Talk Radio News Service: News, Politics, Media

At the United States Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs review of Veteran's Disability Compensation: Expert Work on PTSD and Other Issues, the purpose of the hearing was to hear recommendations on how the VA Disability system can be improved, since the current system is outdated, burdensome, and fails to address many issues.

Ranking Member Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) said that under his bill, the Veterans Mental Health Treatment First Act, there would be a wellness stipend while the veterans were waiting for treatment, and all the veteran would have to do is hold off on the rating claims. This emphasizes wellness as opposed to claiming disability. The current system, he said, does not keep pace with society and understanding disabilities. The rating schedules have not been updated in six decades, and promoting rehabilitation is a main goal, since there are young men and women returning from war that cannot return to work. Returning to the workforce, Burr said, should be the main goal of the VA, and this may require a large upfront cost.

Dr. Joyce McMahon, PhD, Managing Director, Center for Health Research and Policy, said survey results suggest that the relationship between compensation and medical treatment for PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) showed through a series of indirect questions virtually no evidence for veterans to avoid treatment from fear of losing their benefits. In respect to evaluating the quality of life for veterans, they also did surveys of veterans and found that the degree of disability was in decline. With primary mental disabilities, they found there to be low physical quality of life as well.

Dr. Dean G. Kilpatrick, PhD, Director, National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center, Medical University of South Carolina, said testimony showed that doctors were limited in their ability to take a lengthy exam of persons diagnosed with PTSD, and therefore were not able to have a thorough evaluation. Currently, Kilpatrick said, the same sets of criteria are used to evaluate all sorts of mental disorders, and that means that the criteria are crude and outdated. The DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) used by mental health professionals needs to be utilized.

The research team concluded that it is not appropriate to have an "across the board" evaluation of veterans with PTSD but should be done on a case by case basis. The evaluations should be timely, and there is no justification to single out and stigmatize veterans with PTSD by reevaluating them every two to three years. One of the disadvantages to reevaluation is cost, and if it was decided to do regular reevaluations, it should not be done until the resources are available to do a more thorough evaluation.

In response to a question, Kilpatrick said there is lore out there that veterans that get compensation have no incentive to seek treatment because there is no reason to get better. Research showed, he said, that some veterans may seek treatment because at a higher level of disability, they get better options for treatment.