Even after a Madison Veterans Hospital doctor diagnosed Army veteran Stephen Jackson with post-traumatic stress disorder, the Veterans Administration refused to grant him disability compensation.
“This is the problem, that they don’t see a person who wasn’t directly in combat as being exposed to an event that would have caused PTSD,” said Jackson, who served in Vietnam from 1972 to 1973, and saw a friend shot to death, smelled decomposing corpses and faced the constant danger of being robbed while transporting money as a courier. “I have to prove the exact incident that caused the PTSD to make it service connected — that’s not always possible.”
Jackson, 61, of Oregon, has been frustrated for four years by VA rejections of his claim. He is one of thousands now seeing a ray of hope in changes announced last week to make it easier for military veterans suffering from PTSD to obtain monthly benefit checks.
Veterans advocates praised the rule change, which went into effect Tuesday, but added they expect it will lead to more attempts to make fraudulent claims.
Under the changes, the VA no longer requires veterans to provide documented proof of events — such as an officer’s report on a firefight with enemy forces — that might have caused the anxiety disorder. Now a veteran may qualify if a VA psychologist or psychiatrist verifies that stressful experiences the veteran recalls are consistent with their military service and PTSD symptoms, including irritability, flashbacks, deep depression and other emotional or behavior problems.
The change is a recognition that “the military doesn’t send its clerks out into combat to write down everything that happens,” said Ron Abrams, co-director of the National Veterans Legal Services Program in Washington.
The maximum benefit for 100 percent disability for a single person is $2,673 a month.
‘I don’t play well with others’
Jackson said his duty in Vietnam kept him in near-constant fear. He worked in a military post exchange store on a base in Nha Trang and three times a week hitched rides on aircraft to collect briefcases full of military currency from smaller bases farther north.
“I was carrying large sums of money, which not only made me a target from the other side but from my own side,” Jackson said.
He said he was horrified one day by the odor wafting from poorly sealed body bags on the hot tarmac while waiting for a flight. Another time, he watched a friend fall dead from a sniper’s bullet.
He said his PTSD symptoms include a hair-trigger temper, night sweats and anxiety in crowds. He has worked as a computer and network technician, even owning his own business, but always was limited because “I don’t play well with others,” he said. He currently is rated 30 percent disabled with Agent Orange-related diabetes that entitles him to $517 a month. It’s not clear how much a PTSD benefit would add, he said.
Opportunity to abuse system
Jackson has filed his claims and appeals with the help and support of the Dane County Veterans Service Office. Service officers fill out paperwork and track claims for veterans.
Nationally, there are 200,000 pending PTSD claims and an estimated 90,000 will need to be reevaluated, said Jim Young, the Vernon County Veterans Service Officer in Viroqua and president of the National Association of County Veterans Service Officers. The rule change is a good thing and long overdue, but it opens the door for abuse, Young said.
“Unfortunately it’s an opportunity for the system to be abused, and there will be the percentile out there who will take advantage because they don’t have to provide as much documentation,” Young said.
Young said he and other service officers regularly weed out claims that are clearly false before they can be sent to the VA.
The VA took steps to tighten its own verification practices after a 2005 Inspector General’s review found errors in the checking of PTSD claims that equated to questionable payouts of $19.8 billion. But in recent years pressure has built to make it easier to obtain benefits.
Greatest effect on recent vets
Dane County Veterans Service Officer Michael Jackson said he expects claims from Vietnam-era and earlier veterans “will be coming out of the woodwork, grasping at straws,” and unrealistic claims will be denied.
The rule change will have its greatest effect on Iraq and Afghanistan veterans because so many non-combat personnel encounter roadside bombs, and because there are few places not in danger of mortar attacks or suicide bombs.
Even Wisconsin National Guard troops performing administrative jobs in Baghdad’s Green Zone were within range of mortar rounds that insurgents occasionally lobbed in blindly, said Bob Evans, the state Guard’s director of psychological health.
Most of the 3,200 members of the state Guard who had duties as prison guards or support personnel in Iraq last year underwent stress that could lead to PTSD, Evans said.
“I’ve seen people who weren’t even close to the battlefield who came down with PTSD and anxiety disorders,” Evans said.
Each individual reacts differently to frightening situations, and the cash benefit depends on the severity of symptoms, Abrams said.
“The VA is naturally skeptical about some claims,” Abrams said, but the new rules will cut some of the costs of repeated denials and hearings
“They are going to save a lot of time and money by just accepting more of these veterans’ claim,” Abrams said.
