Disability Benefit Claims Still Growing in Veterans

Despite the efforts exerted by President Barack Obama in adding resources in his administration to help veterans in getting disability benefits and mental health treatment, all his efforts apparently aren’t enough.

On Monday, President Obama talked about his assertions regarding the Veterans Affairs (VA) Department’s efforts and how people compare with the facts are quoted below:

President Obama: “We’ve hired thousands of claim processors. We’re investing in paperless systems. To their credit, the dedicated folks at the VA are now completing 1 million claims a year, but there's been a tidal wave of new claims.”

The Facts: Veterans can potentially become illegible for help with conditions or illnesses caused or made worse by their military service. However, although the government has long been struggling to keep up with the barrage of claims, backlogs have grown worse due to soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan returning home.

In May 2009, approximately 135 claims for disability benefits have been pending for more than 125 days. Such figure represents about a third of all pending claims. At present, that figure has more than quadrupled to 550,000 claims, which account for two-thirds of all pending claims.

In the last couple or years, although the department accomplished a million of claims each year, it received about 1.3 million new claims.

According to the department’s independent inspector general, the VA aggravated the situation by not assigning enough staff to process appeals and to follow its own processing guidelines in older claims.

In fact, when investigators reviewed the claims processed in three offices in California, they found out that division managers failed to conduct monthly reviews of those pending claims for more than a year –a clear violation of policy that caused unnecessary delays.

Apparently, despite the additional resources allotted to speed up the processing of claims, the VA office is still unable to cut its backlog. Therefore, it created disputes in previous congressional hearings.

President Obama: “We’ve also focused on the urgent needs of our veterans with PTSD. We've poured tremendous resources into this fight.”

The facts: Although the president correctly noted that the administration has increased its investment helping veterans deal with mental wounds of war, investigators found out that VA regularly did not follow its own guidelines in treating patients who are seeking mental health treatment.

Under the department’s policy, full evaluation of patients seeking mental health treatment should last for only until 14 days. However, based on the investigation conducted by the independent investigators, about half of the veterans seeking mental health care waited for about 50 days before receiving a full evaluation. 

In a recent article, a Los Angeles disability lawyer talked about the increasing number of veterans seeking permanent disability benefits. And now, issues regarding the processing of such claims are creating disputes among the lawmakers and the current administration. In fact, even President Obama’s Republican rival, Mitt Romney, is set to discuss the same issue in his next speech. 

Hopefully, after all the arguments and disputes regarding this issue have subsided, there would be a better future for all the veterans seeking disability benefit claims.

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People’s Reaction to West’s Remarks over Social Security Disability Insurance

In line with Rep. Allen West’s opinion that social security disability insurance is a form of modern slavery, many people can’t help but to voice out their negative reactions. Whilst some take West’s remarks as it is, some hardly agree.

A few weeks ago, West first spoke about President Barack Obama’s alleged concealed desire of making Americans to become his slave and be dependent on him economically.

Subsequently, he again used the same term “slave” when he described the social security disability insurance as a form of modern slavery.

Reading West’s indictments, several military veterans receiving government disability benefits or checks felt uncomfortable. They claimed that someone in his views could never be elected nor placed to public office or any government agency.

In an article posted at the Sun Sentinel, which was partially quoted herein, Philip Sweeting, a military veteran and a retired police officer living off a government pension, apparently admitted that he is one of those that West referred to as “economically dependant” on the government. Sweeting claimed in his statement that if that is how West defines “slavery” then he guess there are many of the latter’s supporters who would like to be in his position – by West’s definition – President Obama’s slave.

Meanwhile, another disability benefit recipient, Kelly Beucler, said in her statement at the News Journal, which is likewise quoted herein, that if people like West mean that the government is making her work like a slave, then she would rather be back doing her 911 dispatching job that she loved so much. But unfortunately, she can’t because of her disabling condition.

Beucler had been diagnosed with terminal kidney cancer in December, 2011 and since then her nightmare began. 

Several reactions claimed that if only West had simply stressed out that Social Security disability is sometimes taken as an advantage and might need to be modified or reassessed, it could have been a good stance. Apparently, West isn’t fair enough when he attributed the rapidly growing number of people who rely on federal disability benefit to Obama’s alleged Marxist political idea of turning Americans into economically dependent slaves. It serves no purpose aside from being insulting to those who oppose West’s comments.

