For Veterans With PTSD, Location Is Everything
Of the 750,000 or so veterans who have been discharged from the "war on terror," roughly one-quarter have been recognized by the VA as mentally or physically injured. One of the leading debilitating injuries suffered by those men and women is PTSD, but how much they're compensated by the government depends a great deal on where they live, according to an investigation by McClatchy's Washington bureau.Of the 750,000 or so veterans who have been discharged from the “war on terror,” roughly one-quarter have been recognized by the VA as mentally or physically injured. One of the leading debilitating injuries suffered by those men and women is PTSD, but how much they’re compensated by the government depends a great deal on where they live, according to an investigation by McClatchy’s Washington bureau.
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WASHINGTON — 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, an exclusive McClatchy analysis has found.
As a result, many of the recent veterans who’re 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.
The Bush administration has sought to reassure soldiers that they’ll be treated fairly, but veterans in some parts of the country are far more likely to be well compensated than their compatriots elsewhere, the analysis found.
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