Why soldiers with traumatic brain injuries and permanent handicaps are considered partially disabled

One in a series by Bob Woodruff, ABC News:

As veterans continue to face the everyday challenges of living with a brain injury, some also must struggle with the military to get the disability payments they believe they deserve.

Marine Cpl. Jeff Landay suffered a severe brain injury when his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in May of 2006, and had to have part of his skull removed to relieve the pressure on his brain. He received a rating of 10 percent disabled, well below the thirty percent mark that allows soldiers to receive medical retirement with full benefits.

“He fought for his life and now he is having to fight for his rightful benefits,” said his wife, Michelle. “And that’s shocking. And I’m outraged.”

The Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs acknowledge that the disability rating process is confusing and often cumbersome. The two departments rate disabilities in separate processes, which are separate still from the Social Security disability process. A presidential commission last summer recommended sweeping changes, but little has changed.

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer: Policy Matters faults state’s autism scholarship program; Oversight is lacking, study says

A fast-growing state program that gives parents of autistic children up to $20,000 for private educational services lacks oversight and allows providers to exclude children based on religion and other factors, says Policy Matters Ohio.

The Cleveland think tank released a report today that gives generally poor marks to the “autism scholarship” program. The program allows parents to opt out of the public school system and use public school money to buy private services. Most private services don’t provide a school setting, which is another point of criticism in the report.

From the Columbus Dispatch: ‘All for some and none for some;’ A fix can’t come soon enough for Ohio’s wildly inequitable system of helping autistic kids

Under the current system:

• A private autism center in Franklin County consumed 50 percent of the public money spent on psychiatric treatment for autism last year even though it served just 4 percent of the children, state officials say. Step by Step Academy also billed $180,000 to treat one child while another family, waiting years for a Medicaid waiver to help pay for services, made do with $672.

• Ohio funds scholarships that provide up to $20,000 a year for families to purchase educational services for autistic children but offers nothing similar for those with cerebral palsy, Down syndrome or other forms of developmental disability.

Painful round of state budget cuts to hit poor, disabled, elderly

From the Associated Press on ABC News:

Financially strapped states are looking to take away government health insurance and benefits from millions of Americans already struggling with a souring economy.

An Associated Press review of the budgets in all 50 states reveals coverage would be eliminated for hundreds of thousands of poor children, disabled and the elderly.

… Despite the dire conditions, only a handful of states are seriously considering general tax increases or even modest hikes on the wealthy to close the gaps. Lawmakers say they fear such actions would only further stress the economy.

From CBS News: Backlog in disability benefits system leaves thousands of Americans vulnerable and stranded

According to a two-month CBS investigation, the Social Security safety net may not be there when you need it most. Two out of every three people who apply for federal Social Security disability benefits are rejected by a government agency that critics say is out of date, underfunded, and incapable of serving the exploding number of disabled Americans. Waiting times for a hearing in some cities are more than three years.

Over the last two years, at least 16,000 people fighting for disability benefits died while awaiting a decision. The backlog of cases now stands at 750,000 - up 150 percent since 2000. People wait an average of 520 days for a hearing on their claims.

The two-part series includes a list of hints on navigating the system: Information about filing for social security benefits

Related story: Disability benefits system harbors culture of denying benefits even to those most unfit to work

Earlier post here.

Wisconsin state lawmakers working to change rules

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Under federal Medicaid legislation, people with disabilities lose their benefits if they marry someone with more than $2,000 in assets. Wisconsin lawmaker Steve Wieckert is promoting a bill that would end the marriage penalty for people who are blind or totally and permanently disabled.

Cayte Anderson, legislative chair for the Wisconsin Rehabilitation Association, called marriage “an equal rights issue” for people with disabilities. “People shouldn’t have to choose between marriage and Medicaid,” she said.

From the Hartford Courant:

Veterans coming home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with debilitating mental ailments are discovering that their disability payments from the government vary widely, depending on where they live, a McClatchy Newspapers analysis has found.

As a result, many of the recent veterans who are getting monthly payments for post-traumatic stress disorder from the Department of Veterans Affairs could lose tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in benefits over their lifetimes.

… McClatchy’s analysis is based on 3 million disability compensation-claims records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, as well as separate documents that the VA provided.

Judy Stengel and her son Kurt Stengel go over his budget. (Wichita Eagle photo)

From the Wichita Eagle:

People with disabilities don’t often file tax returns because they don’t make enough money to be legally required to do so. But by not filing, they can miss out on a lot of money in refunds.

Wichita’s Judy Stengel, a retired senior IRS tax specialist and the mother of a son with a developmental disability, created a volunteer program to address this problem. The program has been adopted by the IRS, and now extends to 54 cities.

The result is a national model that reached 36,000 people last year with tax returns totaling $32.6 million in refunds, including $10 million from the Earned Income Tax Credit. She recently received an Outstanding Accomplishment Award from the National Disability Institute for her volunteer program.