tdiu Va Is Not Ready To Back Quality Of Life Increase

[Pete53]

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section...p;article=63955

Military Update: VA not ready to back extra pay for lost quality-of-life

By Tom Philpott, Special to Stars and Stripes

Pacific edition, Saturday, August 1, 2009

Monthly compensation that the Department of Veterans Affairs pays to veterans with service-connected disabilities is intended to replace average earnings loss due to their injuries or ailments.

But should VA also pay disabled veterans something extra for diminished quality of life? Two prominent commissions in 2007 said that it should. On Wednesday, however, a senior VA official told senators that the department isn’t prepared yet to endorse a qualify-of-life payment, or to make any other significant change to disability compensation.

“There’s more information that’s needed, and…more discussion that needs to take place with many experts, before we are prepared to say yes or no on any of those recommendations,” said Patrick W. Dunne, under secretary for benefits in VA’s Veterans Benefits Administration.

Sen. Richard Burr (N.C.), ranking Republican on the veterans’ affairs committee, raised the issue in a hearing on a different topic: What VA is doing to speed the processing of a rising number of disability claims.

Burr noted that VA just last year commissioned a study, by Economic Systems Inc., of Falls Church, Va., on appropriate levels of disability pay to compensate for loss of earning capacity and quality of life as a result of service-related disabilities. This six-month study was to follow up on recommendations from both the Veterans’ Disability Benefits Commission and the Dole-Shalala Commission in 2007 to reform disability compensation.

The benefits commission, in its comprehensive report, concluded that VA disability pay was too low for three categories of veterans: those who suffer from mental disabilities; those severely injured while young, and those deemed unemployable (i.e., rated IU or Individual Unemployability) by VA.

The commission also said current disability pay should reflect the “adverse impact…on quality of life” of veterans’ disabilities. Commissioners recognized that some severely injured veterans are paid a Special Monthly Compensation too on top of VA disability pay. But they said the VA rating schedule still should be revised to compensate many more veterans for diminished quality of life. In the interim, the commission said, Congress should increase VA disability compensation immediately by 25 percent.

The Dole-Shalala panel focused its recommendations on wounded warriors and veterans who were in service after the attacks of 9/11. It recommended restructuring their VA disability compensation into three parts: transition payments to cover short-term living expenses for disabled vets and their families; earning loss payments until veterans become eligible for social security, and a quality-of-life payment to compensate for non-work-related effects of permanent “combat-related” injuries.

The study by Economic Systems, Inc. (EconSys), delivered last August, looked at VA disability compensation with regard to earnings loss, loss of quality of life, transition benefits and other areas raised by the two commissions. To ensure that VA didn’t ignore the findings, the Veterans' Benefits Improvement Act of 2008 directed VA to evaluate the EconSys study and, in a report to Congress, give a timeline and a list of legislative changes needed to make any worthy disability pay reforms.

VA’s assessment of the EconSys study arrived on Capitol Hill July 22.

“But I don’t see any planned actions or timelines laid out in the VA’s report,” Burr told Dunne a week later. “Could you clarify whether VA plans to take any actions in response to that study?”

Dunne said EconSys did a “good job” considering its six-month deadline, but much more information and debate is needed before VA can back changes. For VA or Congress to act based on the “truly national policy recommendations” found in the EconSys study, which relied on insufficient cost and earnings data, “would not be serving our veterans properly,” Dunne said.

In reading VA’s evaluation of the $3.2 million EconSys study, it’s easy to see why VA officials are cautious. It’s a mixed bag for veterans. Some options are quite costly but might help many veterans. Others, like one calling for IU compensation eligibility to end in old age, would save VA money but anger many veterans. VA calls some of the recommendations “inconsistent with the nation’s obligations to its wounded warriors.”

EconSys presented three options for compensating for loss of quality of life. The easiest to understand would create a standard additional payment based on a veteran’s combined degree of disability. Payments would be set by assigning a quality-of-life score to the degree of disability.

“The report used several factors in coming up with the score, but also found that the overall quality of life varies greatly among veterans with the same disability rating, depending on the body system involved,” VA warned.

A second option would create a separate pay scale for loss of quality of life, based on a veteran's combined degree of disability and primary disability. Certain disabilities would be associated with greater quality-of-life loss than others. That might result in veterans with a lower combined degree of disability getting a higher quality-of-life payment, VA said.

A third option would have VA conduct individual clinical and rating assessments and establish separate, empirically-based rates for loss of earnings and loss of quality of life. The VA medical exam would have to be expanded to include a rater to assess a wide range of quality-of-life criteria.

EconSys estimated the annual cost of each of its quality of life payment options would be in a range of between $10 billion to $30 billion.

Burr urged Dunne to consult with VA Secretary Eric Shinseki, and then tell Congress “what the next step should be.” Burr noted that both major commissions saw a need to “move to a system that compensates for the loss of quality of life.” That course was favored too, for a time, within VA and Congress. That momentum to help veterans shouldn’t be lost, Burr said.

[john999]

The only discussion we should have as vets is how to burn the VARO, locally and in D.C. , to the groud, hypothetically speaking. There are 25 million of us and we are treated like dogs. 40 years of being treated like a third class citizen.

[LarryJ]

"Dunne said EconSys did a “good job” considering its six-month deadline, but much more information and debate is needed before VA can back changes. For VA or Congress to act based on the “truly national policy recommendations” found in the EconSys study, which relied on insufficient cost and earnings data, “would not be serving our veterans properly,” Dunne said."

What he really meant to say:

"Dunne said EconSys did a “good job” considering they shoulda contracted with my wife's company, but much more delay and kick-backs are needed before VA can back changes. For VA or Congress to act based on the “truly national policy recommendations” found in the EconSys study, which relied on truthful cost and earnings data, “would not be screwing our veterans properly,” Dunne said."

[broncovet]

What Dunne meant is that another research study costing the VA $40 million should be done because his brother is a research study contractor, and wants more money from the VA because he already used up all the IT jobs money.

The VA does not need any "more research" on giving Veterans pay raises. Why wasnt research done to determine if VA executives should get their bonuses? Because we already know the answer. VA executives dont deserve bonuses and Veterans do deserve a raise.

The VA has gotten HUGE increases in funding from congress. And the VA is doing their best to make sure as little as possible of that extra money will find its way to Veterans, and as much as possible of that money will find its way to crooked contractors who pay off VA executives, and to Veterans Employee executive bonuses.

[jbasser]

Always keep a glimmer of hope on the back burner as it may some day come to be a reality.

J

[SLEDGE]

Back up and take a deep breath.

This is just another bout of smoke and mirrors.

Prestidigitation.

Concentrate on the basic issues like always, not on these pie-in-the-sky rumors.

The last time the VA made me an appointment at a large facility, three and a half hours away, I received the travel pay for the distance to the nearest CLINIC.

The clinic is about 48 miles away, the hospital was over 250.

The facility that I normally go to is 68 miles away.

The travel office there has just informed me that I will receive travel pay to the clinic that is closer and therefore less gas money. 48 miles worth instead of the actual 68.

Do you folks really believe in this quality of life stuff?

They are systematically reducing the quality of life right now by screwing us out of travel pay.

Travel pay that was recently increased and still behind everybody else.

There are many other examples but, I think I made my point.

sledge