Senators Push Disability Increases for Vets
Responding to recent revelations of insufficient treatment of wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, a group of senators moved on Wednesday to boost disability pay to those hurt in combat and improve care for brain injury. The 93-page measure, introduced by 30 senators from both parties, also would expand medical care and counseling to family members and require better cooperation to end red tape for disabled service members moving from Pentagon to Veterans Affairs care. The bill would affect some of the more than 25,000 U.S. service members wounded in hostile action since military operations began in Iraq and Afghanistan. Veterans groups have long said that more serious problems remain involving an unwieldy disability ratings system. A preliminary review by the federal Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission found the Army was much more likely than the other active forces to assign a disability rating of less than 30 percent, the typical cutoff to determine whether a person can get lifetime retirement payments and health care. The legislation would require Defense Secretary Robert Gates to establish a special board to independently review the military disability ratings decisions since 2001. The review would involve cases in which disability rates of 20 percent or less were awarded to determine if soldiers were shortchanged. The measure would boost military severance pay for those rated with less than 30 percent disability and eliminate the current requirement that severance pay be deducted from disability pay. It would set up Pentagon pilot programs that would give the VA a greater role in the evaluation system, a major shift in how benefits are administered. Both critics and supporters acknowledge it would likely add significantly to costs since the VA takes into account all the disabilities a soldier has, not just one.
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