D.C. Notes: Disability claims from Iraq, Afghanistan vets top 176,000

Sunday, June 10, 2007

By Lisa Hoffman
WASHINGTON — Deep in a newly released 300-page report on the benefits system for the nation’s veterans lies a first look at the dimensions of the disabilities the Iraq- and Afghanistan-war injured are suffering.

Through March, more than 176,000 U.S. veterans of those ongoing conflicts had filed claims for disability compensation, according to a report released by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science.

Some of the most common conditions were tinnitus, or ear ringing (36,000 claims granted); back strain (33,000); problems with ankle motion (16,000) and post-traumatic stress disorder (16,000).

More than 550 troops have become amputees. Almost one-fourth of those suffered the loss of more than one limb. At least 1,100 “war on terror” vets have been treated for blindness or significant visual injuries.

The report also estimates that at least 300,000 U.S. veterans of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom ultimately will be added to the nation’s disability-compensation rolls, which currently number 2.7 million veterans receiving a total of $27 billion a year.

~ by Brad on June 11, 2007.