Chicago Tribune Reports on VA Claims Process Quandary

Headline splashed across the front page of today's Chicago Tribune: The Cost of War.

Analyzing more than 3 million VA disability claims (this figure equals the number of vets receiving such compensation in 2009 -- a jump of 24 percent over the 2003 total), it is the latest in a long line of government and private studies on problems at the VA. The Trib found:

The bulk of the increases didn't come from veterans of the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but from those who served years or even decades before. Veterans from the Vietnam and Persian Gulf eras accounted for roughly 84 percent of the rise in spending, which hit $34.3 billion last year.

The surge from past eras comes even as more soldiers than expected are returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan in need of care. With hundreds of thousands of troops still deployed, the VA already provides disability payments to nearly 200,000 veterans from the current conflicts, a number that is expected to balloon during the next 30 years.

The unanticipated crush of claims is exacerbated by the VA's antiquated compensation system, which hasn't been overhauled since 1945. Cumbersome and heavily bureaucratic, the system requires a mountain of paperwork, is based on diagnoses that lag far behind medical advances and runs on a computer system that is so outdated it can't accurately verify whether veterans were deployed.

86,000+ OEF/OIF Vets Granted Disability; 30,000 Claims Pending

The National Security Archive has been in a tug-of-war this year with the Department of Veterans' Affairs (VA), filing Freedom of Information Act requests on OEF/OIF veteran disability claims. "After nine months of denying their existence" the information today has been forced out and posted:

The VA responded to the Archive's original January 2006 FOIA request for documents about the number of disability benefits claims filed by veterans from the current war in Iraq by claiming that no documents existed, apparently because the reports concern the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) rather than being limited to the Iraq War. Notably, one of the reports indicates that GWOT is the "military name for the current wars in and around Afghanistan and Iraq." A similar report was released in December 2005 detailing Gulf War veterans' benefit activity. An updated copy of this report was released in March 2006.

Only after the Archive administratively appealed the VA's "no documents" claims and advised the VA that it was prepared to file a lawsuit did the agency manage to locate the records.

Cuts to Vet Brain Trauma Funding Planned

The issue of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) care for our returning veterans has virtually ignited the past couple of days. First came the opening installment of a TBI series over at Gen. Wes Clark's Community blog yesterday morning. In the afternoon, I added a TBI article to the mix to generate interest in the series.

Late last night, USA Today blew the issue wide open by posting a stunning article on its website. They reported that the House and Senate Appropriation Committees were poised to slash by half TBI funding used for research and treatment of war-related brain injuries in its 2007 Defense appropriation bill.

Traumatic brain injury is the signature wound of our nation's current wars. As of January 2006, 20% of those injured in Iraq had TBI. Cutting funding when it's most needed is reckless and immoral. My full analysis posted at ePluribus Media.

Caring for Returning Vets, Not a Cost of Waging War?

A good article appeared over at Military.com a few weeks back looking at a few of the issues that some of our troops may face after they return home. In a media and political environment that seems to favor only 'happy' stories and talk, most Americans fail to realize that we may have very real problems of OEF/OIF veteran homelessness, unemployment, and suicide if we don't provide funds and services to meet their needs as they transition back into civilian life.

Veterans Rally: Recap on State Protests

During the past two days, veterans and their supporters arrived in Washington, DC for a number of events geared to petition their government for their grievances. Those who couldn't make it to the national Capitol descended on their own state Capitols. Let's take a quick review of a few of the actions that took place.