Concurrent receipt approved for 50%+ disabled vets

VFW Magazine, Jan, 2004 by Tim Dyhouse

Congress and the White House agreed in October to provide certain service-connected disabled military retirees their full VA disability compensation without offsetting their retired pay, known as "concurrent receipt." The new policy applies to retirees with a service-connected disability rated 50% or higher. The payments began Jan. 1, 2004, and will be phased in over a 10-year period.

In 2004, retirees rated:

100% disabled will receive $750 a month; 90% disabled will receive $500 a month; 80% disabled will receive $350 a month; 70% disabled will receive $250 a month; 60% disabled will receive $125 a month; and 50% disabled will receive $100 a month.

The monthly amounts will be increased each year so that retirees will be receiving their entire compensation and retired pay in 2014. Disabled retirees who began receiving larger payments last year under the Combat-Related Special Compensation Program must choose to continue with that program or opt for the new policy. National Guard and Reserve retirees with 20 years of service will be eligible, too.

"VFW recognizes that this legislation addresses only the most seriously disabled retirees," said VFW Commander-in-Chief Ed Banas. "While it falls short of what we had hoped for, it goes a long way toward achieving VFW's legislative goal of authorizing concurrent receipt for all disabled military retirees."

The new policy, which is included in the 2004 Defense Authorization Act, will affect some 250,000 of the approximately 550,000 disabled military retirees. It will cost about $22 billion. Lawmakers estimate it would take $67 billion to cover all disabled veterans.

VFW's Director of Legislative Service Dennis Cullinan says VFW was instrumental in halting a proposal that would have linked concurrent receipt to a change in disability compensation that would have denied future disability claims unless the veteran could demonstrate it was in the "direct performance of duty."