The Scary Prospect of Change whether personal, economically, politically, it all boils down to yesterday is history, tomorrow is mystery and today is the present!

Personal empowerment through conscious change seems overwhelming but, come on, lets face it, is the past working for you? The world is changing, if you stay in the past, its not possible to enjoy today. And, as we age, change gets more and more difficult so its critical to start personal growth, changing with the times, growing and expanding early in your life. Therefore, change gets to be the norm and you are better able to change with the times, an important facet of survival.

With the election approaching many seniors are afraid Medicare won't be there for them. Medicare was resisted years ago when it was first introduced. Today, the affordable care act is resisted.

Too many in the country are resistant to the change...a Black president. President Obama has been called everything one can think of. Never in my life have I seen a president so disrespected. Over the past 4 years, Mr. Obama has been called many ugly things as well as a liar in public by Joe Wilson of SC.

If you know anything about me, as the author of Paradise Costs, you know my story unfolded in South Carolina. My father was white, elderly, disabled...it didn't matter in South Carolina. It's the most hate filled place I have ever been and it is symbolic of the hate, fear, racism and ignorance that plague our country.....it's very dangerous because when one of us, no matter what the color of our skin, is in danger from hate, ignorance and racism, then every single one of us are.

So, we need change, BIG CHANGE but big change doesn't happen unless the small changes are made incrementally from within each of us. Don't fear it, embrace it. Think back to those who rejected Medicare when it came along and how fearful they were about whether health care would challenge their liberties. Sounds silly now, right. Hindsight is 20/20 however we all know something has to be done about the spiraling costs of medical care.

The Only Constant in Life is Change!
by

Irene A. Masiello

CHANGE. It's a scary word! Take a look around and see how much people are freighted by it. Many have the past ingrained so deeply that anything that is new is immediately a threat.

Witness the healthcare debate. Many don’t want to government running healthcare and yet it’s been doing a pretty good job in Medicare. However, change anything and the country is freaking out.

There is only one constant in the world: CHANGE!

If you want to be a better person, a better parent, employee, friend, spouse…there are some simple changes that can improve yours and everyone else’s way of life.

1: Be happy
It’s not about money, looks or professional success. Being genuinely grateful for what you have and looking forward to the dawn of each day can make you feel a kind of deep happiness that is contagious. Think back to your childhood….doesn’t that yield some wonderful simple moments
that make you feel warm?

2: Be honest
Honesty is a way of life. It means you don't steal, you don't cheat on your taxes and you are faithful to your spouse. Here's a quick test to determine your level of honesty: You give a cashier $10 for a magazine, candy and soft drink. The tab comes to $8.15. Instead of giving you $1.85 in change, she gives you $10.85. That is, instead of a $1 bill, you get a $10 bill. You notice it immediately. What do you do?

3. Be respectful of others
When you treat others as you would like to be treated, you are showing the ultimate kind of respect.

4. Be easygoing and fun
As the old saying goes, "Live, laugh, love." Slow down from life's frantic pace and have fun--whether it's an unscheduled day playing hooky from your responsibilities or just a few minutes respite from the grind.

5. Be confident
Once you accept there is always someone out there who is better than you, you can realize your own abilities. Be confident in what you can--and cannot--do.

6. Be emotionally open
Be open and honest with those you love. Express your opinions and listen to theirs without criticizing.

7. Be disciplined
No one is watching over your shoulder when you slack off--except you. Self-discipline means you have a finely tuned sense of ethics, of what is right and what is wrong, and you act accordingly. You are strong enough to say no to life's many temptations, from food to drugs to illicit sex.

8. Take pride in yourself
While too much pride can be seen as sinful, we all need to feel some pride in who we are, where we live and what we do. That kind of pride helps define who you are in your world.

9. Be compassionate
Being empathic to the needs of others and doing good deeds to ease others' suffering is one of the most basic acts of kindness and goodness we accomplish as human beings.

10. Have a sense of humor
You have to be able to laugh, especially at yourself. There is humor in almost every situation. You just have to find it. And laughing is almost always better than crying.

(c) Copyright 2007-August 2012 Irene A. Masiello, all rights reserved, please do not reprint without permission from the author. Thanks

This article orginally appeared in NYC's HealthWise Magazine in my column called SPIRITWISE in 2007

please share info on Elder Financial Abuse ASAP...late notice but important!

