Disability Claims Alarmingly Up for Subset of Recipients of Taxpayer Dollars

[JollyRoger]

An alarmingly large subset of those that receive a significant amount of their money from taxpayer dollars is adding disability money to the their take. Can we afford such an increase during this time of high deficits and needed austerity? Can't we just rely on private charities to take care of them? Should we handle this increase by not paying disability claims for those that did not receive a disability from a warzone incident?

America's newest veterans are filing for disability benefits at a historic rate, claiming to be the most medically and mentally troubled generation of former troops the nation has ever seen.

A staggering 45 percent of the 1.6 million veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are now seeking compensation for injuries they say are service-related. That is more than double the estimate of 21 percent who filed such claims after the Gulf War in the early 1990s, top government officials told The Associated Press.

What's more, these new veterans are claiming eight to nine ailments on average, and the most recent ones over the last year are claiming 11 to 14. By comparison, Vietnam veterans are currently receiving compensation for fewer than four, on average, and those from World War II and Korea, just two.

http://news.yahoo.com/ap-impact-almost-half-vets-seek-disability-160656481.html

Disgustcuss.

 

[Akkon888]

In Civil War, you either had people who were alive, or people who were dead. Very few survived their wounds. In WWII, medicine improved quite a bit, so you had wounded people return home and need care. The progression has continued, so now almost everyone who is wounded survives, and thus needs continued care.

There could also be frivolous claims, but for the most part there should be an expected rise in ailment claims for the wounded, who are surviving increasingly severe injuries.

 

[JollyRoger]

I regret that I have but 14 disability claims to make to my country.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

I once thought that bin Laden's rhetoric about bankrupting America was rubbish. Now it seems that the kind of wars America involves itself in today plays to the enemy's goal of wasting their resources.

 

[Old Hippy]

Vietnam vets might be getting claims for just four disabilities but acording to your link 230,000 of them put in claims last year alone ... and over 560,000 vets have claims that are backlogged

agent orange and Gulf syndrome may be different than previous wars but isn't that what supporting the troops is really about...

 

[emzie]

I imagine this has less to do with people surviving previously-lethal wounds, but increased awareness at the mental toll warfare exerts. This is a positive step forward compared to previous treatment of PTSD.

 

[MobBoss]

An alarmingly large subset of those that receive a significant amount of their money from taxpayer dollars is adding disability money to the their take. Can we afford such an increase during this time of high deficits and needed austerity? Can't we just rely on private charities to take care of them? Should we handle this increase by not paying disability claims for those that did not receive a disability from a warzone incident?


http://news.yahoo.com/ap-impact-almost-half-vets-seek-disability-160656481.html

Disgustcuss.

You break it, you fix it, so its part of the cost of doing business. If a soldier is injured in his service to his nation, and that injury leads to a decreased quality of life, why shouldnt he be compensated for that?

 

[MobBoss]

I imagine this has less to do with people surviving previously-lethal wounds, but increased awareness at the mental toll warfare exerts. This is a positive step forward compared to previous treatment of PTSD.

Actually, it has more to do with the type of wars we have been fighting over the last decade. Fewer fatalities and increased combat wounds due to IEDs, mines and small arms fire. Enemy tactics in these wars was about attrition, not 'show of force'.

And when you have fewer fatalities, but far more wounded, thats when disability claims go up.

Also, is the fact that the federal government has implemented a program for every single soldier leaving the service to be edcuated on how to make theses claims and even have teams of civilian employees to assist them in how to do it. As I'm going thru that process myself right now, i'd be more than happy to answer any questions about it that I can.

 

[LucyDuke]

For taxpayers, the ordeal is just beginning. With any war, the cost of caring for veterans rises for several decades and peaks 30 to 40 years later, when diseases of aging are more common, said Harvard economist Linda Bilmes. She estimates the health care and disability costs of the recent wars at $600 billion to $900 billion.

That's a pretty substantial fraction of the costs of our wars.

 

[JollyRoger]

You break it, you fix it, so its part of the cost of doing business. If a soldier is injured in his service to his nation, and that injury leads to a decreased quality of life, why shouldnt he be compensated for that?

Because just like a cigarette smoker, the enlistee knew or should have known the risk going in. If the right wing model is less government spending and more private charity, this seems like a good enough place to start - if you can't get private charity to help the troops out here, it demonstrates that the right wing model is likely not workable.

 

[Akkon888]

Because just like a cigarette smoker, the enlistee knew or should have known the risk going in. If the right wing model is less government spending and more private charity, this seems like a good enough place to start - if you can't get private charity to help the troops out here, it demonstrates that the right wing model is likely not workable.

Where the heck would the charity even come from?

Oh, nevermind--it'll never work.

 

[woody60707]

Because just like a cigarette smoker, the enlistee knew or should have known the risk going in. If the right wing model is less government spending and more private charity, this seems like a good enough place to start - if you can't get private charity to help the troops out here, it demonstrates that the right wing model is likely not workable.

So wait, you're using all the men and woman who have been hurt or killed in the US armed forces as a vehicle to attack (your slightly distorted view on) a piece of right wing ideology? And on Memorial day at that.

"Repubs are jerks, so we need to be bigger jerks". - Dumb people.

 

[JollyRoger]

Memorial Day is for the dead, not the deadbeats.

Anyway, I take it that there is little confidence that private charity is a good enough model to support even our finest and bravest.

I can be convinced otherwise, but so far, it seem the taxpayer-funded model is preferred by all.

 

[Dreadnought]

Interesting. I thought Disability claims were reserved for individuals who couldn't work. I can't imaging how half a million veterans sustained such critical wounds as to render them unfit for work.

Then again, drones don't need to file for Disability claims; maybe we're on to something there.

 

[JollyRoger]

I think government disability is a bit softer than if you are trying to get disability off a private sector job. It is my understanding that in some cases, you can still be capable and/or plan on holding down a similar job in the private sector that you held down on the taxpayer dime and still get the taxpayer to be on the hook for "disability" payments.

 

[Save_Ferris]

God. You really won't give up a few dollars just to help mentally and physically wounded veterans who were brave enough to fight for our country?

Is it really that hard on you?

 

[Dreadnought]

God. You really won't give up a few dollars just to help mentally and physically wounded veterans who were brave enough to fight for our country?

Is it really that hard on you?

Sure. They can have $3.00 each.

There, they got a few dollars!

 

[JollyRoger]

God. You really won't give up a few dollars just to help mentally and physically wounded veterans who were brave enough to fight for our country?

Is it really that hard on you?

Wouldn't it better if I gave that "few" dollars to a private charity that would be more efficient with my donation than to pay it to the government to hand out willy nilly?

 

[FriendlyFire]

You break it, you fix it, so its part of the cost of doing business. If a soldier is injured in his service to his nation, and that injury leads to a decreased quality of life, why shouldnt he be compensated for that?

You break it you own it.
Besides that whats Obama's death panels are for. Cleaning up Bush mess

 

[kochman]

Hopefully the price of caring for the soldiers who did as their country asked them to and get disabled in the process becomes so steep that we don't get involved in nearly as many conflicts...