Moreover, opponents claimed that if West is really a problem solver, then he might be able to eye at Social Security Disability in a little more responsible way than blatantly giving out his rant over Obama’s being a slave-master.

Probably, West did not realized that he himself is an economically dependent slave since he is likewise receiving two federal paychecks from the government, he has a two tax-payer funded pensions, and a purely socialized medical plan that gives him the best that this great nation afford. 

Well, obviously, a Los Angeles SSI lawyer is right when he refused to comment on the issue regarding West’s disparaging remarks since he foresees that even without anybody’s opinion, it would become a quite controversial issue and would definitely ignite disputes within the following days.

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Long-term Disability Linked with Genotoxic Nanoparticles Present in Failing Metal-on-Metal Hip Implant

In a study conducted by several researchers from Ohio State University and Imperial College, London, it was found out that the genotoxic nanoparticles found in hip implant patients can be a possible source of long-term disability.

Genotoxic nanoparticles are commonly known as the particles responsible for inflammation that is commonly present in patients who underwent a hip implant.

The result of the research was carried out by the researchers upon using a high resolution electron and x-ray microscopy in studying the tissue samples gathered from patients of failing metal-to-metal hip implants. The procedure was actually done to identify the causes of chronic inflammation suffered by the hip implant patients.

The researchers eventually discovered that the inflammation was a result of the oxidation of residual chromium emitted when the metal implants rub against each other and the excretion of Cobalt 2+ ions as a result of nanoparticle rust in the tissue.

In previous studies, Cobalt 2+ ions were found to be genotoxic, meaning it is harmful on a cell genetic materials’ integrity. Genotoxic substances have the affinity to interact with DNA, which is not only dangerous to people, but also increases the risk of mutation and cancer.  Last August 2010, a worldwide recall of the ASR Hip Resurfacing System and ASR Acetabular System by DePuy Orthopaedics was ordered. Said recall had in fact triggered concerns regarding side effects of metal-on-metal hip plants.

Several studies following the recall traced evidences of significant health risks of the particles which include long term-disability, need for re-constructive surgery, failure of device, and tissue damage.

In a recent report released by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), it showed that metal-on-metal hip implants have the highest rate of failure among all hip implant devices.

A lot of experienced legal representatives, such as a Los Angeles long term disability lawyer, have more than a decade of experience in handling claims and complaints filed by victims of failed metal-to-metal hip implants in different state and federal courts, including administrative hearings and appeals. Therefore, victims will no longer worry about heading nowhere during their claims.

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Disability Benefit Claimants Boom; Number Now Higher than New York City’s Population

As of June 2012, the total number of permanent disability claimants hit a record-breaking figure of 8,733,461. It actually exceeded the total number of population of New York City, according to the Social Security Administration (SSA).

Over a couple of decades, the number of people collecting permanent disability checks significantly dropped, according to reports.

Way back in 1992, just a little more than three million people were relying on disability benefits; after two decades, the ratio significantly increased to more than twice the said figure.

Out of the 50 states in the U.S., only 11 states have populations larger than the number of wage earners on impairment or disability. Those states are California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, and Pennsylvania.

In June, the payments hit a record 8.7 million workers whose social security checks averaged more than $1,110 each. Such number doesn’t include the recipient’s respective spouses and children. Including those beneficiaries, the total number of claimants reached 10.8 million.

The federal disability insurance is funded by the 1.8 percent payroll tax split from wage earners. Those who are considered as self-employed are liable for the entire tax. In each of the previous fiscal years, the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) disability insurance trust fund has become insufficient. Therefore, the government has been compelled to borrow money to pay disability benefits to claimants.

In 2009, the Disability Insurance Trust Fund’s deficit was $8.5 billion, in the following year, the deficit climbed up to $20.8 billion. Meanwhile, in 2011, it significantly increased and hit $25.3 billion.

Now that the number of disability claimants boom, more deficits to Disability Insurance Trust Fund could also be expected, according to several lawyers from a Los Angeles social security disability firm.

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