VA quadruples payments to vets with brain injuries

[The Straight Story]

VA quadruples payments to vets with brain injuries
By Pauline Jelinek, Associated Press September 23, 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) - The government is more than quadrupling monthly payments to some veterans suffering brain injuries, as the number of such war wounds mounts from the roadside bombings of Iraq and Afghanistan.

The new compensation is based on the assessment that even some troops who have the mildest form of traumatic brain injury could end up with chronic headaches, memory loss, anxiety or other symptoms that will hurt their chances of getting a job or job advancement - thus reducing their lifetime earnings by 40 percent.

In a regulation announced Tuesday by the Veterans Affairs Department, officials changed the way they evaluate the injuries. They now judge a person to be 40 percent disabled in such cases rather than 10 percent. The old lower rating was set by a 1961 regulation.

The rating change means that an unmarried veteran, who now receives $117 monthly in compensation, will receive $512. Extra money also will be calculated for troops with spouses and children.

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