'It seems the VA wants to bury bad news'
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Printable FormatCHICAGO SUN-TIMES
BY CHERYL L. REED
The federal VA is trying to hide how poorly Illinois' disabled veterans are paid by deleting state rankings in its annual report released this week, say Illinois' two U.S. senators and veterans' advocates.
But a Chicago Sun-Times analysis shows that the VA office in Illinois has declined in veteran payouts. In 2003, Illinois ranked third from last -- slightly above Michigan and Ohio. But in 2004, only Ohio had a worse record for paying disabled veterans.
"It seems the VA wants to bury bad news," said Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill). "I think that's a bad way of doing business."
Illinois again at bottom in vets' disability pay
The federal Department of Veterans Affairs dropped a key figure in its new annual report -- the average disability payout per veteran for each state. But a Chicago Sun-Times analysis of VA data shows Illinois vets remain at the bottom among all states and U.S. territories in terms of how much money the agency pays disabled vets, on average, per year -- $6,983.
Although the Department of Veterans Affairs typically ranks how its offices in each state and U.S. territories pay disabled veterans, it simply dropped those comparisons this year. The VA declined to explain why it deleted more than 20 categories of rankings, including each state's average payout to disabled veterans -- the report's most popular statistic.
The Sun-Times cited those averages in a series of stories last December that showed Illinois has been at the bottom of the nation for decades in disability payments. That series prompted a VA inspector general's investigation, which concluded that the wide disparity in disability payment is largely caused by subjective VA workers.
"For them to conceal our state's ranking and challenge us to come up with it is not a sign of good faith," said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill). "It's clearly to avoid scrutiny. They realize it is an embarrassment that veterans are not being treated fairly across the United States."
Advocates angered, confused
The 154-page annual report shows that for fiscal year 2004, the national average payout for disabled veterans was $8,057. Illinois averaged $6,983 per disabled veteran, and Ohio averaged $6,860 per disabled veteran. The highest payouts came in Puerto Rico, which averaged $11,659 per disabled veteran, and New Mexico, which averaged $11,422. Even veterans in the Philippines -- with average disability benefits of $9,971 -- fared better than Illinois veterans.
Obama and Durbin said they will ask the VA to return to reporting state comparisons.
The change has angered and confused veterans' advocates.
"I was shocked. It makes it look like there's something to hide," said Mary Ellen McCarthy, the Democratic staff director for the House subcommittee on veterans benefits. "They think everyone's curiosity will go away if they don't put it in."
No 'warm and fuzzy feelings'
Allen Lynch, chief of the Veterans Rights Bureau for the attorney general, agrees. "They're hoping that if they drop that from the report that they won't get as much heat from the press."
Using a large calculator or spreadsheet program, a person can calculate how each state's average compares with the total of $20.5 billion paid to 2.5 million disabled veterans. But the information is not readily available to the average reader.
Lynch said deleting the data from the VA's report only raises suspicions among veterans, especially in light of a new policy made public by the Sun-Times last month that called for high payout cases to pass two reviews before a veteran could receive any money but allowed for only one review to deny a claim. After the story appeared, the VA halted the policy, but Lynch says the message that the agency wanted to decline claims was clear.
"I don't have warm and fuzzy feelings for this VA secretary," Lynch said.