The Patriot Post® · The Sad Fight Over Veterans Reform

America has long neglected the needs of the men and women who have served in our Armed Forces. It’s not a new problem. For generations, service members have had to scrape and claw just to get the attention of politicians who are quick to send them into war and just as quick to forget about those who put their lives on the line.

That’s why the recently proposed Take Care of America’s Veterans Act seems like a good plan, especially given the bipartisan support from Republicans and Democrats who worked to bring it together.

Military Times explains, “The Take Care of America’s Veterans Act, H.R. 9237, encompasses more than 60 pieces of legislation, many of which have widespread support among veterans and advocates, such as the Major Richard Star Act, which would give retired, combat-injured veterans their full Veterans Affairs disability compensation and military retirement, and the Love Lives On Act, which would continue benefits for surviving spouses of the fallen if they remarry before age 55.”

But nothing comes easy on Capitol Hill, even supporting our veterans. Some Republicans now oppose the bill because they want to save billions of dollars by limiting coverage for medical conditions that are difficult to connect to military service, such as tinnitus, sleep apnea, diabetes, and hay fever. It’s a reasonable approach, but Democrats oppose limits on these conditions.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars also rejects the Republican proposal by claiming it would not only “unfairly penalize disabled veterans,” but also because it would “set a dangerous precedent by allowing Congress to alter disability ratings for budgetary purposes rather than relying on medical evidence and the established principles of the VA rating schedule.”

The result is a bill that seemed headed toward passage into law but is now heading back to the drawing board, and Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson says it could stay there for weeks.

One of the problems gumming up the works is the rampant fraud and abuse of VA benefits.

“In recent years,” explains the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, “veteran disability payment claims have surged. Since 2010, overall spending on veteran benefits has soared 478%, which is far more than Medicaid (177%), Medicare (164%), and Social Security (142%). Disability payouts have nearly doubled since 2020, as more veterans claim more injuries.”

“The danger is that government dependency is becoming a way of life for some,” adds the Board. “As disability payments have soared, labor participation among working-age veterans has plunged. While the overall labor participation rate among 25 to 54 year-olds has increased 0.5 percentage points over the last two decades, it has declined 8.4 percentage points among vets who have served since September 2001.”

Some veterans who exploit the system receive benefits for conditions not related to their military service, while those who’ve lost limbs or experience traumatic brain injuries sometimes go without care.

A Washington Post investigation last year “exposed an increasingly costly disability program prone to rampant exaggeration and fraud, which make it harder for veterans with legitimate claims to get their benefits processed.” The Post explained, “Bipartisan political indifference and a weak array of checks and balances have compounded the dysfunction. Veterans’ advocates, for-profit companies and VA itself encourage vets to file as many claims as possible to milk the system.”

More specifically, the Post found, “About 556,000 veterans receive disability benefits for eczema, 332,000 for hemorrhoids, 110,000 for benign skin growths, 81,000 for acne and 74,000 for varicose veins, the most recently available figures from VA show. Individual payouts for such mundane conditions vary, but collectively they cost billions of dollars a year.”

Making sure veterans receive the support and care they need while also preventing abuse and keeping costs in check is a difficult task, and right now Republicans and Democrats seem unable to thread the political needle. Money, which politicians have no trouble finding to wage war, suddenly becomes an issue when it’s time to look out for veterans.

The Hill reports, “The Maj. Richard Star Act, as a standalone measure, has the support of nearly 80 senators and more than 320 House members, and has long been a priority among veterans advocates. But the legislation, which is backed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, has been blocked in the fall and earlier this year over cost concerns. The VA is set to cut back veterans’ disability compensation regarding tinnitus and sleep apnea — funds that would go to the Treasury Department, but the TCAVA would redirect the funds to pay for new benefits.”

It’s not all about the money, though. The factors of political infighting, fraud, red tape, mismanagement, and an expanding bureaucracy have all combined to make what seems a simple solution quite complex. As a result, the TCAVA is off the table for the foreseeable future. And just like any other government safety net program, once it’s created, there’s no way for politicians to propose making it more efficient without criticism that they’re hurting veterans.

It’s time for both parties to stop wasting time bickering over veterans’ benefits. It can’t be that difficult to get benefits to those who need it most while eliminating fraud and abuse. It just takes the political will to get it done.