Few injured, ill troops get disability pay they requested
Tempest
LARRY MARGASAK
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/breaking_news/9297133.htm
WASHINGTON - The military's system for compensating soldiers who become
sick, injured or wounded can be as unforgiving as the battlefield: Fewer
than one in 10 applicants receives the long-term disability payments
they request.
Nearly one-third of injured National Guard and Reserve veterans
returning from the Iraqi and Afghan wars are being forced to wait more
than four months to learn if they will even be compensated. That is a
long time for soldiers who might not have other sources of income.
The Army knows that troops are unhappy. But military officials say
soldiers do not understand that their disability system measures fitness
for duty, not the degree of one's sacrifice.
Most soldiers applying for disability pay - 56 percent in the Army's
case - are leaving the military with a one-time, lump sum payment that
some say is inadequate.
Lavoda Anderson, of Ninety Six, S.C., said she had a life-altering
injury to her back while under fire in Iraq last year. In constant pain,
she was jolted anew when the Army calculated her compensation for
medical retirement at $13,400.
"I feel I was treated very unfairly," said Anderson, who did not return
to her prewar job as a dialysis technician and is raising her 4-year-old
daughter. "I didn't get adequate care. I feel like I'm useless most of
the time."
The military's disability system is like workers' compensation and
long-term disability in the private sector. It pays people when they
have illnesses and injuries that are job-related.
The military, however, looks at a much narrower set of circumstances
than insurers or the Department of Veterans Affairs. It only evaluates
ailments that make a soldier unfit for duty in his or her specialty. For
example, can an infantryman still run?
The more generous VA compensation system considers all service-connected
medical conditions.
Soldiers who receive disability compensation from the military also can
apply to the VA for disability pay. The military compensation is needed,
however, to tide a soldier over while waiting for the VA. The department
recently was averaging 171 days to make initial disability decisions.
When the VA's disability compensation kicks in, it usually replaces
military pay. Recipients cannot benefit from both systems at the same time.
In the military system, the Army says, many soldiers misunderstand that
pain by itself won't win them compensation.
"You can't be retired on pain claims alone," said Dennis Brower, legal
adviser to the Army Disability Agency. "Pain is unmeasurable. It's
subjective."
The Army does not keep statistics on the dollar amounts of disability
payouts because they are based on a formula that includes a percentage
assigned to each soldier's disability. But it does keep records on how
many soldiers applying for long-term disability receive compensation.
The majority, 56.1 percent, were given a one-time lump sum payment in
2003. Seventeen percent received nothing at all because they either were
declared fit for duty or determined to suffer injuries unrelated to
their service or due to negligence.
Another 17.1 percent received temporary disability payments that can be
reviewed within five years. And just 9.8 percent won long-term
disability pay that lasts for life.
Jesus Oliveras, a chief warrant officer in an Augusta, Ga., reserve
unit, was among those ordered back to duty without compensation.
Oliveras said doctors wrote on his records that he had a hearing loss.
He contends they gave little recognition to his real problems:
debilitating back and shoulder injuries. Despite those injuries, the
maintenance technician volunteered for service in Iraq.
"At times I felt lousy, as a second-class citizen, especially coming
from a war zone," Oliveras said. "They sent us to fight an enemy and
when we returned, we had to fight another enemy - us."
Oliveras said he accepted the fit-for-duty ruling because he is eligible
for regular military retirement in three years.
Brower, the lawyer for the Army disability agency, said, "You can't give
higher disability ratings to soldiers who you feel emotionally deserve
it. It would be nice to give every soldier 100 percent (disability), but
as a taxpayer, you might not like that."
Soldiers, particularly National Guard and Reserve members, also complain
about long delays in medical diagnosis and treatment before they can
receive a determination of disability.
Col. Michael Deaton of the Army surgeon general's office said that as of
late June, 32 percent of the activated Guard and Reserve members were in
a medical holdover status more than 120 days. That compares with 41
percent in November.
A program that allows soldiers to be treated near where they live has
helped to reduce waiting times for medical care, he said.
Spc. John Ramsey, a deputy sheriff in Orange County, Fla., had medical
bills in the thousands of dollars and was dogged by creditors.
Meanwhile, the state and federal governments fought over responsibility
for his shoulder injuries suffered in Iraq.
"My wife and I and two kids were put through hell because of this,"
Ramsey said.
Sgt. John Beard of Jacksonville, Fla., who returned from Iraq with
shrapnel wounds in his back, legs and face, said he painfully waited in
long lines for processing. On one occasion, confronting an irritable
soldier handling pay records, Beard said, "I snatched my orders out of
his hands and left."
Staff Sgt. Dwayne Fitzpatrick of Orlando, Fla., won his appeal of an
initial offer of a one-time, $23,000 severance payment. He qualified
instead for a disability payment of $1,300 a month.
"They dangle some money in your face, so many soldiers will take it and
run," he said. "They low-ball everybody. I'm looking at the long term."
--
"Ignorance is an evil weed, which dictators may cultivate among their
dupes, but which no democracy can afford among its citizens."
- William H. Beveridge, 1944
Seethis Pass
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I wonder what the troops would be getting from the bush administration
if the were billionaires?
Plenty, I would think, and Yesterday.
All you must do to get the support of the United States government
under the republicans is BE A BILLIONAIRE.
So dammit, start being one if you expect to be an American citizen.
Or else you can be a suspected terrorist, like the rest of us.
Them's the choices.