Bill to ease VA proof of PTSD moves forward

Flood congress with your phone calls. Over 900,000 claims in the backlog and among them are PTSD veterans waiting along with their families. Why focus on them in the backlog? Simple. As bad as it is for all veterans to have to wait, because it means no income, for PTSD veterans, it's worse.



I know because we went through it for six years. Each day it was waiting and hoping for the letter to come saying his claim was approved. It was beyond just financial issues. It was the acknowledgment of the government that what was eating my husband away was because he served this nation. Having to fight the VA along with suffering PTSD, made it worse.

PTSD veterans lose hope among other things. They try to hang on for reasons to get up after nightmares plague their nights and flashbacks attack their days. Telling them the VA doesn't have time for their pain is a cut to the hope line they try to hang onto. An approved claim is acknowledgment of the cause of the wound they carry.

While all wounds caused by service to this country need to be honored as soon as possible, this backlog of claims is non-defensible. When they cannot work, who is paying their bills? What makes all of this worse is when a veteran has sought treatment and compensation they are responsible for the medical care they receive until the claim is approved. If they do not meet the threshold of free care based on past income, they have to pay out of pocket because insurance companies do not have to pay.

We had private health insurance. We thought that while the VA was denying my husband's claim, the insurance would pay for it until his claim was finally approved, but as soon as the VA doctors said it was PTSD due to Vietnam, they said it was the government's responsibility. The insurance company wouldn't pay, the VA wouldn't pay and we were the only ones paying the price. We had to pay the price of endless days with him suffering, pay with the income he was loosing, then had to pay the price of his care. The VA attached our tax refund each year until his claim was approved.

When it was finally approved, they paid us back most of the money but what they could not pay back was the damage it had done to him. In the process of seeking care and having to pay for it, it damaged him to the point where he stopped going for treatment. We lost all that time when he could have been receiving the help he needed to heal. The bitter taste in our mouths took a long time to fade. Wasn't it bad enough he waited from 1971 until 1993 to seek help? All that time lost because the VA wasn't doing the outreach they needed to do to help the veterans know what PTSD was made it worse.

What we see going on today with some outreach work being done was not available for Vietnam veterans, or older veterans, until they came home and fought for it. Now they are understanding the wound the carried home with them along with the newer veterans. Each day that passes without their claims being honored cost them more and more suffering and PTSD getting worse. One more thing not discussed is the fact many of the physically wound also have PTSD. This bill needs to move quickly so that their claims are approved and they are finally reassured the government takes responsibility for the wounds they carry because they served and risked their lives.

Make sure your congressman does not come out with another assault against them by voting against this bill or coming out with some ridiculous statement like "it's too good for them" because when it comes to our veterans, it's the least we owe them.

Bill to ease VA proof of PTSD moves forward

By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Jun 5, 2009 16:54:09 EDT

A bill designed to make it easier for veterans to receive benefits and immediate care for post-traumatic stress disorder moved to the House Veterans Affairs Committee on Wednesday and is expected to be voted on by the committee next week.

HR 952 would clarify that “combat with the enemy” is defined as duty in a combat theater during a time of war or against a “hostile force during a period of hostilities” for those seeking service-connected benefits for disabilities.

Rep. John Hall, D-N.Y., introduced the bill, saying it “essentially establishes service in combat as a presumptive stressor for the incurrence of PTSD.”

“No longer should veterans have to leap high hurdles and battle with VA in order to receive urgently needed benefits,” Hall said.

In the past, veterans have had to ask for witness letters from commanders or fellow service members to verify that they had been exposed to a traumatic event. In some cases, those people were difficult to find; some had died. In other cases, the veterans gave up because asking for the letters forced them to relive experiences they were not ready to talk about.

Those not in infantry or other combat-related positions — including all women — also have had a difficult time proving combat status.
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Bill to ease VA proof of PTSD moves forward