Clinton, Hall push bill to help disabled veterans

By Susan Elan • The Journal News • September 23, 2008

• CORTLANDT - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Rep. John Hall and Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, came to the hometown of the Montrose Veterans Affairs hospital yesterday to gather support for legislation that would end the colossal backlog of veterans’ disability claims.

More than 830,000 claims from disabled veterans were pending at the Veterans Benefits Administration in 2007, and that number is expected to top 1 million in 2009 unless there is drastic reform, said Hall, chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Disability Assistance. He and Clinton spoke to an audience of about 50 veterans, local politicians and media at Cortlandt Town Hall.

A disability claim must be approved before a veteran can receive a monthly pension, health care or vocational rehabilitation.

“Too many wounded veterans are going broke while waiting for their claims to be processed,” said Rieckhoff, who is from Peekskill.

The Disability Claims Modernization Act, written by Hall, passed the House by 429-0 on July 30.

The Senate would have to approve Clinton’s companion bill, introduced in August, before an overhaul of the VA’s disability-claims system could take place. Congress is scheduled to adjourn for the year on Friday.

VA officials in Washington did not respond to a request for comment before the deadline.

Faced with decisions on the financial sector debacle, the Senate may not take up the VA legislation this week, but may have to return to Washington after the election, Clinton said before heading to lower Manhattan for a meeting with Federal Reserve officials.

“The number of seriously wounded is increasing,” Clinton said. “We have to remove the obstacles to treating these service-related injuries,” she said.

The proposed disability claims legislation would:

- Provide immediate compensation for severe, undisputed, service-connected injuries including a lost leg or arm, paralysis and traumatic brain injuries. Currently, veterans have to wait until every medical condition is evaluated - an average wait of six months - before receiving any benefits. Lesser injuries would be handled separately.

- Update the definitions of diseases and disorders and take a comprehensive approach to disability ratings, including factors such as loss of quality of life and future earnings capacity.

- Require a change from paper to electronic records within one year. Some service members are transported with their medical records on their gurney, Clinton said. When the paper files are lost, major delays result, she said.

- Establish an Office of Survivor Relations and allow the surviving family member of a veteran to take the veteran’s place while the claims process continues. Currently, when a veteran dies, the surviving family member has to start the claims process all over again - even if it has been stuck in the backlog for years, Hall said.

Speeding up access to benefits “could help prevent suicides, bankruptcies, poverty, family disruptions and homelessness among our nation’s disabled veterans,” Hall said.

Clinton said streamlining the benefits process would save money by cutting down on paperwork and reducing court appeals.

The VA has the money to make changes, Hall’s spokeswoman Meaghan Smith said yesterday, “because this year Congress already passed the highest budget increase in the VA’s history.”

Michael Tokarz, a vice chairman with the state and national offices of the American Legion, said the American people mistakenly believe their tax dollars are taking care of veterans’ needs.

Edward Gettler, who spent four years in the Navy during the Korean War, said yesterday that despite his exposure to atomic radiation during his service, his VA claims were denied for decades until Hall intervened on his behalf.

“Now they are treating me at the VA without charge and I am receiving the medications I must take to survive,” Gettler said.

Mike Ali, a representative of the National Military Order of the Purple Heart, said the legislation proposed by Hall and Clinton “does what we have been trying to do for so many years.” A Marine who lost his right leg and one eye while serving in Vietnam, Ali said as things are now, “a veteran doesn’t know where to go to get help.”

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