This appears to be a well thought out solution that will help our nation’s disabled veterans. The program has been in place for awhile and this step removes the burdensome paperwork. Just imagine, a government program without 3 inches of paperwork to fill out. Awesome.
Reeducation is a critical first step for any newly disabled person. Even more so for a military veteran that relied on his physical abilities for employment.
I know first hand how difficult it is to get classified 100% disabled. My dad lost most of his hearing working on the flight line during his years in the Air Force. He also had medical problems from exposure to chemicals in Viet Nam. He used to say the planes returned from missions dripping from Agent Orange and other herbicides. Dad’s hearing loss resulted in him being taken off flight line duty and given administrative duty until he retired.
He never got 100% disability. I think it was around 80% or 85 in one ear, 70 something in the other. He got free hearing aids and participated in several long term VA medical studies.
The hard part is, as you indicated, getting classified as disabled at any% by the VA. It took several months for my wife to get acknowledgement that the military was even responsible, then almost a year to get rated at 25% disabled. Last I knew she recieves about $300 a month.
I could be remembering wrong but I seem to recall 30% being the magic number where the VA started sending serious money, education, medical etc. I remember 40% disabled being the level where the VA starts considering you to be disabled enough to be severely limited in the types of work you can do to support yourself and really starts including living expenses in the benefits.
So based on memory, which isn’t something I’d count on in real life, they must be vets with a relatively “low” level of disability I’m guessing.
The VA rating is not a percentage of how disabled you are. I’m at 40%, which does not mean that I am 40% disabled. Also, the ratings are always increments of 10.
Since this is in IMHO, I’ll offer my differing opinion.
My impression is that the VA responded to criticisms of long wait times by paying down the disability backlog. IMO, the percentage of vets who receive disability benefits is disgusting, compounded by the fact that a 100% disabled vet can be gainfully employed (with no earnings limit) and can receive SS disability benefits with no set-off. (I’m not saying that NO vets deserve disability benefits. But my personal experience and opinion is that MANY vets - we could debate how many - abuse the system.)
Perhaps we owe veterans who voluntarily agreed to serve something beyond the pay and benefits they received while employed. But I think reasonable people could disagree as to how great that debt should be for how long. I don’t see any reason a blanket forgiveness of all veteran’s education debt ought to be forgiven.
(DISCLAIMER: I’m not an expert and have not conducted detailed studies, but in my job, I do encounter and review the medical records of veterans claiming disability on a regular basis. No, I am not a veteran, and I have strongly opposed the US’s aggressive military actions of the past 2 decades.)
For purposes of VA disability, being 100% disabled IN NO WAY SUGGESTS that an individual is unable to work. The colleague in the office next to yours could be collecting a comparable salary to yours, in addition to disability benefits. Moreover, at least in some government jobs, he or she may have received preferential treatment in hiring.
In my personal experience, some veterans do exceptional work. Others - to put it mildly - not so much.
Of course, people can have different opinions WRT various aspects of everything I say here.
Awesome.