
Thank you for contacting me in regard to the backlog for veterans’ disability appeals. It is always good to hear from a fellow West Virginian, and I commend you on your service of our country.
I understand your frustration and concern in regard to this matter. Despite the Bush Administration’s goal of reducing the backlog in handling of Department of Veterans Affairs(VA) disability claims to 250,000, the VA projects that this backlog will most likely exceed 400,000 by the end of 2007. Indeed, with an aging veterans’ population and ongoing hostilities
in Iraq and Afghanistan, there is no reason to believe the number of claims will decrease in the near future. However, contrary to the Administration’s public vows to work on this backlog, President Bush called to decrease the staff that directly handles these cases by 149 workers in his budget request for Fiscal Year 2007. In response to this fact, the VA stated that it is more appropriate to look at the overall number of staffers, including those that handle pensions and burial cases. However, even taking into account these staffers, the number of workers is reduced by 48 next year. I am disappointed in the lack of any real commitment to reduce this claims’ backlog that the President’s budget request clearly exemplifies.
In addition, I am concerned that the emphasis on productivity as the primary goal may actually be harmful to veterans. While the timeliness of these decisions certainly affects our veterans, the accuracy of veterans’ disability claims decisions is of equal importance. One useful
measure of accuracy is the increase in veterans’ claims pending at the Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA). As of August 14, 2004, there were 149,222 appeals pending with the BVA compared to the 87,291 pending appeals when President Bush assumed office. Many of these appeals are
being sent back by the BVA for evidence which should have been gathered before the claim was decided. I am also pushing hard to secure the appointment of new judges to the BVA to help handle the claims.
Unfortunately, it will be very difficult to secure the necessary funding required to handle the VA disability claims backlog given the enormous budget deficits created during the Bush Administration, which exceeded $300 billion last year. I think it would have been more prudent
to invest in Veterans Affairs rather than signing into law trillions of dollars in tax cuts, the vast majority of which only benefit the wealthiest Americans.
As a member of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, I am committed to support veterans and work to protect the benefits and services they have earned through service to our country. Over the years, I have worked to extend the range of veterans’ benefits. Recently, I have been particularly focused on fighting to secure additional funding for VA health care and protecting existing VA facilities in West Virginia. I will continue to fight hard for benefits for West Virginia veterans, but it is a struggle. Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts and your vigilance in defending our nation’s veterans. I am deeply honored to represent a state in which so many have served with such selflessness and valor over the years. I wish you all the best.
Sincerely,
John D. Rockefeller IV
August 7th, 2006 at 4:31 am
Good job.