This is another step in an endless process in pointing out the failures of our system. Any organization, corporation, program that so obfiscates its rules and regulations, terms of service, etc needs to simplify their materials, contracts, etc. and, if neccessary, needs the government to make that mandatory. 

I have become cynical as I have seen how difficult tasks like completing forms, understand complex material like legal documents, etc, are so challenging that they, by nature, exploit the diminishing capacity of senior citizens. And corporations use this to gain financially.

We need laws to protect preditory and greedy corporations from exploiting the vulnerablities of old age. I have written about my experiences here about corporations such as Home Depot and Verizon and how difficult it is to do business with them, how they mislead everyone and especially seniors simply because seniors often lack the ability to understand terms and service especially written so they cannot be understood as often this results in corporations win....seniors lose....where have I heard this before?

I am not going to apologize for sticking it to greedy corporations who consider government penalties as the price of doing business while they triple their profits.

Be careful out there...the Ryan budget, Mitt Romney's taxes... this is a war on senior citizens too so lets stand with women, labor, the poor and middle class and defeat this...we are a generation that can defeat this anti-humanistic campaign simple by the sheer number of us.

Baby boomers...we can do this alone....a vote for the poor is a vote for yourself as certainly after retirement many of you will find yourself among the very people who need food stamps, medical coverage, etc. Yes, change is difficult but it is the one constant in life. The GOP vision of America is Anti-American.

Please pay attention in the months that follow and make an informed choice about the future, a future that holds your life in the balance.

Blessings,

Irene

Irene A. Masiello

Author of Paradise Costs-A Victim's Daughter Fights Back against Elder abuse

Afterword: Bennett Blum, MD, co-author of "suicide by cop"

=========================

CFPB Seeks Information on Elder Financial Abuse, Financial Advisors for Seniors

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Request for Information on Senior Financial Exploitation (RFI) is now in the Federal Register. The request seeks information on elder financial abuse and exploitation as well as certifications or designations of financial advisors who serve seniors. The Bureau is seeking as robust a response as possible. If you have regular membership calls or email communications (such as a listserv) and if you think it is appropriate to let your membership know about the RFI, please encourage comment submissions. There is a sixty (calendar) day window for responses. The last day for responses is August 17^th.

Here is the link to the Request https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2012/06/19/2012-14854/request-for-information-regarding-senior-financial-exploitation

Please share your story asap !

Senior discounts? With some checking accounts, it's a senior penalty

By Bob Sullivan

Senior citizens are used to getting good deals. Tell the truth: if you're aren't of AARP age, there have been times you wish you were -- when buying mass transit tickets, for example, or visiting America's national parks (one $10 fee gets you into any park, all year). Plenty of restaurants and other retailers offer "senior days" and other deals.

But take checking accounts off the senior discount list. A new report by the Pew Center on the States warns(.pdf) that so-called senior checking accounts may not be a good deal at all. In fact, in some cases, senior accounts cost much more than a basic checking account.

---

At Bank of America, for instance, a senior account is far more expensive than a basic account. Here are the facts, from Bank of America's website. The bank's “Advantage for Seniors” account costs $25 per month vs. a basic checking account fee of $14 per month. In both cases, consumers can earn a fee waiver, but here again, the senior account comes up short. Direct deposit of paychecks is one way, but that's often not available to seniors, Pew points out in its report. Basic checking users can also avoid fees by maintaining a $1,500 balance in their account; but seniors have to keep at least $5,000 in their account. Fall below $5,000 for even one day, and that's a $25 fee.

"If you have $5,000, and are happy to have it sit in this account, this can be a fine deal," said Susan Urhan, director of Pew's Center on the States. "But the question is: Is the consumer in an account that best suits their needs? The point of this (research) is that consumers need to understand the terms of their accounts."

 

Seniors who could comfortably park $2,000 or $3,000 -- but not more – in their checking accounts would save $300 apiece annually by steering clear of the senior account at Bank of America. And those with balances below $1,500 would still save $132 by picking a standard, basic account instead of the senior account.

