Comment by vkou
16 hours ago
Have you made any VA claims, or have you worked for the VA?
I know people who have done both, and profligacy is not something either would accuse the organization of.
16 hours ago
Have you made any VA claims, or have you worked for the VA?
I know people who have done both, and profligacy is not something either would accuse the organization of.
I know a lot of 100%-disabled vets who had desk jobs while in, who are healthy, rock-climb etc. It's absolutely an abused system. Basically, you claim various categories, and get 10% disability for each category you claim.
edit: They usually have full-time jobs too.
When I lived in DC I knew several vets who received disability payments, worked well paid full time jobs at defense contractors and otherwise lived normal active lives. It definitely looked a little questionable
AIUI, pretty much everyone can get a partial disability rating for tinnitus
Sounds...legit tho? I sure wouldn't want tinnitus, so if that can be softened, seems worth doing.
I think the implication is that people who don't have tinnitus can also claim it - there's no objective test to verify whether it's true.
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There are entire online communities around gaming the system. On how to report pre-service injuries as service related. On how to deliberately build a huge medical file while you're in to support your disability claim later. On where to go and when, in order to get your highest possible rating. Things to say and not to say. There is an entire industry of paid consultants that help you get the biggest claim possible.
It's a big issue. Over 30% of vets today have disability compared to 15% in 2008. 3% of federal revenue goes to paying veteran disability alone and it's climbing. No politician can talk about it because campaigning on taking money from disabled veterans is the best way to nuke yourself in the polls.
we should have talked about it back in 2001 before we sent these young men to risk their lives and health in a misbegotten crusade. The rise in costs for veterans care was predictable: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2007/02/terror-war-co...
There's plenty of things to say about the waste and pointlessness of the GWOT.
But there were never enough deployments to justify these levels of disability claims. And not every person deployed goes into combat. And not every person that goes into combat becomes disabled. A rise was predictable. 30% simply implies a lot of a dishonesty.
I recommend you search youtube for “va disability 100 percent” and witness the staggering number of channels clearly teaching people to game the system, complete with shush face thumbnails. There seems to be some profligacy from that angle.
Next you’re going to tell me that all those “get rich by buying my book” YouTube channels mean people must be getting rich by buying their books.
So are you saying all of the people who watch these channels (in your analogy they "buy get rich quick books") never try to get a disability status? or they try and never make it?
Or do they go for an interview, get their tinnitus, ibs, or chronic back pain diagnosis then try again for more next time?
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Look, I'm not saying we shouldn't help/trust veterans; My father is a severely disabled Vietnam war vet and gave up his body for the air force over a long career. He deserved to have his stairlift paid for by the taxpayer, but he shouldn't have to fight with corrupt service providers who can't do a proper job installing the thing. He shouldn't have to deal with a contractor that won't repair the botched installation for a year because it would cut into their profit margin.
Similarly, he shouldn't have his services degraded because other vets have found out how to take more than their fair share. I'm open to think there is minimal graft, but my experiences say there is some more going on than I can be supportive of.
Maybe you could provide some data to show how I'm mistaken.
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