Military Health, Tricare programs - Army Times

Lawmaker: Be patient over wounded benefits

The Democratic point man for veterans’ issues in the House of Representatives is asking wounded service members and their families to be patient while they wait for radical reform of the government’s disability health care and benefits systems.

Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee chairman, said he knows Congress seems slow to improve veterans programs, but lawmakers don’t want to do more harm than good by rushing changes without considering the consequences.

Filner holds out hope that Congress will do more before adjourning for the year. But he said major changes, including tackling the backlog of disability claims, improving GI Bill benefits and overhauling the disability ratings process, would top his committee’s agenda next year. Some improvements in health care and the military’s physical evaluation process will be approved this year as part of the 2008 defense authorization bill, Filner said. A package of veterans’ benefits and health care legislation also could be passed if lawmakers can resolve a dispute over providing benefits for Filipino veterans who aided the U.S. during World War II.

Filner said any change to the disability system must include an effort to cut the backlog of veterans’ benefits claims, now at about 400,000. He proposes a radical solution: approving, with minimal questioning, claims filed by Vietnam vets, especially claims dealing with exposure to the toxic herbicide Agent Orange.

“We know Agent Orange is a carcinogen, and people could be exposed directly or indirectly in Vietnam,” he said. “We don’t need ... scientific proof any longer.”

Expanded payments would cover the disputed claims of Navy veterans who served on ships off the coast of Vietnam but still believe they have herbicide-related health problems.

Filner has another motive to push for the Veterans Affairs Department to approve Vietnam-era claims: He believes it will be easier to pass disability benefits reforms to help Afghanistan and Iraq war veterans — including a controversial plan that would consider income loss, quality of life and veterans’ continued participation in rehabilitation when setting monthly payments — if older veterans believe the government is also helping them.

“We have got to do something for both groups,” Filner said.

To cut the benefits backlog, Filner said he believes the VA needs a system that quickly approves simple claims and provides partial benefits to veterans while they wait for their claims to be verified and approved. But the VA and some veterans’ groups have concerns that automatically approving claims with no prior verification may encourage fraud.

Filner said next year’s agenda also will include improving GI Bill benefits for active-duty and reserve members.