The Advantage for Seniors account does offer a few perks, such as fee-free mini-statements from ATMs (they normally cost $1), but Pew concludes in its report that such perks aren’t worth the extra fees.

 

"Essentially, accounts of this type are a luxury account tailored for seniors, not necessarily an improvement on the basic checking package," Pew concluded.

Bank of America spokeswoman Betty Riess said that seniors have a variety of low-cost choices at Bank of America, including its MyAccess product, which provides a fee waiver with any monthly direct deposit of $250 or more, including Social Security payments.

“The Advantage interest-bearing account is designed for customers who have higher balances with us, and the vast majority of seniors in that account do not pay a monthly maintenance fee on the account,” she said. She added that the Advantage account offers one benefit that is quite handy for seniors – an early CD withdrawal without a penalty.

Senior accounts at other banks also offer some tricky choices, but not quite as tricky. At TD Bank, the "60 Plus" account costs $10 monthly(.pdf), more than the $3.99 basic checking account costs, the report found. But it only takes a $250 balance to earn a fee waiver in the TD senior account, a much more manageable threshold.

At BB&T, senior accounts cost $8 per month, and a $1,000 balance earns a fee waiver, a genuine discount compared to the $10 per month the firm charges for its basic "BB&T Bright Banking" account, which requires $1,500 for a fee waiver.

Of course, if your eyes have begun to glaze over at these various numbers, then you've heard the main lesson of the Pew report -- it's not easy to pick the right checking account under even the best of circumstances. Add in a new set of variables, such as those associated with senior accounts, and you’ve got even more confusion. But seniors aren’t the only ones struggling with specialized checking account questions. A related Pew report released the same day looked at student/college checking accounts and found similar problems; some student accounts are inferior to basic accounts, and comparison shopping can be a real challenge.

"We looked at all these disclosures from banks, and 69 pages was the median length," Urhan said. "We're worried this is confusing for people ... for students, for seniors."

Pew is trying to get banks to adopt a simple disclosure format -- similar to nutrition labels on food items -- so consumers could more easily comparison shop and pick the account that's best for them.
Already, TD Bank, Chase and Citibank (since July 17) have voluntarily adopted Pew's fee box, she said. The nonprofit research group also is urging the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to make fee disclosure boxes mandatory.

“It would have the same effect as a nutrition label,” she said. “But until we get that kind of transparency ... it will be hard to make the right choice.”
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health care reform - preparing for the changes brought about by the new law

Okay, why should I shut up at this late date? I've worked in doctor's offices from 1985-1990 and our healthcare system did not work then, it doesn't work now and so...if we keep doing what we've always done, we are always going to get what we have gotten.

Change is difficult for many people however...healthcare must change and if Americans want to call it socialized medicine, call it whatever you want.

You want democracy? Well, democracy doesn't work for everyone because of the underlying financial system... capitalism. Any system based on greed does not belong running any social service agency. Greed the likes of which we have in American today, is a deadly sin and people die by the millions because of it.

Woe to anyone who talks about change...I will accept socialized medicine if it means seniors, the poor and kids can get the care they need.

Associate Press reports that primary care doctors are a big winner in the new laws and since they provide the lion's share of healthcare, lets recognize that this may mean better care because doctors are adequately compensated for the time that's needed to bring back a more established form of doctor-patient relationship.

Baby boomers, remember when physicians were like members of the family? That's when they were less pressured by the high cost of practing medicine in America. The truth is every facet of our lives is now pressured by the corruption in politics, business, banking, etc.

Baby boomers, you have the future of the country in your hands because you are the single most largest population in America. It's time to think about the future...seems to me the Republicans didn't worry about the financial future of our country until they lost the White House. They dug us into 2 unfunded wars and brought about the collapse of the banking industry. They want less regulation.
I want more. At this stage, I trust big government more than I trust big business.

It's so interesting how the GOP wants less oversight yet they want to peer into the uterus of pregnant women with their smaller government. I get it. Rich people want poor people to always provide los cost labor and therefore the rich become very interested in the next generation of poverty level births,
the want more interest in developmental deprived youth as ignorance yields compliant people.

