Few Americans deserve support more than veterans who have been wounded in service to our country.
Indeed, the creation of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is directly tied to caring for American soldiers and military personnel who have been wounded fighting for our nation. If it weren’t for America’s veterans’ sacrifices, we would not have a nation.
Originally established during the American Revolutionary War as a pension program for soldiers who were wounded and disabled in the war, the VA has, over the course of history, grown in size and scope to become one of the largest departments of the federal government.
And, as is often the case, especially when it comes to government, increased size often brings greater opportunities for waste, fraud, and abuse.
Recently, The Washington Post has taken a deep dive into the VA and found significant waste of taxpayer dollars within the department. In one article titled: “How some veterans exploit $193 billion VA, due to lax controls,” the Post contends, “Military veterans are swamping the U.S. government with dubious disability claims — including cases of brazen fraud totaling tens of millions of dollars — that are exploiting the country’s sacred commitment to compensate those harmed in the line of duty.”
The Post notes that the VA will spend some $193 billion this year in taxpayer funding to compensate roughly 6.9 million disabled veterans. The VA claims that the vast majority of these disability claims are legitimate, but the “Post found that millions of the claims are for minor or treatable afflictions that rarely hinder employment, such as hair loss, jock itch and toenail fungus.”
It noted that there were 556,000 veterans who received disability benefits for eczema, another 332,000 for hemorrhoids, some 110,000 for benign skin growths, 81,000 for acne, and 74,000 for varicose veins. Veterans who received compensation for combat-related injuries were far fewer.
For example, just 1,700 veterans receive disability benefits for losing a limb during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and roughly 10,900 receive disability compensation related to suffering “severe” or “penetrating” brain injuries. Those sacrifices are incredible and worthy of our profuse gratitude and generous financial help. Jock itch? Not so much.
To be clear, the fact that disability benefits go to non-disabling conditions that are not tied to military service is not primarily the fault of veterans. Such waste and abuse are mainly attributable to the VA itself encouraging veterans to file as many claims as possible. These disability benefits are in addition to free or subsidized medical care provided by the VA.
There are also a few instances of legitimate fraud on the part of veterans who have sought to take advantage of disability benefits. For example, a veteran in Washington was recently arrested for defrauding the VA of $244,000. He claimed to be a paraplegic, but had no trouble going on an elk hunt or getting into a fistfight that got the police called in.
However, as noted, the vast majority of the VA’s waste and abuse stems from a large bureaucracy that has created a culture that encourages ever-increasing spending.
Like many federal government agencies, baseline budgeting often incentivizes fiscal irresponsibility rather than frugality. The VA encourages veterans to file claims, even multiple claims. The Post reports, “Last year, each disabled veteran received, on average, benefits for a combination of about seven injuries and illnesses, up from 2.5 per person in 2001. The Post found that it has become common for veterans to submit claims for 20 or more disabilities each.”
In 2001, veterans filed and received disability benefits for roughly six million claims. Over the last two and a half decades, the annual number of veteran claims has steadily increased, rising to 41.7 million claims last year. Yet over the same time span, America’s total population of living veterans has steadily declined, from 26 million in 2001 to 17.6 million today.
While Americans fought in the War on Terror primarily in Iraq and Afghanistan for nearly two decades, this undoubtedly contributed to the increased number of service-related disabilities. It doesn’t explain the seven-fold increase.
In short, the VA is now spending significantly more money on fewer veterans. Once again, this is not the fault of America’s veterans. They deserve to be taken care of. They have earned it, which is why an agency tasked with doing just that should be held to a higher standard. Allowing this kind of waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer funding at the VA should be anathema. Not only does it establish a negative impression for America’s military service members and veterans, but it also sends the message that waste, fraud, and abuse don’t really matter that much.
