Posted on Jun 16, 2016
Why does the GOP believe that giving veterans a 25% disability pay increase is too costly and too difficult?
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On June 15 spoke with Erik Phelps who works for Senator Rounds and posted a copy of his email reply to me. Erik basically said that it would be too expensive and too difficult to give veterans a 25% disability pay increase. He explained ( as if we didn't already know) that the VA spends $79 billion a year in disability pay and to give veterans a 25% disability pay increase would cost $19 billion to give a pay increase. He compared getting the bill passed to getting the zika virus bill passed. He also said that it would be too hard to get Quality Of Life payments and opening up the VA pension to service connected disability passed, because the cost. I will repost the email so you can read it for your self. But before I go any further here is my justification for asking for those things https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-110hhrg39461/html/CHRG-110hhrg39461.htm
Now looking at what Erik said it would be disheartening because of the cost. But notice he didn't mention that it would only be a $444.50 increase for the average disabled veteran monthly. Some would say that Veterans'disability pay isn't meant to be lived on. Well they would be wrong. A veteran who qualifies for 100% VA disability may qualify for any other type of disability benefits. Because the criteria are so different. In fact 56% of veterans who are 100% disabled service connected are denied social security benefits. Also the VA cannot consider SsDi when awarding disability benefits and SsDi can't consider VA benefits when awarding disability. VA disability benefits are awarded as sole source income and can only consider military benefits. When the VA disability benefit program started it was meant to replace lost potential earnings that was calculated based on the national median income. Today that is around $52,000.00 a year and VA disability for a veteran with a service connected disability rating of 100% is just under $35,000.00 a year.
Do you think that Veterans deserve a 25% disability pay increase regardless of the additional cost?
Do you think veterans who have a service connected disability rating of 100% or permanent and total and are not receiving any military retirement should be able to draw the maximum amount of VA pension?
Do you think Quality Of Life payments should be made to veterans who have a service connected disability rating of 60% or more?
Do you think the Senators should count the cost before talking about going to war?
How do you think the government should cover the increased cost if it were to give the pay raise?
How would the disability pay increase will effect you?
Now looking at what Erik said it would be disheartening because of the cost. But notice he didn't mention that it would only be a $444.50 increase for the average disabled veteran monthly. Some would say that Veterans'disability pay isn't meant to be lived on. Well they would be wrong. A veteran who qualifies for 100% VA disability may qualify for any other type of disability benefits. Because the criteria are so different. In fact 56% of veterans who are 100% disabled service connected are denied social security benefits. Also the VA cannot consider SsDi when awarding disability benefits and SsDi can't consider VA benefits when awarding disability. VA disability benefits are awarded as sole source income and can only consider military benefits. When the VA disability benefit program started it was meant to replace lost potential earnings that was calculated based on the national median income. Today that is around $52,000.00 a year and VA disability for a veteran with a service connected disability rating of 100% is just under $35,000.00 a year.
Do you think that Veterans deserve a 25% disability pay increase regardless of the additional cost?
Do you think veterans who have a service connected disability rating of 100% or permanent and total and are not receiving any military retirement should be able to draw the maximum amount of VA pension?
Do you think Quality Of Life payments should be made to veterans who have a service connected disability rating of 60% or more?
Do you think the Senators should count the cost before talking about going to war?
How do you think the government should cover the increased cost if it were to give the pay raise?
How would the disability pay increase will effect you?
Posted in these groups: 
Politics
Disabled Veterans
Politics Disabled Veterans
Posted 8 y ago
Responses: 31
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Why?
Because unlike Democrats, Republicans want to identify where the funding is going to come from before passing bills like this.
Better question would be; Why didn't Democrats identify a source of funding that would allow this bill to pass??
Because unlike Democrats, Republicans want to identify where the funding is going to come from before passing bills like this.
Better question would be; Why didn't Democrats identify a source of funding that would allow this bill to pass??