Baby boomers, we were the rebels, we marched for Civil Rights, we marched to end the war in Viet Nam...we are a proactive generation. Please get all the information you can about the Affordable Care act and become a resource for yourself and others.

thanks


========================================

Start planning now for the new health care legislation

From the Chicago Tribune

Now that the Affordable Care Act has been given a green light by the Supreme Court, when will you have to pay for so-called Obamacare?

For high-income taxpayers, you will start feeling it in 2013, when you begin paying a higher Medicare tax to help cover some of the costs.

For people who would rather not buy health insurance, 2014 is when you must start making the purchase. No one will show up in 2014 and say, "Buy now or else." But you will feel the "or else" when you work on your 2014 tax return sometime in early 2015.

"The government can't force you to buy insurance, but it can tax you for not buying it," said John Roth, senior tax analyst with CCH Group.

As you do your 2014 taxes you are likely to see, for the first time, a line on your tax return asking for proof that you have obeyed the government's mandate and purchased health insurance. The details are yet to be worked out by the IRS; they were pending the Supreme Court's decision. But Roth said you will probably be prompted by a line on your 2014 tax return to identify the insurance policy you've purchased with an account number, or perhaps you will need to attach a copy.

If you fail to do so, the government has the right to penalize you. But under the Affordable Care Act, the IRS doesn't have the muscle it has if a person fails to pay student loans or child support, Roth said. The IRS doesn't have the right to put a lien on your house. But it still does have some power.

If you complete your tax return and are due a refund, Roth notes that the IRS can confiscate some of the refund as the penalty for not buying health insurance. If you are due some type of credit such as the earned income tax credit, Roth figures the government can dip into that. For single people, penalties start at $95 or 1 percent of income, depending on which is highest. By 2016, it rises to $695 and can be higher based on family size and income.

The rationale is to urge people to get health insurance, so they don't inflict uncovered costs on the system when accidents or emergencies occur and they end up in hospitals. In addition, to keep insurance costs from rising sharply for riskier and sicker patients, health policy analysts claim healthy young people must buy insurance to subsidize those who are less healthy.

Also, to help pay for costs associated with health care changes, high-income people are going to be required to pay higher taxes. Next year, singles with incomes over $200,000 and couples with incomes over $250,000 will have to pay an extra 0.9 percent on earned income and a 3.8 percent Medicare tax on investment gains.

People with incomes over $200,000 will see the extra income tax removed from paychecks. Some will owe more at tax time because employers don't know when an employee is in a two-income family earning more than the $250,000 threshold.

The 3.8 percent tax on investment income applies to interest, dividends, capital gains, rental income and annuity income. In addition, starting in 2013, the current 15 percent tax on long-term capital gains is set to go up to 20 percent.

In the case of a married couple with a joint income of $225,000 and $25,000 in capital gains, there would be no extra 3.8 percent tax. But if they had $35,000 in capital gains, their $260,000 in income would meet the threshold and $10,000 would be subject to the extra tax, said Tim Steffen, Robert W. Baird & Co.'s director of financial planning..

With the Supreme Court decision lending more certainty to the beginning of the tax, Steffen said financial advisers will start working with clients on ways to take gains in 2012 rather than 2013, when they will be taxed more heavily.

For example, small business owners thinking of selling a business next year might be better off selling in 2012, Steffen said. People planning for higher taxes might sell stock or real estate and exercise stock options earlier than planned.

"Still, people should avoid doing crazy things to avoid the tax," Steffen added. Business and investment decisions should come before tax decisions.

Apart from investments, individuals should also be thinking now about timing costly medical care where there's leeway — perhaps moving Lasik surgery or eyeglass purchases from 2013 to 2012. Starting in 2013, medical costs must total 10 percent of your adjusted gross income to be deducted, and it's difficult to amass costs that high in a single year. In 2012, the threshold is lower — 7.5 percent. So clustering them this year might give you a shot at a deduction you won't be able to meet in the future.

gmarksjarvis@tribune.com

Medicare patients & their doctors get a win in the upholding of the Affordable Care Act upheld by the Supreme Court yesterday

finally some good news for seniors and their doctors. Medicare patients and their physicians

will get better reimbursement for healthcare....good news for seniors, finally!

Please do NOT believe the death panels stuff. Please do not believe the hate-filled rhetoric.

Give change a chance.

