more than 300,000 Iraq and Afghan war vets file claims

Oct 03, 2008
October 3, 2008 - Today, Veterans for Common Sense releases our new "VA Fact Sheet," our monthly
statistical report describing the impact of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars on the Department of Veterans
Affairs.
This month's "VA Fact Sheet" reveals the fact that more than 300,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans
have filed a disability compensation claim against VA. Our VCS report also shows that nearly 350,000 Iraq
and Afghanistan war veterans have already been treated at VA hospitals and clinics.
There are two new and important points from our latest VA Fact Sheet:
1. More than 50,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans' claims remain pending and incomplete due to VA's
enormous claims backlog. More than 24,000 of the pending claims are re-opened or appealed cases. VCS
Believes VA should do a better job obtaining records from the military so veterans’ claims are completed
accurately, completely, fairly, and quickly - and without endless appeals.
2. Only half of the veterans diagnosed with PTSD by VA receive disability compensation for PTSD from VA.
VCS believes this is unacceptable. While some claims may be pending or on appeal, this discrepancy
between diagnosed patients and granted claims for PTSD warrants further review by Congress. In order to
cut red tape, VCS is fighting for a "presumption of service connection" for Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans
diagnosed with PTSD by the military, VA or a private doctor based on studies showing near-universal
exposure to combat trauma to nearly all of the 1.7 million U.S. service members deployed to the two wars.
In a closely related matter, the Army Times wrote an excellent article about the research conducted by
Veterans for Common Sense. VCS identified enormous and disturbing discrepancies in disability activity
among Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans when comparing veterans from the National Guard and Reserve
with veterans from Active Duty: http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/articleid/11288.
As a result of our research and analysis, Congress asked VA to investigate the discrepancy and how it can be
resolved.
Veterans for Common Sense developed a Freedom of Information Act program to determine the facts about
the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. VCS requests official government reports and documents that are otherwise
not released by the government. Then VCS posts them at our web site, shares them with Congress and
distributes them to the press. Our FOIA research has been used in Congressional testimony, in the book,
“The Three Trillion Dollar War,” and for several news articles.
VA Fact Sheet: Impact of Iraq and Afghanistan Wars
Updated October 2, 2008
Oct 3, VCS Releases New VA Fact Sheet: Iraq and Afghanistan Wars Cau... http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/print.cfm?page=print&ID=11328
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VeteranPatients Nearly 350,000; Claims Top 300,000
Chart #1, Department of Defense Deployments to War Zones
Deployed to War
Zone
Number In
Military
Percent in
Military
Veterans Now
Eligible for VA
Percent
Veterans
1,717,925 798,409 46% 919,516 54%
Chart #2, Veterans Health Administration (VHA)
Category Number of Veterans Percent
Veteran Patients 347,750 38% of Veterans
Mental Health Patients 147,744 42% of Patients
PTSD Patients 75,850 22% of Patients
Vet Center Patients 302,503 33% of Veterans
Chart #3, Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA)
Category Number of Veterans Percent
Disability Claims Filed 301,154 33% of Veterans
Claims Pending 50,528 17% of Claims Filed
Approved PTSD Claim 38,448 51% of PTSD Patients
Sources: Department of Veterans Affairs, “Analysis of VA Health Care Utilization Among US
Global War on Terrorism Veterans,” Aug. 18, 2008; “VA Benefits Activity: Veterans Deployed to the
Global War on Terror, Jun. 30, 2008; “Readjustment Counseling Service, Global War on Terror
Veterans Served Each FY,” Aug. 22, 2008; and Department of Defense, “Contingency Tracking
System,” through Mar. 31, 2008.
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/articleID/11328
Oct 3, VCS Releases New VA Fact Sheet: Iraq and Afghanistan Wars Cau... http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/print.cfm?page=print&ID=11328
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