John Plahovinsak
Under a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) Report, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) approved nearly twenty (20%) less disability compensation claims from military serving in the Reserves and National Guard than active-duty military components.
The Report, GAO-24-105400, was officially released on October 30, 2023. Under the Identifying Barriers and Best Practices Study Act, the GAO was required to study reserve and national guard members’ access to VA disability compensation and benefits.
In making their Report, the GAO studied data from each year from 2012 to 2021. This was the most recent statistics available for the study. The Report analyzed VA data; relevant federal laws; Department of Defense (DoD) and VA policies; and interviewed VA, DoD officials and veterans service organizations.
Statistics indicated that in 2012, seventy-nine (79%) of active-duty military disability compensation claims were approved. During the same time period in 2012, only sixty-two (62%) percent of Reserve and National Guard disability claims were approved by the VA.
In 2021, ninety (90%) percent of disability compensation claims were approved by the VA. During the time period in 2021, seventy-seven (77%) percent of Reserve and National Guard disability claims were approved.
The GAO Report indicated that the problem was not necessarily linked to fewer injuries or illnesses occurring among Reserve and National Guard personnel, but instead tied to less documentation of potential problems.
Over one-third of the current U.S. military of over two (2) million members serve in the reserve components. Many of these reserve and national guard units have had several overseas deployments as well as tours along the border areas of the United States.
In return for their military service, the nation has pledged and committed to compensate veterans for service-connected disabilities. However, the recent GAO Report cites that there are several key reasons why Reservists and National Guard components face obstacles in getting their disability claims approved by the VA.
The GAO Report indicated that while members of the Reserve and National Guard can claim VA disability benefits, they struggle proving that their disabilities are service related when they only serve in a part-time basis.
In order for Reservists and National Guard members to qualify for veterans’ compensation disability benefits, they must prove their injury or illness came as a result of an active-duty event.
Although the DoD and the VA possess guidance about applying for disability benefits for those in the Reserve Components, the guidance does not cover the importance of documenting how health conditions are related to their time on active duty. Significant gaps in VA medical data also make it difficult to verify their disability compensation claims.
The GAO Report made several recommendations to address the issues uncovered by their analysis.
First, the VA’s Under Secretary of Benefits should ensure that the Veterans Benefit Administration (VBA) develop a mechanism or document that lists reliability issues with the VA DoD Identity Repository (VADIR), particularly the unreliable variables on military personnel records from before 1985.
Second, the VA Secretary and DoD should work together to develop guidance such as outreach materials, brochures, or training, which: (1) make reserve component members aware of their potential eligibility for disability compensation under various duty statuses and (2) explains how reporting health conditions when they occur can affect subsequent eligibility for disability compensation.
The third component of the second recommendation is that the outreach materials, brochures, or training explains the importance of obtaining and maintaining sufficient documentation of duty status and medical treatment received.
All the interviewees told the GAO that the reserve component members do not always understand the importance of immediately documenting health conditions to support any future disability compensation claims.
The third recommendation was that the VBA should make the guidance on reporting and documenting health conditions for the purposes of disability compensation prominently available to reserve component members
The GAO noted that VA claims processors also lack a reliable data source for the dates of monthly weekend drills. Guidance on documenting health conditions and better VA data on dates could help reserve component members prove that their disabilities are connected to their military service.
Without this proof, VA claims processors have denied the reservists’ disability compensation claims.
My Opinion: The disability claims approval rates between active-duty and reserve component is significant. Reservists and National Guard military during their overseas deployments were exposed to the same toxic open burn pits as active-duty military.
The GAO Report sounds an alarm that we must do better for the Reserve and National Guard veterans who received their disabilities and illnesses while serving our country. Incomplete military records and inadequate oversight of their injuries are responsible.
Our disabled veterans are missing out on disability compensation claims benefits that they have earned. This situation must be resolved and we should commend the GAO Report for bringing the situation to our attention.
BioSketch: John Plahovinsak is a retired 32-year Army veteran, who served from 1967 to 1999. He is the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) Department of Ohio Hospital Chairman and Adjutant of DAV Chapter #63 (Clermont County). He can be contacted at: plahovinsak@msn.com.