Disabled Veterans Go On Offensive For Benefits

Panel expected to get an earful from Louisiana veterans and support groups.
by Bruce Alpert, Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — Tyler Ziegel says he considers himself fortunate.

The 24-year-old former Marine reservist, who lost both his ears, most of his nose, and his left hand in a blast from an improvised explosive device attack in Iraq, said he finally got the veterans disability benefits he needs to survive after his third attempt. Ziegel, a resident of Metamora, Ill., said his status changed when he mentioned that he was in touch with the national media.

The Department of Veterans Affairs official "said, 'Please don't do that. We don't need the media involved.' Then two days after that, they somehow, some way gave me my (disability award), which is fair," said Ziegel, who acknowledged that he received good medical care for his injuries.

Ziegel, who wears a "Chicks dig scars" tattoo on his leg and last year married Renee, the "love of my life," was in Washington last week along with others from a small grass-roots group, the Louisiana Veterans Advocacy Group…

Their goal, he said, is to press for changes in the disability system that already is under fire from members of Congress, veterans groups and a recent report from medical experts assembled by the Institute of Medicine.

Benefits range from $115 a month for a veteran rated with a 10 percent disability to $2,471 a month for a veteran with a 100 percent disability. AMVETS, a veterans service organization, said that with more claims being filed by recently returned soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan, the delay in processing claims has grown, with New Orleans, Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh and Montgomery, Ala., among the most backed-up. In those cities, AMVETS says, more than 40 percent of claims take longer than six months to resolve.

Meeting today at 9:30 a.m.

The U.S. House Committee on Veterans Affairs will hold a field hearing today in New Orleans on VA health care in south Louisiana. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. in the 4th floor courtroom of the Supreme Court Building, 400 Royal St.

Paul Labbe, a Vietnam War veteran who said it took him more than 20 years to get his disability award for post-traumatic stress disorder, is the leader of the Louisiana Veterans Advocacy Group. Since the Lake Charles resident won his disability award in 1997, he determined his "life's work" would be helping other veterans get their benefits.

Labbe said he has all the cases he can handle now, but plans in the not-too-distant future to come to New Orleans and meet with veterans who are having trouble with disability awards to see what he can do to help.

His group does not have high-priced public relations staffers to help with crafting 30-second sound bites and getting interviews and press conferences scheduled. But Labbe and his two fellow veterans recently got meetings with staffers from the Senate offices of Democratic presidential front-runners Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama without making appointments.

Labbe said he chose to have his media event last week on the sidewalk in front of the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims because the judges aren't responsive "to the desperate conditions" of veterans trying to get disability benefits. Even when the court concurs with the veterans' arguments, judges often refer cases back to the same VA officials "who cheated them out of benefits in the first place."

"Veterans are killing themselves today because of what is going on in these courtrooms," Labbe said.

Officials with the court did not return calls seeking comment.

Update needed, study finds

Labbe's argument that the whole system needs to be overhauled isn't much different than the findings in a recent report by the Institute of Medicine.

A committee of medical experts brought together by the Institute said the Veterans Affairs Schedule for Rating Disabilities hasn't been changed since the end of World War II in 1945, and does not adequately reflect conditions that now occur more frequently, such as traumatic brain injury.

In the past, soldiers would have died of injuries that, because of medical advances, they are now surviving. The report said that one area needing significant change is the way the VA evaluates veterans for post-traumatic stress disorder.

"With troops being injured nearly every day, the VA's system for evaluating and rating former service members' disabilities should be as up to date as possible with current medical knowledge of impairment and its effects on a person's functioning and quality of life," said Lonnie Bristow, chairman of the committee and a former president of the American Medical Association. "Right now, the Rating Schedule is out of sync with modern medicine and modern concepts of disability."

The Department of Veterans Affairs, which requested the report, said it would "continue to take steps to ensure veterans have timely and seamless access to compensation." It said it is evaluating the institute's recommendations.

Congress starting to notice

Lavelle Tullis, a Vietnam veteran who said it took him nearly 30 years to get disability benefits for a series of medical problems associated with exposure to Agent Orange and post-traumatic stress disorder, is more direct in his criticism than the Institute of Medicine.

"It's sick the way the government treats disabled veterans," said Tullis, a resident of Dry Prong who attended the Washington news conference with Labbe.

Tullis said he's been unable to hold jobs since leaving Vietnam in 1969 and feels he wasn't able to provide for his five children "the way a father should because I couldn't get the help I needed."

Concern about whether Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are being treated fairly has gotten a lot of attention recently on Capitol Hill. The House recently passed a spending bill that will add $6.7 billion or more than 15 percent for Veterans Affairs spending, the largest increase ever.

Among other things, it provides money to hire 1,100 new claims processors to reduce the current 400,000-case backlog for veterans disability filings. Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-Napoleonville, said he has spoken to many veterans in south Louisiana who are "discouraged and frustrated with the red tape."

"Disabled veterans shouldn't have to wait for months to get the benefits they earned," Melancon said.

Spokesmen for Clinton and Obama said the two senators referred the cases submitted to them by the Louisiana Veterans Advocacy Group to Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. Rep. Charles Boustany, R-Lafayette, also has asked the House veterans committee to look at some of the cases provided by the organization.

Ziegel, the injured Illinois veteran, said he can only hope that his brother, who is scheduled to be dispatched to Iraq in a few months, survives his tour without serious injury.

"Hopefully, he will come back fine," Ziegel said. "But if he doesn't and he has to go through what I had to go through, I'll be back beating on every door in the city."

Bruce Alpert can be reached at bruce.alpert@newhouse.com or (202) 383-7861.

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