Thousands of U.S. troops returning from Iraq and
Afghanistan with physical injuries
and mental health problems are encountering an overburdened benefits
system, and officials and veterans groups worry that the challenge
could grow as the nation remains at war.
The disability benefits and health care systems that provide
services for about 5 million American veterans have been overloaded
for decades, with a current backlog of more than 300,000 claims. And
as of Aug. 1, nearly 150,000 National Guard and reservist veterans
became eligible for health care and benefits because they were
mobilized to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. That number is rising.
President Bush's budget for 2005 calls for cutting the Department
of Veterans Affairs staff that handles benefits claims, and some
veterans report long waits for benefits and confusing claims
decisions.
"I love the military; that was my life. But I don't believe
they're taking care of me now," said Staff Sgt. Gene Westbrook, 35,
of Lawton, Okla. Paralyzed in a mortar attack near Baghdad in April,
he has received no disability benefits because his paperwork is
missing. He is supporting his wife and three children on his regular
military pay of $2,800 a month as he awaits a ruling on whether he
will receive $6,500 a month from the VA for his disability.
Through the end of April, the most recent accounting the VA could
provide, a total of 166,334 veterans of operations in Iraq and
Afghanistan had separated from military service, and 26,633 - 16
percent - had filed benefits claims with the VA for
service-connected disabilities. Less than two-thirds of those claims
had been processed, leaving more than 9,750 recent veterans waiting.
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