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VETS' COMMISSION BACKS HEFTY PAY GAINS AND
SWEEPING REFORMS -- Another look at the work of
the
Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission from
Tom Philpott.
The report is available for download.
Full Commission report is here...
http://www.vetscommission.org/
pdf/eReport_prepub_9-27.pdf
The executive summary is here...
http://www.vetscommission.org/pdf/
ExecutiveSummary_eV_9-27.pdf
For more about the Vets' Commission, use the VA
Watchdog search engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/ses
search.php?q=veterans%27+disa
bility+benefits+commission&op=ph
Story here...
http://www.military.com/
features/0,15240,151557,00.html
Story below:
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Hefty Pay Gains Urged for Disabled Vets
Tom Philpott
Vet Commission Backs Hefty Pay Gains, Sweeping Reforms
The first comprehensive review of veterans' disability benefits in 51
years recommends that Congress and the Bush administration support an
immediate increase in compensation levels "of up to 25 percent for
the most severely disabled" to recognize monetarily their reduced
quality of life.
The Veterans Disability Benefits Commission's thick report, reflecting
more than two years of work, also wants all disabled veterans made
eligible for concurrent receipt of both disability pay and an annuity
based on years spent in service.
Disabled veterans and their families will find much to be pleased about
in the report's 113 recommendations, assuming lawmakers and VA follow
through on sweeping reforms presented in the report. The commissioners,
12 of whom are distinguished veterans themselves, didn't allow cost
considerations to deeply influence their deliberations.
"As we worked our way through and became more and more familiar with the
issues, we came up with a lot of recommendations that are cheap and easy
and some that are hard and expensive. But we really believe all of them
will add value to the system if they are carefully considered and,
hopefully, adopted," said retired Lt. Gen. Terry Scott, a former
infantry officer and Army Ranger, who chaired the panel.
The lone non-veteran, actuary John L. Grady, dissented from some of the
most costly recommendations including blanket concurrent receipt. The
full report is available on line at:
www.vetscommission.org/reports.asp
In 2004, House Republican leaders, pressured by the Bush administration,
had opposed expansion of benefits for disabled retirees and surviving
widows. When forced to reverse course that election year through
Democratic maneuvers and lobbying by veterans' groups, the Republican
majority insisted on creation of a bipartisan commission to study
disability benefits. House leaders believed it could be a tool to get
veterans' entitlement growth under control where politicians, in
wartime, could not.
Rep. Steve Buyer (R-Ind.), as he assumed chairmanship of the House
Veterans Affairs Committee in 2005 -- replacing a Republican colleague
seen as in the grip of veterans' groups, said he looked for the
commission to consider tightening the definition of service-connected
disabilities and whether Congress went too far in lifting the ban on
concurrent receipt for all retirees rated 100-percent disabled even
those with non-combat conditions.
What the commission did instead last Wednesday was call for an
unprecedented expansion of benefits and support programs for disabled
veterans, whether they were disabled in Iraq or in World War II or
simply became ill serving their country sometime between those two long
wars.
Scott said he was unaware of the politics behind creation of the
commission. If anyone had told him it was to be "a budget drill," he
said, "I would have never signed up for it." Scott felt no such
pressure, he said.
"When we discussed options we talked about the cost of a particular
recommendation just so we'd know what we were talking about. But we did
not let that be the determining factor of whether we made it into a
recommendation," the chairman said.
It might take Congress years to implement the bulk of the commission's
proposals but it should view some as priorities including:
Concurrent Receipt -- Ending the ban on concurrent receipt for all
disabled military retirees and all service members who have been
separated due to service-connected disabilities. The first groups to
gain such benefits should be severely disabled veterans with fewer than
20 years of service and veterans disabled as a result of combat, the
commission said.
End SBP-DIC offset -- The dollar-for-dollar reduction in military
survivor benefit that occurs when surviving spouses also draw VA
Dependency and Indemnity Compensation should end. This would benefit
61,000 survivors, mostly widows.
Raise VA Compensation -- VA disability compensation should be boosted
immediately by as much as 25 percent as an interim step toward
recognizing the effect of service-related disabilities on quality of
life. For most veterans current compensation is based only on lost
earning capacity.
PTSD: A Holistic Approach -- Disability compensation for post-traumatic
stress disorder with treatment and vocational assessment. PTSD veterans
should be reevaluated every two-to-three years to gauge progress and
encourage wellness. Scott said this might be one of the few
recommendation opposed by veterans' groups but commissions felt strongly
that PTSD cases need stronger management.
Update Rating Schedule -- The 60-year-old disability rating schedule
should be revised starting with post-traumatic stress disorder, other
mental disorders and traumatic brain injury. The current schedule lumps
the three distinct conditions together for rating purposes, creating
inequities, Scott said. VA should modernize the entire schedule within
five years.
IU Status -- Veterans with disabilities rated 60 to 90 percent can still
get compensation at the 100 percent level if deemed unable to work, what
the VA calls "IU" status. The number of veterans rated IU has climbed
sharply in recent years. Commissioners said the program needs to be
better managed with IU recipients given periodic, comprehensive
evaluations. Over time, a revised rating schedule should properly
compensate veterans unable to work without relying on a separate IU
designation, Scott said.
Scott opposed narrowing how a service-connected disability is defined,
he said, reasoning that the military is unique and its members are
subject 24 hours a day to the Uniformed Code of Military Justice.
"We could be like the Dutch army, have a union [and] only come to work
from 8 to 5. Then we might talk about some of this stuff," Scott said.
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Larry Scott --
