VA Comp Payment Disparity Update

The VA pulled back a week-old policy that required the most seriously disabled veterans to wait for a second review on their cases before the agency would pay any money. The VA decided it needed to revise their JUN 05 directive that was issued to all 57 regional VA offices through a memo (a copy of which was obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times) that required two approving reviews for veterans to be granted disability for post-traumatic stress disorder or to be deemed 100% disabled or unemployable. A point of contention among many veterans was that the directive had not required a second review to deny such cases. Senators Dick Durbin and Barack Obama also thought the policy "ignored" the possibility that denials could be wrong.

The two Illinois senators sent VA Secretary Jim Nicholson a letter calling the policy "disturbing" and demanding that denials for PTSD claims receive extra scrutiny. The VA inspector general's investigation last month showed that PTSD and mental disabilities were among the most highly subjective cases in the nation. That report also showed that states where VA offices pay the most disability also have the largest percentage of veterans who are 100% disabled for PTSD.

Only 2.8% of Illinois' veterans are rated 100% disabled for PTSD and Illinois is last in the nation for disability pay. Durbin and Obama cited the inspector general's report as one more reason denials should be included in the extra reviews. In their letter, the senators also asked that the VA send notices to all Illinois veterans who have filed claims over the last several decades.

Nicholson sent a special squad to the Chicago VA in June to re-evaluate denied claims of Illinois veterans but no formal procedure has been set up to review those claims and veterans have not been informed that they can ask that their claims to be re-evaluated.