It likely comes as no surprise to many that the VA, despite the government’s apparent efforts, continues to lack the necessary structure or management strategy to effectively deal with the medical needs of our veterans.
When you add Social Security into the mix, it just gets more confusing and frustrating.
The VA annually rates nearly 8,000 veterans as 100 percent disabled. Many who also seek Social Security disability benefits find themselves among the record 767,595 claims now backlogged in SSA’s hearings offices. At last count, about one in 10 were veterans.
“I can’t sleep, and I can’t work,” says one returning vet, who lives in the suburbs southwest of Portland. “How can being disabled be different for another government agency?”
No one knows how many vets rated unemployable by the VA get turned down for benefits by Social Security. But advocates for the disabled say the problem is widespread.
More than 100 members of Congress are backing bills in the House and Senate that would compel Social Security to accept the VA’s rulings on vets whose service-related disabilities prevent them from working.
“The problem is only going to get worse given all the people we have coming back from our current wars,” says Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Md., who introduced the House bill last year. “They shouldn’t be forced to fight the government for their benefits twice.”
And truly, when more agencies become involved, the problem just spreads out. It does not get solved—just re-directed to some other bureaucrat who cannot make a decision.
It is beyond the pail to accept the moaning from the government agencies that there is not enough money in the system. If we can bailout Bank of America to the tune of 45 billion, we can take care of our veterans, and do ourselves proud as a nation. There are no excuses.
A friend, a proud Vietnam vet (three tours) developed leukemia last year. Because he never had to use the Veteran’s benefit package, and never before applied for services, he was denied. He died six months later.
Semper Fi.
Advocate
