Soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan critique disability benefits system
The Associated Press recently reported that soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are finding that fewer than one in ten soldiers who become sick, injured or wounded receive the long-term disability payments they request. Additionally, up to one-third of injured National Guard and Reserve veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan must wait at least four months to find out if they will be compensated. The military's disability system, like workers' compensation and long-term disability in the private sector, only pays people benefits when they have illnesses and injuries that are job-related, therefore only evaluating ailments that make a soldier unfit for duty in his or her specialty. Although the Veterans Administration compensation system considers all service-related medical conditions, it is taking approximately 6 months days to make initial disability decisions, and recipients cannot benefit from both systems at the same time. To read the entire article online, visit: http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usinju023915613aug02,0,3802367.story?coll=ny-nationalnews-headlines .
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