Winners and losers in high court health law ruling
MARK SHERMAN and RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — By a single vote, President Barack Obama's health care overhaul survived a painstaking Supreme Court review that consumed thousands of pages in legal filings and an extraordinary six hours-plus of oral argument time back in March.
In the end, the court upheld the law, with a minor change, and dashed Republican hopes of bringing down what conservatives deride as "Obamacare" on constitutional grounds. The outcome surprised many who thought tough questions from the conservative justices during the arguments foreshadowed the demise of the far-reaching legislation.

The decision leaves a trail of winners and losers, from Main Street, USA, to the very steps of the Supreme Court. For some, it's a mixed bag. Here's a look:

WINNERS
Casey Quinlan, a 59-year-old breast cancer survivor who lives near Richmond, Va., and millions of other uninsured people. Starting in October 2013, the uninsured will be able to sign up for taxpayer subsidized coverage either through private insurance plans or the Medicaid health care program. Coverage commences on Jan. 1, 2014. The law eventually is expected to provide health insurance to about 30 million of the estimated 50 million uninsured Americans. Insurers will not be able to turn away people with a history or medical problems, or charge them more. "What's at stake is whether or not the insurance market will be encouraged to recognize our presence and create products that are affordable for people with pre-existing conditions," Quinlan said.

Hospitals. Their stock zoomed Thursday after the Supreme Court ruling
guaranteed them millions more paying customers. Some analysts expect the law to reduce uncompensated care losses borne by hospitals by about half. Currently about one-fourth of the care provided by hospitals is never paid for, either because debts can't be collected or the patient is uninsured. Stocks of big laboratories also rose. But insurance companies had a see-saw day, down sharply at first but recovering some lost ground. They'll get millions of new customers also, but they face new federal regulation and taxes they fear will drive up costs.

Family practice doctors. The law provides a pay boost for those treating Medicare patients, and takes other steps that could make general practitioners the new gatekeepers of a more efficient health care system.

Democrats. President Barack Obama and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi devoted a vast amount of his first term to passing a health care law that has divided the nation. Democrats lost the House in the 2010 midterm elections partly on public displeasure with Medicare cuts embedded in the health care overhaul. By winning at the court, Obama and his party preserve historic legislation that liberals have been pining for over more than 50 years.

Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr. Obama's top Supreme Court lawyer was maligned for his performance in both the health care and Arizona immigration cases. His argument in defense of the insurance requirement got off to a bad start when Verrilli appeared to choke on his words and had to take a drink of water. Turns out, he largely prevailed in both cases, in which he also was in charge of producing the administration's written legal briefs. That's perhaps just the latest indication one shouldn't hang too much on oral arguments.

Chief Justice John Roberts — The darling of conservatives, Roberts finds himself in the unusual position of being praised by the left and criticized by the right following the health care ruling, and to a lesser extent, the Arizona immigration case in which he also sided with the court's liberals. On one level, these demonstrations of a willingness to break with conservatives could burnish Roberts' reputation as the neutral umpire he told his confirmation hearings he sought to be. On the other hand, the conservative Roberts may be very much in evidence when the court takes up affirmative action in the fall.

LOSERS
The National Federation of Independent Business. The powerhouse small business lobbying group played a pivotal role in derailing former President Bill Clinton's health care bill and was lead plaintiff in the case against Obama's overhaul. NFIB President Dan Danner said Thursday the group will continue to push for repeal, but odds of completely overturning the law seem slimmer now. The law imposes fines on employers that do not offer coverage, but companies with fewer than 50 workers are exempt, and that means most small businesses will not have to worry about the mandate. Moreover, most companies with 50 or more employees already provide coverage. Nonetheless, business groups generally see the health care law as an encroachment.

Republicans. From presidential candidate Mitt Romney, to congressional leaders like House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., it will get harder for Republicans to argue that the law should be wiped from the books. However, Republicans could regain the upper hand by targeting unpopular provisions for repeal, like tax increases on industry, cost controls and cuts to service providers.

States that didn't prepare. About half the states now find themselves in the position of the little piggy that built his house out of straw. Many Republican-led states held back on carrying out the law's plan to set up new insurance markets, confident the Supreme Court would toss out the whole thing. They're now in the position of watching Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' federal bureaucrats come in and run the markets for them. Sebelius says she wants to play nice and will partner with any interested states. But you can bet it will be on her terms.