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PO3 Michael James
CPO Coluccio, Sir; Very interesting.. responses appear to relate to substance abuse .. Your response to the question was that Republicans, Democrats (Congress) identify where funds are going to come from, before they pass a bill.. Does Congress, Republicans/Democrats have a drug problem ? Because they always give themselves pay increases.. they never consider where the FUNDS are coming from !!
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SSG Agustin Atherley
Democrats or GOP they should take all issues into consideration before sending us to war. The GOP didn't consider the cost of the war in Iraq & Afghanistan . They didn't even put it on the books, now we are paying for it with the huge deficits. GOP only care about cost when they are not in control.
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SSG Agustin Atherley
Or maybe to increase taxes on the rich people that gets all the benefits of the wars we fight but doesn't offer any sacrifices. Their children are too good to fight for this country.
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The VA system is rife with fraud, waste and abuse...and that's just on the Servicemembers part, it is clearly also a mess on the administration side.
I would FIRST like to see the VA administration system as a whole revamped, I would like EVERY VA claim of disability reevaluated, I would like those caught gaming the system, to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and then I would like to see those that are truly disabled receive a fair amount in relation to thier level of disability.
Only when the system is being used above board and honorably will we be taken justly and seriously for asking for even more.
I would FIRST like to see the VA administration system as a whole revamped, I would like EVERY VA claim of disability reevaluated, I would like those caught gaming the system, to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and then I would like to see those that are truly disabled receive a fair amount in relation to thier level of disability.
Only when the system is being used above board and honorably will we be taken justly and seriously for asking for even more.
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SGT Frank Pritchett
Please, I have sleep APNEA and was diagnosed while on active duty, stop breathing while your asleep is scary, waking up tired like you ran a marathon is worse; death comes in your sleep.
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LCDR (Join to see)
SGT Frank Pritchett - Calm down, Bro. He wasn't attacking you. Everyone has sleep apnea. It is a natural result of the slow-down of all bodily processes during sleep-- breathing slows down, too. The difference is only in degree of severity.
The SGM is not claiming that no one has it, or that no one should receive a fair percentage of disability for it. He is saying that WAY too many people have been gaming that particular area of the system for WAY too long. Everyone knows that was the best racket going for at least the last decade. (Evidence of this is the docs have found a way to actually monitor the frequency of use of the CPAP machines, and you have to actually USE one in order to maintain the disability claim for sleep apnea.) Your case sounds legit. There are a LOT that aren't.
The bigger picture of what he is saying is that if we veterans were honest in our claims, AND the VA administration managed to get unf***ed, we would all be in a better position to more adequately compensate the truly un-employable disabled as opposed to-- as the original post suggests-- a blanket pay raise that the Congressman's aide appropriately pointed out is too expensive in our current budgetary environment.
The SGM is not claiming that no one has it, or that no one should receive a fair percentage of disability for it. He is saying that WAY too many people have been gaming that particular area of the system for WAY too long. Everyone knows that was the best racket going for at least the last decade. (Evidence of this is the docs have found a way to actually monitor the frequency of use of the CPAP machines, and you have to actually USE one in order to maintain the disability claim for sleep apnea.) Your case sounds legit. There are a LOT that aren't.
The bigger picture of what he is saying is that if we veterans were honest in our claims, AND the VA administration managed to get unf***ed, we would all be in a better position to more adequately compensate the truly un-employable disabled as opposed to-- as the original post suggests-- a blanket pay raise that the Congressman's aide appropriately pointed out is too expensive in our current budgetary environment.
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1SG (Join to see)
I can't begin to tell you how much fraud, waste and abuse that there is in the VA Comp and Pen systems. Anecdotally based on my observation, about a third of claims are blatantly false or exaggerated with little in the way of examination necessary to determine that, and about a third of the remainder are found to be fraudulent or exaggerated after development. That is half. And that is a boatload of money potentially taken from those who need and deserve it.
The biggest scam by far is for "Individual Unemployability", where a Veteran with a less than 100% rating (say, 50% for PTSD) gets 100% Compensation due to their inability to get and maintain employment. As often as not, it is a younger Veteran with other (not rated) issues, but a large number get IU simply because they have turned 65 and reached retirement age. Next to no one on IU has attained 20-year retirement.
