[Berta]

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From: James [mailto:starjm50@yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2007 5:04 AM
To: Jim
Subject: ARMY Times: Faults in Disability Benefits

Studies identify faults in disability benefits system

http://www.armytimes.com/benefits/health/m...ystem_VA_070328
w/

By Kelly <mailto:kellykennedy@atpco.com?subject=Question from ArmyTimes.com
reader> Kennedy - kellykennedy@militarytimes.com

As members of the Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission wrestle with
simplifying the disability benefits systems of the departments of Defense
and Veterans Affairs, they have found they aren't the only ones mystified by
the systems' complexity.

Of the counselors who help former service members through the VA system -
which uses the same disability rating schedule as the military - 84 percent
said the system isn't easy to navigate.

And out of 437 raters - the people who make decisions about disability
ratings - 99 said the regulations and policies they use are inconsistent.

As veterans and service members complain that the system is unfair and that
it does not rate similar injuries equally, 51 percent of counselors told
researchers from the Center for Naval Analyses that if several raters from
the office rated a service member for post-traumatic stress disorder, it was
unlikely that they would all come up with the same rating.
Daniel Harris, an analyst for the center, told the commission March 22 that
raters and counselors have the most trouble with cases dealing with mental
health disorders, musculoskeletal issues, and sensory organs.

And even as 87 percent of counselors said medical cases are becoming more
complex, 80 percent said they felt they were not well-trained.

"It's not a process that's easy for the veterans or for the [veterans'
service officers]" who assist them, Harris said. "Making it not only clearer
for clients, but . for raters might be helpful."

Eric Christensen of the Center for Naval Analyses presented a breakdown of
military disability ratings by percentage and service from 2000 to 2006.

The data showed that:
. Airmen are 14 percent more likely than other service members to receive
lifetime disability retirement pay rather than one-time severance pay.
. One-fourth of soldiers who go through the system receive a zero percent
disability rating even as they are found unfit for duty.
. About 93 percent of all service members get severance payments for ratings
of 20 percent or lower rather than the disability benefits that include
medical care for the rest of their lives.
. Only 3 percent of Marines going through the system from 2000 to 2006
received disability retirement pay rather than severance pay.

Christensen also said that in a comparison of VA and Defense Department
ratings for the same injuries, the VA tended to rate at least 7 percent
higher - even though both use the same rating schedules and have the same
legal mandates.

For mental health issues, the differences are startling. The military tends
to hand out ratings of 10 percent for bipolar disorder, which the VA upped
to 38 percent. The military also tends to award 10 percent ratings for major
depressive disorder, which the VA upped to 34 percent.

"No one's going to convince me this system is spotless," commission member
Ken Jordan said. "It won't hurt this system to have a really good scrub,
line by line, piece by piece."

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The Failed Policies will Haunt Us and the World for Decades, Just Like 'Nam!

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