Justice Antonin Scalia. He sat glumly and silently as other justices read their takes on the health care law. Scalia was more vocal than any justice in his distaste for the law when the court heard arguments in March.
___
Associated Press writers Sam Hananel and Daniel Wagner contributed to this report.

06/29/2012 3:41 © Copyright The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Vitamin D lack restricts seniors mobility

People....this is really IMPORTANT...I had vitamin D defciency and I was in pain, my cognitive skills diminished, my driving went down hilll. I was really compromised. Please talk to your doctor about running a vit. D test. Most of us are deficient! Stay healthy, Irene

Irene A. Masiello, author Paradise Costs-A Victim's Daughter Fights Back against Elder Abuse

www.ParadiseCosts.com

Vitamin D lack restricts senior mobility

from Health News

Published: May 30, 2012 at 12:59 AM

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., May 30 (UPI) -- A lack of vitamin D may be put seniors at increased risk of developing mobility limitations and disability, U.S. researchers found.
Lead author Denise Houston of the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and colleagues analyzed vitamin D and the onset of mobility limitation and disability over a six-year period.
They used data from the National Institute on Aging Health, Aging and Body Composition study. Mobility limitation and disability were defined as any difficulty or inability to walk several blocks or climb a flight of stairs.
The study involved 3,075 men and women ages 70-79. Vitamin D levels were measured in the blood at the beginning of the study.
"We observed about a 30 percent increased risk of mobility
limitations for those older adults who had low levels of vitamin D,
and almost a two-fold higher risk of mobility disability,"
Houston said in a statement. Vitamin D plays an important
role in muscle function, so it is plausible that low levels of
 the vitamin could result in the onset of decreased lower
muscle strength and physical performance, Houston said.
People get vitamin D when it is naturally produced in the
skin by sun exposure, by eating foods with vitamin D --
such as fortified milk, juice and cereals -- and by taking
vitamin D supplements, Houston said.
The findings were published in the Journal of Gerontology:
Medical Sciences.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2012/05/30/Vitamin-D-lack-restricts-senior-mobility/UPI-82511338353963/#ixzz1wM3SRmUB

Baby boomers, seniors, veterans, elder care workers, nurses, doctors, Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion, Queens, NY...Half the vets need disability says AP....this effects the election and it effects seniors as well...we'll need more medical resources not less favoring the election of a humanitarian president not a capitalist president...please think about this:

Baby boomers, seniors, healthcare workers, nurses, doctors, physician's assistants, elder care workers, etc, this is for you. You are on the front lines of the real inside story about the 2012 election.

 

I am listening to the Sunday morning talk shows and thinking about the election. My brother was a Viet Nam vet with post traumatic stress syndrome before the diagnosis was established.

I am wondering how the Veteran's Administration is going to handle the demand for medical care for the veterans of these last 2 wars that bankrupted this country. The GOP wants to scale back Medicare...will they want to scale back veteran's benefits as well?

 

Obama wanted to give us healthcare reform but is meeting with resistance. Basically, the resistance is resistance to change. The only thing in life that is steadfast is change. Those people who don't change with the times are doomed.

 

Please read this article below and understand that these troops served the country in a more enlightened time than the Nam vets did. My brother was emotionally scared beyond belief by what happened in Nam. Our country turned its back on guys like him and his comrades.

 

So, here we baby boomers stand needing Medicare to be whole, needing healthcare reform, remembering those guys and gals we grew up with who didn't come back from Viet Nam

and now facing the GOP agenda of cutting social programs.

 

Are we going to let this happen?

 

Please vote and remember change happens with or without your permission. Be a part of the change you want to see. This is a call to "arms" so to speak to my fellow baby boomers...

please be a part of a not so silent generation for progress and change.

 

Thank you,

Irene A. Masiello

Author: Paradise Costs-A Victim's Daughter Fights Back against Elder Abuse

Afterword: Bennett Blum, MD

====

 

AP IMPACT: Almost half of new vets seek disability
MARILYNN MARCHIONE
AP Chief Medical Writer

America's newest veterans are filing for disability benefits at a historic rate, claiming to be the most medically and mentally troubled generation of former troops the nation has ever seen.

