thedrifter
10-16-07, 07:33 PM
Disability pay can depend on where you live
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Oct 16, 2007 18:58:02 EDT
Despite efforts to improve consistency in disability ratings, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs has made only modest progress in reducing significant regional differences in pay for veterans with similar disabilities.
In 2004, there was a $5,043 difference between the average annual veterans’ disability compensation between New Mexico, which had the highest average payments, and Ohio, which had the lowest, said Jon Wooditch, the deputy VA inspector general, in Tuesday testimony before a House subcommittee. After efforts to provide consistent training, use more automation to reduce some subjective judgment, and taking other administrative steps to cut down on differences, the variance in payments actually increased, to $5,061 in 2005 and to $5,105 for 2006, Wooditch said in testimony before the House Veterans’ Affairs subcommittee on oversight and investigations. However, the difference in new claims declined from $6,054 in 2004 to $4,477 in 2006, which appears to show that new claims are being handled in a more uniform way.
Rep. Harry Mitchell, D-Ariz., the subcommittee chairman, said he knows the VA has made “efforts to correct these issues but more has to be done.”
“We are sending the wrong message to our nation’s veterans,” Mitchell said. “We are saying that even though you served courageously for your country, you better live in the right state and hire a professional when filing for disability benefits.”
Wooditch said some differences are the result of demographic factors — such as the branch of the service, period or length of service, or number of dependents — over which the VA has no control. But most of the inconsistency appears to result from subjective differences in how raters look at cases.
Some of the biggest differences come for ratings dealing with mental disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorders, and for veterans whose disability is rated at less than 100 percent but are considered unemployable, said David Hunter of the Institute for Defense Analyses, which looked at disability payments. A study by Hunter’s group found the average annual disability pay in 2005 was $8,890, but the average payment was more than $12,000 in New Mexico and less than $8,000 in Ohio.
The VA’s deputy undersecretary for benefits, Ronald Aument, said the VA has increased centralized training programs and tried some new training methods in hope of getting more accurate and consistent decisions. Also, the VA is trying to standardize medical exams so files have the same information for each claim, no matter where the claim is filed, he said. Over the next year, the VA also will launch a new examiner certification program.
Subcommittee member Rep. Zack Space, D-Ohio, said something needs to change. “I am concerned that veterans in Ohio, who served just as honorably as veterans in other states, may not be getting a fair deal by virtue of where they reside,” Space said.
“In my district, one is more likely to live below the poverty line than to have a college education,” Space said. “It is a struggle for many of my constituents to meet the demands of the cost of living in our state. Poor veterans in Ohio need every disability dollar they have earned.”
Ray Pryor of AmVets, a veterans’ service organization that has been closely studying problems with disability pay, said some differences are to be expected. “We are working with a system that is based on humans making decisions,” he said. “Their perceptions and understanding of conditions and occasional mistakes are going to play a role in disparities,” Pryor said.
A Citrus County, Fla., veterans service officer said he thinks the problem rests with which regional offices are the most overworked. John Kenney, a retired Marine warrant officer, said every VA regional office uses the same law and the same claims manual, but the workload is different. “The key word in ratings decisions is production,” he said, suggesting Congress order a study by state that would compare the average disability pay to the backlog of claims.
Ellie
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Oct 16, 2007 18:58:02 EDT
Despite efforts to improve consistency in disability ratings, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs has made only modest progress in reducing significant regional differences in pay for veterans with similar disabilities.
In 2004, there was a $5,043 difference between the average annual veterans’ disability compensation between New Mexico, which had the highest average payments, and Ohio, which had the lowest, said Jon Wooditch, the deputy VA inspector general, in Tuesday testimony before a House subcommittee. After efforts to provide consistent training, use more automation to reduce some subjective judgment, and taking other administrative steps to cut down on differences, the variance in payments actually increased, to $5,061 in 2005 and to $5,105 for 2006, Wooditch said in testimony before the House Veterans’ Affairs subcommittee on oversight and investigations. However, the difference in new claims declined from $6,054 in 2004 to $4,477 in 2006, which appears to show that new claims are being handled in a more uniform way.
Rep. Harry Mitchell, D-Ariz., the subcommittee chairman, said he knows the VA has made “efforts to correct these issues but more has to be done.”
“We are sending the wrong message to our nation’s veterans,” Mitchell said. “We are saying that even though you served courageously for your country, you better live in the right state and hire a professional when filing for disability benefits.”
Wooditch said some differences are the result of demographic factors — such as the branch of the service, period or length of service, or number of dependents — over which the VA has no control. But most of the inconsistency appears to result from subjective differences in how raters look at cases.
Some of the biggest differences come for ratings dealing with mental disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorders, and for veterans whose disability is rated at less than 100 percent but are considered unemployable, said David Hunter of the Institute for Defense Analyses, which looked at disability payments. A study by Hunter’s group found the average annual disability pay in 2005 was $8,890, but the average payment was more than $12,000 in New Mexico and less than $8,000 in Ohio.
The VA’s deputy undersecretary for benefits, Ronald Aument, said the VA has increased centralized training programs and tried some new training methods in hope of getting more accurate and consistent decisions. Also, the VA is trying to standardize medical exams so files have the same information for each claim, no matter where the claim is filed, he said. Over the next year, the VA also will launch a new examiner certification program.
Subcommittee member Rep. Zack Space, D-Ohio, said something needs to change. “I am concerned that veterans in Ohio, who served just as honorably as veterans in other states, may not be getting a fair deal by virtue of where they reside,” Space said.
“In my district, one is more likely to live below the poverty line than to have a college education,” Space said. “It is a struggle for many of my constituents to meet the demands of the cost of living in our state. Poor veterans in Ohio need every disability dollar they have earned.”
Ray Pryor of AmVets, a veterans’ service organization that has been closely studying problems with disability pay, said some differences are to be expected. “We are working with a system that is based on humans making decisions,” he said. “Their perceptions and understanding of conditions and occasional mistakes are going to play a role in disparities,” Pryor said.
A Citrus County, Fla., veterans service officer said he thinks the problem rests with which regional offices are the most overworked. John Kenney, a retired Marine warrant officer, said every VA regional office uses the same law and the same claims manual, but the workload is different. “The key word in ratings decisions is production,” he said, suggesting Congress order a study by state that would compare the average disability pay to the backlog of claims.
Ellie