Another fun fact is that when an undeserved benefit is identified and the money collected back, a high percentage (approaching half) are waivered for various reasons. Many of these are due to issues with dependents, and not reporting changes (chiefly divorces resulting in changes in custody or loss of eligibility due to remarriage of surviving spouses).
The biggest scam by far is for "Individual Unemployability", where a Veteran with a less than 100% rating (say, 50% for PTSD) gets 100% Compensation due to their inability to get and maintain employment. As often as not, it is a younger Veteran with other (not rated) issues, but a large number get IU simply because they have turned 65 and reached retirement age. Next to no one on IU has attained 20-year retirement.
Another fun fact is that when an undeserved benefit is identified and the money collected back, a high percentage (approaching half) are waivered for various reasons. Many of these are due to issues with dependents, and not reporting changes (chiefly divorces resulting in changes in custody or loss of eligibility due to remarriage of surviving spouses).
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CW3 Kevin Storm
1SG (Join to see) - Top, I agree, there are certain skills sets I see from certain groups who were admin and have PTSD claims having never left a FOB. I see and hear about it at my facility.
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LCpl Timothy McCain LTC Stephen F. COL Mikel J. Burroughs SMSgt Minister Gerald A. "Doc" Thomas SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL TSgt Hunter Logan I am one of those 100% SC that was denied social security benefits twice (2004&2007) because I had a 1987 college degree in Computer Science and completed in 1981 Army Military Occupational Specilty (MOS) 74F computer programmer/analyst. There is not a lot of call these days for COBAL, FORTRAN, Basic and JCL computer languages.
I asked the supposed expert how much time he spent in the military. His response was 3 years lower enlisted. So I asked him how much interaction he had with his First Sergeant and Battalion CSM/SGM. He responded very little so I commented that those are leadership and management roles and Deal with overall mission operation and not actual physical manual labor.
They determined I could do data entry or guard duty in an office with limited movement. They told me that I was trained in computers be it 20/25 years were little has changed and did not look disabled.
I know of lazy uneducated unwed mothers, criminals and drug addicts that qualified.
They did not care about PTSD, Sleep Apnea, nerve damage surgery to both arms and wrists, Spinal Stenosis w CSpine having a cage for my C6, rods and screw, Prostrate Caner, other Nuerological disorders related to toxins exposures at Fort McClellan, Al adjacent to the Monsanto plant that produced Agent Orange and numerous other deadly toxins.
I asked the supposed expert how much time he spent in the military. His response was 3 years lower enlisted. So I asked him how much interaction he had with his First Sergeant and Battalion CSM/SGM. He responded very little so I commented that those are leadership and management roles and Deal with overall mission operation and not actual physical manual labor.
They determined I could do data entry or guard duty in an office with limited movement. They told me that I was trained in computers be it 20/25 years were little has changed and did not look disabled.
I know of lazy uneducated unwed mothers, criminals and drug addicts that qualified.
They did not care about PTSD, Sleep Apnea, nerve damage surgery to both arms and wrists, Spinal Stenosis w CSpine having a cage for my C6, rods and screw, Prostrate Caner, other Nuerological disorders related to toxins exposures at Fort McClellan, Al adjacent to the Monsanto plant that produced Agent Orange and numerous other deadly toxins.
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Look the politicians have already pulled from numerous areas to fund there bills. Most politicians truly don't give a crap about our service members anymore and they say things to get the vote. Social Security haha you mean the money they pulled from to fund bills to help illegals. Service members aren't looked at like they used to be and 9/10 we are the ones that suffer at the greed and power of the politicians.
Veterans deserve to be treated better than the illegals. If you are 100% service connected you should be able to use what ever you need to to survive. Quality of life payments should be made for 60%-90% once you are 100% then the pension and retirement should suffice. Senators only care what they can put in there pocket and they don't care what the cost is. There are several programs that could be cut to pay for it, like the money for illegals, welfare, dont give foreign aid to anybody. It will help me greatly.
