TAMPA, Fla. \u2014\u00a0The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has rescinded a controversial rule that would have changed how disability ratings are determined for veterans, following intense national backlash from veterans groups and advocates.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs\u00a0rescinded a rule considering medication effectiveness in disability ratings
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Critics said it could reduce compensation for veterans with managed symptoms
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National veterans groups opposed the change, leading to its reversal<\/p>\n
The rule briefly took effect Tuesday and required VA examiners to consider how much a veteran\u2019s condition improved with medication when assigning disability ratings. Critics argued that could have led to reduced compensation for veterans whose symptoms were managed by medication \u2014 even if the underlying injury or illness remained serious.<\/p>\n
For many veterans, that raised concerns about how invisible injuries, particularly mental health conditions and traumatic brain injuries, would be evaluated.<\/p>\n
Felicia Pecora, who served in the Army Reserve from 1992 to 2000 and deployed to Haiti and Bosnia, said stabilizing symptoms with medication does not mean the injury is gone.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust because you are stabilized \u2014 let\u2019s say medication has stabilized you for a period of time \u2014 doesn\u2019t mean you won\u2019t need more later,\u201d Pecora said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean your brain isn\u2019t changing. It doesn\u2019t always show up like a traumatic brain injury where you can see it in an MRI. It\u2019s showing up in behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said the rule felt like it minimized the long-term impact of service-related injuries.<\/p>\n
National veterans organizations quickly criticized the policy.<\/p>\n
In a statement, Carol Whitmore, National Commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, warned the rule \u201ccould have unforeseen and harmful downstream effects for veterans,\u201d and called for serious public scrutiny.<\/p>\n
Some advocacy groups said the change could potentially affect millions of disabled veterans nationwide by lowering disability ratings \u2014 and in turn, compensation.<\/p>\n
Recent court rulings had directed the VA to base disability ratings on the severity of a veteran\u2019s condition. Critics argued that the new rule conflicted with those decisions.<\/p>\n
The backlash escalated quickly. A Vietnam veteran joined forces with several law firms to petition the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to review the regulation.<\/p>\n
However, that legal challenge may no longer be necessary.<\/p>\n
Just two days after the rule took effect, VA Secretary Doug Collins announced the department would halt enforcement.<\/p>\n
In a statement, the VA said, \u201cWhile VA does not agree with the way this rule has been characterized, the department always takes veterans\u2019 concerns seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n
The decision was met with relief from veterans and advocacy groups who had mobilized quickly to oppose the change.<\/p>\n
For Pecora, the reversal reinforces the importance of collective action.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe owe the families and that veteran to take care of them because we broke them,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not right to turn our backs for a cost-saving way to wash our hands of the whole thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Advocates say the episode highlights the need for continued oversight to ensure disability ratings fully reflect the long-term impact of military service.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2014\u00a0The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has rescinded a controversial rule that would have changed how…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163411,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[3948,6466,66938,571,6075,4029,115,139,99,135,137,136,3393,835],"class_list":{"0":"post-163410","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa","8":"tag-app-health","9":"tag-app-latest-health-stories","10":"tag-around-the-us","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-health-and-medicine","13":"tag-jeff-van-sant","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-orlando","16":"tag-politics","17":"tag-tampa","18":"tag-tampa-headlines","19":"tag-tampa-news","20":"tag-veterans","21":"tag-vod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163410\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}