War costs increase. What to do? Go after Veterans benefits of course!

[TayTay]

This is so upsetting that I can't even post a comment yet. Wait until I cool off.

http://www.heraldsun.com/nationworld/washington/15-635582.html

VA Reviewing Some Approved Stress Claims

By REBECCA CARROLL : Associated Press Writer
Aug 11, 2005 : 2:41 pm ET

WASHINGTON -- The government is going to take a new look at the claims of about a third of the military veterans who now get disability payments for post-traumatic stress disorder.

The Veterans Affairs Department will begin a yearlong review next month of 72,000 cases after an internal study found inconsistencies in the way the claims were decided, including many cases approved though they lacked required medical evidence.

Millions of dollars a year could be involved.

Post-traumatic stress disorder, a mental illness characterized by subjective symptoms like flashbacks and nightmares, can be difficult to diagnose and quantify.

The review will cover veterans whose claims were approved between 1999 and 2004 and who receive full disability benefits -- $2,299 a month -- for PTSD alone or in combination with other conditions, said VA spokesman Phil Budahn.

The review won't consider the other side of the question, whether some veterans were wrongly denied benefits, and that has some critics upset.

"We need to pay as much attention to improper denials as we do to improper grants," said Illinois Rep. Lane Evans, ranking Democrat on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee.

Dear Lord in heaven. These shameless whores just have no limit on their bastardry. None at all. .... warmest place in hell doesn't even begin to describes my feelings.

[whometense]

1. Again, stunning.

It scares me that they have allowed their agenda to be this naked. It seems like they have reached the point where they believe their grip on power is so firm that public opinion means nothing whatsoever to them.

We know they have no heart. We know they have no conscience. I'm reminded of this Aesop quote: "We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office."

The Wolf and the Lamb works too.

[ginnyinWI]

2. well, they are consistent, aren't they--

they never do anything for anybody who is not one of the "haves".

The rest of us have no president (except for JK of course).


But I don't want to end on a sour note, so remember: he has NOT been able to dismantle Social Security, did NOT get Bolton approved by the Senate, and is NOT getting away with waging this war: there are a lot of pigeons just now beginning to come home to roost. And the repubs in Congress who are up for re-election should be very worried.

And a gold star mom is currently holding him "hostage" at Crawford. Even Nixon was not too cowardly to meet with is dissenters at times.
Worst President Ever.

[Island Blue]

3. These folks are heartless and brainless

This saddens me deeply on a personal level because I have an uncle who suffers from PTSD from time spent in Viet Nam. (Something Shrub wouldn't know anything about.) Luckily he is receiving care, but I hate to think that others may not.

This doesn't surprise me at all though. There have been DEEP cuts in the past couple of years in the dollars spent for publicly funded mental health care. (Not just for veterans, but for the general population including children.) Services have been slashed, facilities closed and therapists and counselors told to seek work in private practices.

They either don't understand, or simply don't care that the issues that these veterans (and others) face will not get better on their own and will have a huge impact not only on the individual and his/her family, but on society as a whole in the coming years.

[sandnsea]

4. I missed this

I know a couple of people who are going to be UNhappy campers, Bush voters. *sigh* But they can afford Delay's secret $1.5 billion. It is NOT about the money with these people, it's about power and there's no better way to keep people in control than to make them nervous about their finances. Ask any battered woman. The bastards.