PTSD Rules Eased to Include More Veterans

Starting Tuesday, it will be easier for Veterans to receive help and benefits for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The Department of Veterans Affairs has softened the cumbersome burden of proof that has denied may veterans.

The process to receive treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is unwieldy. Largely because it’s so difficult for soldiers to prove they have experienced a trauma. They must provide evidence.

400,000 veterans are receiving PTSD assistance, but some have had to wait years to receive benefits. The cumbersome process has also resulted in at least tens of thousands of denied claims and an unwillingness to apply. If left untreated PTSD can lead to domestic violence, crime, homelessness and suicide.

But, after 8 years two US-led wars, President Obama announced the Veterans Affairs Department has made it easier to receive help.

“It’s a step that proves America will always be here for our veterans, just as they’ve been there for us. We won’t let them down. We take care of our own,” Obama said in his weekly video address.

The new threshold is simpler. The veteran must be able to detail an incident that induced “fear” or “horror”, that incident must match his or her military assignment and a VA doctor must diagnose the symptoms as PTSD.

Michael Walcoff is Acting Under Secretary for Benefits at the VA. At a news conference Monday morning, he said, “With this new PTSD regulation, We are acknowledging the inherently stressful nature” of fighting in a war where “hostile and terrorist activities is always present.”

The new rules will be available for veterans of all wars. And because the front line is less clear in modern warfare, the new rules cover more than those soldiers who served traditional battlefield roles. That opens the door for more eligible veterans, especially women.

Paul Sullivan is Executive Director of the non-profit group Veterans for Common Sense. Through a Freedom of Information Act request, he found that only half of the 150,000 Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans who have applied for benefits received them.

“This new regulation cutting through the red tape is a great piece of really good news for veterans,” Sullivan said.

He says claims will be processed faster for vets to receive treatment more quickly, and that veterans will be more likely to apply for treatment and benefits because it will “de-stigmatize Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.”

It’s unclear how many more people might be apply, but veterans whose claims have already been denied are eligible to try again.

Benefits include up to $2700 a month in compensation and treatment at VA facilities.

Since 2009, President Obama has recommended that Congress increase the VA budget by 10% each year.

Despite more money flowing into the VA, Michael Walcoff with Veterans Affairs said he doesn’t think PTSD will receive more.

“We really believe the additional costs are going to be minimal. We believe that we are paying in one way or another, whether it’s a society cost and we don’t believe it’s going to add to the current cost,” Walcoff said.

More than half of the veterans treated for PTSD served in the Vietnam war.

But with relaxed rules, a change of the definition of the front line, and 2 wars dragging on, more soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan will be impacted. Of the two million soldiers who have served in the current two wars, the VA estimates at least 10 – 11% suffer from PTSD.

Follow Leigh Ann Caldwell on Twitter.

Hear an audio version on FSRN.

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