Over 70,000 veterans not applying for review of their claims

Udall pushes for veterans to reassess benefit pay
By Steve Block, Staff writer, TTi • August 16, 2011

A federal program designed to help wounded veterans with their disability status is not being utilized by most veterans, but an initiative by a Colorado senator seeks to ensure that the former military members get all the benefits they are entitled to.

Congress passed the Dignified Treatment of Wounded Warriors Act in 2008, in an effort to help wounded veterans who were discharged from military service for medical reasons between Sept. 11, 2001, and Dec. 31, 2009. The act established the Pentagon’s Physical Disability Board of Review (PDBR), because of reports that wounded veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were going without adequate medical treatment for their service-related injuries.

The board gives veterans the chance to appeal their service-assigned disability rating to make sure they are getting the benefits and services they have earned. The board has found that 56 percent of those veterans who applied to it have received higher combined disability ratings after a review.

Recent information shows that while about 77,000 veterans, 5,500 in Colorado alone, are eligible for a review by the board, only 2,411 veterans nationwide have applied for a review, or less than 5 percent of those eligible.

U.S. Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado sent a recent letter to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Eric Shinseki, asking him to coordinate with the Department of Defense to help spread the word about the program to ensure that veterans’ disability and retirement benefits match the sacrifices they have made for their country.
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