CNA Presents Final Report To Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission

Alexandria, Va. — The CNA Corporation's Final Report for the Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission: Compensation, Survey Results, and Selected Topics has been released to the public and is now available as a PDF on CNA's website.

The 486-page report, prepared by CNA analysts at the request of the Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission, assesses the benefits provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to veterans and their survivors for disabilities and deaths attributable to military service. The overall focus of the project was to analyze the appropriateness of the VA's current benefits program for compensating for loss of average earnings and for degradation of quality of life resulting from service-connected disabilities for veterans. CNA experts also evaluated the impact of VA compensation for the economic well-being of survivors and assessed the quality of life of both service-disabled veterans and survivors.

CNA researchers were tasked with two, principal areas of study—assessing (1) earnings and quality of life losses and (2) how well VA disability payments compensated for these losses. CNA found:

In the area of earnings comparisons for service-disabled veterans — that while there was "general parity overall" in earnings ratios for male veterans, some subgroups were above parity, while others were below. According to the study, "The most important distinguishing characteristic [in matters of parity] is whether the primary disability is physical or mental. In general, those with a primary mental disability have lower earnings ratios than those with a primary physical disability, and many of the rating subgroups for those with a primary mental disability had earnings rates below parity. In addition, entry at a young age is associated with below-parity earnings ratios, especially for severely disabled subgroups."

And in the area of veterans' quality-of-life survey results — that "as the degree of disability increased, generally overall health declined," and that "there were differences between those with physical and mental primary disabilities in terms of physical and mental health." The study also found that "Physical disability did not lead to lowered mental health in general. However, mental disability did appear to lead to lowered physical health in general." And that, "For those with a primary mental disability, physical scores were well below the population norms for all rating groups, and those with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder had the lowest physical health summary (also called physical component summary) values.

At the request of the Commission, CNA researchers also explored other issues, summaries of which are also part of the report. Additional topics reviewed include:

• Disincentives for disabled veterans to work or to receive recommended treatment or therapy.
• Surveys of raters and Veterans Service Officers with regard to how they perceive the processes of rating claims and assisting applicants.
• Comparing the VA disability compensation program to other disability programs.
• Evaluating the option of offering a lump sum alternative to some service-disabled veterans.
• Individual unemployability (IU), mortality, and Social Security Disability Income (SSDI), and
• Comparing DOD disability determinations to those conducted by the VA.

View the CNA report in its entirety

To view the Commission's full report, Honoring the Call to Duty: Veterans' Disability Benefits in the 21st Century log on to http://www.vetscommission.org/reports.asp