Veterans deserve to be treated better than the illegals. If you are 100% service connected you should be able to use what ever you need to to survive. Quality of life payments should be made for 60%-90% once you are 100% then the pension and retirement should suffice. Senators only care what they can put in there pocket and they don't care what the cost is. There are several programs that could be cut to pay for it, like the money for illegals, welfare, dont give foreign aid to anybody. It will help me greatly.
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The GOP has it right in my opinion, the Democrats have not officially supported any increase so the GOP part of your question is not really warranted.
Answering Your Questions First:
1) Do you think that Veterans deserve a 25% disability pay increase regardless of the additional cost?
Answer: No
2) Do you think veterans who have a service connected disability rating of 100% or permanent and total and are not receiving any military retirement should be able to draw the maximum amount of VA pension?
Answer: Yes but only for 100% and non employable
3) Do you think Quality Of Life payments should be made to veterans who have a service connected disability rating of 60% or more?
Answer: No. Serves no real purpose and increases the US debt.
4) Do you think the Senators should count the cost before talking about going to war?
Answer: No. Going to War is not connected in any way to VA or future disability payments
5) How do you think the government should cover the increased cost if it were to give the pay raise?
Answer: They would have to find it from another program to cut, I am tired of the increasing debt of the United States. We should live within what we collect every year.
6) How would the disability pay increase will effect you?
Answer: Not much. I am 50% VA, retired mil and working. No impact on me at all.
Excerpt from the humongous Link:
The Commission made 113 recommendations, discussion on the UP TO 25% increase in VA compensation (not %25).
While permanent quality of life measures are developed, studied, and implemented, we recommend that compensation payments be increased up to 25 percent with priority to the more seriously disabled.
***The hypothetical that we put together said that a 100 percent disabled person who is now
receiving $2,393 ($28,716 per year) in individual compensation per month, with a quality of life increase of 25 percent, that would be about $598 and that would raise them to $2,991 ($35,892 per year).
***Going to the other end of the scale, a 10 percent disabled person who is receiving $112 a month, we suggested that the quality of life for that person might be 2\1/2\ percent, which would be an additional $3 a month.
Here is my math and personal dissection:
National Median Income does not subtract taxes, if we subtract Federal Tax and estimated states taxes The USA Median Income of $52,000 and we assume the person is married:
$52,000xSocial Security Tax 7.65%=$3,978
$52,000xfed tax rate 15%= $7,800
$52,000x VA state Tax 5.75%=$2,990
$52,000-$3,978-$7,800-$2,990=$37,232.
So the NET income after taxes is $37,232 for my State of VA. Other states would be more or less. In States with no income tax the amount would be $40,222.
Following this logic for a 100% disabled AND NON EMPLOYABLE person I would agree that this category should be increased. While the number of personnel in this category is probably very low, we could probably justify a full 25% for this category.
For those that are employable at 100%-10% I would not apply anything close to a 25% increase. I would also not apply this by a sliding scale but I would INCREASE all monthly stipends by the same amount say 10%. Each rating category would receive a higher increase based upon the % of disability. Make Sense? sSemper Fi.
Answering Your Questions First:
1) Do you think that Veterans deserve a 25% disability pay increase regardless of the additional cost?
Answer: No
2) Do you think veterans who have a service connected disability rating of 100% or permanent and total and are not receiving any military retirement should be able to draw the maximum amount of VA pension?
Answer: Yes but only for 100% and non employable
3) Do you think Quality Of Life payments should be made to veterans who have a service connected disability rating of 60% or more?
Answer: No. Serves no real purpose and increases the US debt.
4) Do you think the Senators should count the cost before talking about going to war?
Answer: No. Going to War is not connected in any way to VA or future disability payments
5) How do you think the government should cover the increased cost if it were to give the pay raise?
Answer: They would have to find it from another program to cut, I am tired of the increasing debt of the United States. We should live within what we collect every year.
6) How would the disability pay increase will effect you?
Answer: Not much. I am 50% VA, retired mil and working. No impact on me at all.
Excerpt from the humongous Link:
The Commission made 113 recommendations, discussion on the UP TO 25% increase in VA compensation (not %25).
