New Rule
Written by Mark Fitzgerald
MAE 2010 Volume: 5 issue: 6 (August)
Over 400,000 military veterans currently receive compensation benefits for service-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). A medically recognized anxiety disorder, PTSD can develop from seeing or experiencing an event that involves actual or threatened death or serious injury, to which a person responds with intense fear, helplessness or horror; it is not uncommon among war veterans.
As a result of a new regulation published recently in the Federal Register, the VA has moved to simplify access to health care and benefits for veterans with PTSD. “This nation has a solemn obligation to the men and women who have honorably served this country and suffer from the often devastating emotional wounds of war,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “This final regulation goes a long way to ensure that veterans receive the benefits and services they need.”
COSTS
According to congressional analysts, the regulation could cost as much as $5 billion over several years. Essentially, it is expected to eliminate a requirement that veterans document specific traumatic events (for example, bomb blasts or firefights) that might have caused PTSD. Under the new rule, the VA would not require corroboration of a stressor related to fear of hostile military or terrorist activity if a VA doctor confirms that the stressful experience recalled by a veteran adequately supports a diagnosis of PTSD and the veteran’s symptoms are related to the claimed stressor. Previously, claims adjudicators were required to corroborate that a non-combat veteran actually experienced a stressor related to hostile military activity.
IMPACTS
Amid concerns that the rule change could lead to fraudulent claims, advocates have said that the VA will still maintain robust review protocols. Yet some veterans’ groups have expressed disappointment in a provision of the regulation that will require a final determination on a veteran’s case to be made by a psychiatrist or psychologist who works for the veterans department. These groups worry that the VA could limit approvals, and they argue that private physicians should be allowed to make PTSD determinations as well.
Over the next 10 years, the new rule could cost more than $42 billion. “I take a back seat to no one in my concern for our veterans,” said Senator Jim Webb (D–Va.). “But I do think we need to have practical, proper procedures.”
NUMBERS
Of the two million servicemembers who have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan since 2001, analysts estimate that 20 percent or more of them will develop PTSD. Some 150,000 cases of PTSD have been diagnosed by the veteran’s health system among veterans of these two wars. PTSD cases are “routinely the most complicated cases for VA to confirm, requiring drawn-out investigations,” noted said Representative John Hall (D–N.Y.), chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee’s disability assistance panel. “This new rule cuts down on lengthy investigations and allows VA employees to focus their efforts on new cases and serve more of our veterans.”
Analysts estimate that less than 50 percent of Afghanistan and Iraq veterans diagnosed with PTSD are receiving benefits from the VA. “This rule will have a dramatic impact on Vietnam veterans as well,” added Hall. “It can be especially difficult to find evidence of a traumatic incident 40 years after the fact. Many Vietnam veterans who were denied PTSD benefits in the past may now be eligible.”
Veterans who were denied PTSD benefits under the old rule are encouraged to reapply, and claims that are pending are entitled to retroactive benefits from the date they applied. ♦