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REPORT RANKS INDIANA POORLY FOR VETERANS'

BENEFITS -- "I've seen veterans actually move to other

states to file their claims and also receive their healthcare."

 

 

I wonder what Rep. Steve Buyer (R-IN), Ranking Minority Member of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, has to say about this?

I think it would be kind of difficult to explain this to veterans living in Indiana.

Story here... http://www.wthr.com/
Global/story.asp?S=660
9844&nav=menu188_2

Story below:

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Report ranks Indiana poorly for veterans benefits

Tom Walker/Eyewitness News

They all fight for our country, but America's wounded warriors aren't getting equal benefits when they come home, according to a government report. In Indiana they've gotten less than anywhere else in the nation.

What the government pays and how Hoosiers lose out is documented in a series of internal reports by the US Department of Veterans Affairs.

They describe a system that has seen disparities among the states for decades, and as recently as two years ago ranked Indiana 50th among the states in average annual benefits paid to disabled veterans.

After complaints surfaced about benefit levels in Illinois, a 2005 report by the department's Inspector General examined records going back to 1985.

It ranked Indiana no higher than 32nd among the states during that period.

By 2002 the state had slid to 50th for veterans filing new claims since 1999.

Those disparities have concerned veterans activist groups for some time.

"I've seen veterans actually move to other states to file their claims and also receive their health care," said Steve Robinson, Veterans for America.

Robinson says there is no reason an amputee should get a more generous benefit in one state than another.

But the VA says there are many different reasons for the disparity, including the characteristics of a state's veteran population as well as differences in the way injuries are evaluated by regional personnel.

Nonetheless, the VA says "all veterans with the same degree of disability should receive the same degree of VA compensation, regardless of where they live."

After the internal investigation, the VA last year sent notices to thousands of veterans in states with the lowest payments, including Indiana, offering to reopen their cases.

That "special outreach" has now been suspended. The website that described it has been taken down.

No information could be obtained today on numbers of veterans whose benefits were changed as a result of the alert.

In the meantime, critics say Hoosiers should be asking tough questions in Washington. "I would want to find out why my state ranks lowest for distributing both health care and benefits to those who have served this nation," said Robinson.

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Larry Scott  --