A newly released report finds 42 percent of recently discharged combat veterans are filing service-connected disability claims, a trend that could overwhelm the Department of Veterans’ Affairs budget and claims process.
The July 20 report, based on data obtained by the National Security Archive through a Freedom of Information Act request, shows that more than 104,000 disability claims from veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been approved, with all but about 18,000 involving the granting of monthly disability pay and automatic eligibility for lifetime care of the service-connected injury or illness.
The National Security Archive, a non-partisan research group, made the report available on its Web site.
“What this really shows is the long-term cost of war,” said a House Veterans’ Affairs Committee aide who asked not to be identified because the report is still being studied.
Aides believe the number of claims and the fact that so many been filed and processed while combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan continue are a signal of several trends that are good for veterans but could to long-term funding problems for the VA.
Everyone being separated from service is receiving a complete postwar physical that makes it possible for them to immediately file disability claims for minor problems that might in the past has escaped immediate notice or might not have been worth the trouble for a separating service member to pursue, aides said.
The VA also is providing two years of medical care, no questions asked, for all veterans of the current wars. For treatment to continue beyond two years, an OIF or OEF veteran must have a proven service-connected disability.
The cutoff date is well known to separating service members. “There is a real incentive for them to get a disability rating approved so they can keep getting VA care,” said the House committee aide.
Another factor is that improvements in armored protection and combat medicine have resulted in more service members surviving what would have been fatal injuries in past conflicts.
The flood of claims comes at a time when VA officials have been losing ground as they try to eliminate a backlog of claims for disabilities and other benefits. With no near-term reductions planned in U.S. troop levels in Iraq, and no end to the violence there in sight, congressional aides said the VA has to be prepared to spend more money on claims and on hiring personnel to process the claims.
About 1.3 million people have deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq since the wars began, with about 567,000 now discharged.
As of July 20, some 152,669 of the discharged combat veterans had filed VA claims. The VA had processed 118,264 of those claims, granting 108,819 and denying 13,445, with 34,405 still pending.