While permanent quality of life measures are developed, studied, and implemented, we recommend that compensation payments be increased up to 25 percent with priority to the more seriously disabled.
***The hypothetical that we put together said that a 100 percent disabled person who is now
receiving $2,393 ($28,716 per year) in individual compensation per month, with a quality of life increase of 25 percent, that would be about $598 and that would raise them to $2,991 ($35,892 per year).
***Going to the other end of the scale, a 10 percent disabled person who is receiving $112 a month, we suggested that the quality of life for that person might be 2\1/2\ percent, which would be an additional $3 a month.
Here is my math and personal dissection:
National Median Income does not subtract taxes, if we subtract Federal Tax and estimated states taxes The USA Median Income of $52,000 and we assume the person is married:
$52,000xSocial Security Tax 7.65%=$3,978
$52,000xfed tax rate 15%= $7,800
$52,000x VA state Tax 5.75%=$2,990
$52,000-$3,978-$7,800-$2,990=$37,232.
So the NET income after taxes is $37,232 for my State of VA. Other states would be more or less. In States with no income tax the amount would be $40,222.
Following this logic for a 100% disabled AND NON EMPLOYABLE person I would agree that this category should be increased. While the number of personnel in this category is probably very low, we could probably justify a full 25% for this category.
For those that are employable at 100%-10% I would not apply anything close to a 25% increase. I would also not apply this by a sliding scale but I would INCREASE all monthly stipends by the same amount say 10%. Each rating category would receive a higher increase based upon the % of disability. Make Sense? sSemper Fi.
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LCpl Timothy McCain
I enjoy your comments keep them coming. But you forgot to add the cost of living for the last eight years it would bring the amount to $3,600.00 there abouts. I can agree that the veteran should be considered UI. But not 100% UI since the VA generally will reduce the person rate from 100% to 70% when awarding UI to prevent the veteran for Qualifying for special monthly compensation.
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PO3 Antonio Mena
That's quite a bit of time and effort to ensure we're all aware how important the national debt is to you. Maybe you haven't been informed that your fiscally responsible conservative republicans no longer give a shit about national debt increases. They never did. It was one of their lines of bullshit they use in order to secure the vote of people like you who get no benefit from their policies, which are crafted to make sure the obscenely wealthy get even more obscenely wealthy while making you feel guilty for acting as if your sacrifice entitles you to a life free of worrying about how you're going to make the next rent payment.
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I have to agree with you. Instead of the politicians line in their pocket with that 25% increase they should be giving it to the veterans.
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CPO Frank Coluccio
Not that I am a fan of Congress, but the amount of their pay raises are tied to the same percentage that ALL Federal employees get, even military.
But when you make a minimum of $174,000 per year, your 1.3% (2016) raise, looks a lot nicer than those making $50,000
But when you make a minimum of $174,000 per year, your 1.3% (2016) raise, looks a lot nicer than those making $50,000
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It"s all politics. The shame is they (government) need to do more for disabled veterans. Non residence in this country get treated better than us veterans in certain situations. In short, it's a mess. It should not matter which major political party proposes the increase, they should be working in unison as Americans to do the right thing and take care of disabled veterans, We are all sacrificing our lives for a bigger cause.
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Personally this is tough for me as it is an entitlement program and as a nation we are broke. However, if anyone has earned an increase it is a disabled veteran and I would support an increase. With that said though there is too much abuse of the system and it is a huge black eye on us all. I want the money to go to disabled veterans and not someone who is a fraud and I've seen too much of the latter. If they tightened the system up it would allow more money to those that truly need it.
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LCpl Timothy McCain
Okay. But Captain if they were able to do what you are saying tighten up the program how would it look in your eyes.
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CPT Mark Gonzalez
LCpl Timothy McCain - They would apply stringent means testing especially for mental health conditions which are not subject to lab tests.
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LCpl Timothy McCain
CPT Mark Gonzalez - they already do that. What what was a 100% disabling is only 70% now. It's not as easy as you think to get 100% disability. Don't assume you know if you have not been
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