November 11, 2005 in City

VA won’t challenge stress disorder cases

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The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on Thursday reversed its decision to review the disability cases of 72,000 veterans nationwide who receive compensation for post-traumatic stress disorder, VA Secretary Jim Nicholson said Thursday.

The VA announced in August that it would review the disability claims approved between 1999 and 2004, during which time the number of veterans receiving benefits for PTSD increased about 80 percent, from 120,265 to 215, 871. Last year the VA paid out $4.3 billion for such benefits.

About 11,000 Washington state veterans receive some amount of compensation for PTSD.

Thursday’s decision came as welcome news to Senate Democrats, including U.S. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, who opposed the review.

“I’m thrilled that today the VA has agreed that veterans who are facing mental health challenges deserve our support, and not our scrutiny,” Murray said.

In September, she attached an amendment to the 2006 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill that would have blocked the review until the VA justified it to Congress. It would have prevented the VA from stopping veterans’ benefits except in cases of fraud.

The department’s planned review of the PTSD claims came after an inspector general’s study of 2,100 cases found inconsistencies in the way a third of them were processed. Many lacked the necessary paperwork. On Thursday, Nicholson said the problems with those cases “appeared to be administrative in nature.”

“In the absence of evidence of fraud, we’re not going to put our veterans through the anxiety of a widespread review of their disability claims,” Nicholson said.

Murray cited a news report in October that a New Mexico veteran committed suicide after receiving a letter from the VA that his disability benefits would be investigated.

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