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VA relaxes PTSD qualification rules
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Kai Ryssdal: The Veteran's Administration decided today that it's going to make it easier for soldiers diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder to get benefits. The VA's going to relax some of its strict rules that have buried a lot of veterans in paperwork. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan are going to be eligible. As will Vietnam vets still trying to prove they qualify.
From the Marketplace Health Desk at WHYY in Philadelphia, Gregory Warner reports.
Gregory Warner: It was decades after his tour as platoon commander in Vietnam that Ted Balzarini got his diagnosis from the Department of Veterans Affairs. They said he had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Then came the hard part, getting that same department to give him disability benefits. After six months of filing paperwork and waiting, Balzarini got approved. His reaction?
Ted Balzarini: This can't be true. Ha. I couldn't believe it when it came through!
Balzarini was one of the lucky ones, he says. There are about 150,000 veterans diagnosed with PTSD by doctors from the VA. But an analysis of the records show that only half of those vets were been approved for disability checks. The VA is now changing their eligibility rules as soon as next week. No longer will you have to prove that your PTSD came from the war.
Aaron Glantz: With our veterans there's a presumption that they're not telling the truth.
Aaron Glantz is the author of two books about Iraq, including "The War Comes Home." He said veterans that apply for benefits have had to specify the exact events like a mortar attack that caused their trauma.
Glantz: You need to be interviewed by a claims examiner who would try to poke holes in your story.
Advocates say the old rules left out thousands of service members who did not serve in active combat but suffered trauma nonetheless. Congressional analysts estimate the new rules could cost the government an additional $5 billion over the next several years as more veterans return home and sign up.
I'm Gregory Warner for Marketplace.
I served during the Vietnam era and had several traumas as a medic in the service. I was sketchily diagnosed with having PTSD symptoms by a VA Physician. But it doesn't mention the aggravation by my time and experiences the service. In the mean time I have received disability payments from S.S. for the same symptoms. I have applied and turned down three times and have been waiting for the last two years for a video conference hearing before the VBA. Every time I call VA I get different versions from VA. Some say it will be get reviewed, others say there will be a hearing and all disagree on where my records are now. Some say D.C., others say Waco,TX. My problem has been lack of specifics such as exact date, names of people and the like. I'm 65 Y.O. and in need of help.I'm glad they came up with this regulation but I'm wondering if it's going to help my case. Whose going to get priority? Vietnam Veterans? Older claims and people...and how they are going to go about it. I'm I still swimming against the current here? If anybody here has information relevant to my case, I'd appreciate it if you write about in this forum. Thanks.
It is reasons like you that vets with legitmate claims cannot get help. Myself I have filed once and three appeals and turned down four times. and for my nephew who also had a legitmate claim he cant file anymore because he is no longer among the living because he could not get the proper help he needed because the va hospital turned him away when he needed help the most.So to all the vets who exagerrated the truth. Tell me how you sleep at night knowing that you take money that could help 18 vets daily that commit suicide.
Guess what, I'm a veteran and I didn't tell the truth. I exagerrated my conditions in order to get a higher disability rating and more compensation--which I don't really need given my generous military pension. The VA knows this, but they finally withered under the constant badgering from self-righteous "advocates" like Glantz--and will give compensation to anyone claiming PTSD--which, by the way, will be everyone. What's another $5B, right?