A staggering 45 percent of the 1.6 million veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are now seeking compensation for injuries they say are service-related. That is more than double the estimate of 21 percent who filed such claims after the Gulf War in the early 1990s, top government officials told The Associated Press.

What's more, these new veterans are claiming eight to nine ailments on average, and the most recent ones over the last year are claiming 11 to 14. By comparison, Vietnam veterans are currently receiving compensation for fewer than four, on average, and those from World War II and Korea, just two.

It's unclear how much worse off these new veterans are than their predecessors. Many factors are driving the dramatic increase in claims — the weak economy, more troops surviving wounds, and more awareness of problems such as concussions and PTSD. Almost one-third have been granted disability so far.

Government officials and some veterans' advocates say that veterans who might have been able to work with certain disabilities may be more inclined to seek benefits now because they lost jobs or can't find any. Aggressive outreach and advocacy efforts also have brought more veterans into the system, which must evaluate each claim to see if it is war-related. Payments range from $127 a month for a 10 percent disability to $2,769 for a full one.

As the nation commemorates the more than 6,400 troops who died in post-9/11 wars, the problems of those who survived also draw attention. These new veterans are seeking a level of help the government did not anticipate, and for which there is no special fund set aside to pay.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is mired in backlogged claims, but "our mission is to take care of whatever the population is," said Allison Hickey, the VA's undersecretary for benefits. "We want them to have what their entitlement is."

The 21 percent who filed claims in previous wars is Hickey's estimate of an average for Operation Desert Storm and Desert Shield. The VA has details only on the current disability claims being paid to veterans of each war.

The AP spent three months reviewing records and talking with doctors, government officials and former troops to take stock of the new veterans. They are different in many ways from those who fought before them.

More are from the Reserves and National Guard — 28 percent of those filing disability claims — rather than career military. Reserves and National Guard made up a greater percentage of troops in these wars than they did in previous ones. About 31 percent of Guard/Reserve new veterans have filed claims compared to 56 percent of career military ones.

More of the new veterans are women, accounting for 12 percent of those who have sought care through the VA. Women also served in greater numbers in these wars than in the past. Some female veterans are claiming PTSD due to military sexual trauma — a new challenge from a disability rating standpoint, Hickey said.

The new veterans have different types of injuries than previous veterans did. That's partly because improvised bombs have been the main weapon and because body armor and improved battlefield care allowed many of them to survive wounds that in past wars proved fatal.

"They're being kept alive at unprecedented rates," said Dr. David Cifu, the VA's medical rehabilitation chief. More than 95 percent of troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan have survived.
Larry Bailey II is an example. After tripping a rooftop bomb in Afghanistan last June, the 26-year-old Marine remembers flying into the air, then fellow troops attending to him.

"I pretty much knew that my legs were gone. My left hand, from what I remember I still had three fingers on it," although they didn't seem right, Bailey said. "I looked a few times but then they told me to stop looking." Bailey, who is from Zion, Ill., north of Chicago, ended up a triple amputee and expects to get a hand transplant this summer.

He is still transitioning from active duty and is not yet a veteran. Just over half of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans eligible for VA care have used it so far.

Of those who have sought VA care:
—More than 1,600 of them lost a limb; many others lost fingers or toes.
—At least 156 are blind, and thousands of others have impaired vision.
—More than 177,000 have hearing loss, and more than 350,000 report tinnitus — noise or ringing in the ears.
—Thousands are disfigured, as many as 200 of them so badly that they may need face transplants. One-quarter of battlefield injuries requiring evacuation included wounds to the face or jaw, one study found.

"The numbers are pretty staggering," said Dr. Bohdan Pomahac, a surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston who has done four face transplants on non-military patients and expects to start doing them soon on veterans.

Others have invisible wounds. More than 400,000 of these new veterans have been treated by the VA for a mental health problem, most commonly, PTSD.

Tens of thousands of veterans suffered traumatic brain injury, or TBI — mostly mild concussions from bomb blasts — and doctors don't know what's in store for them long-term. Cifu, of the VA, said that roughly 20 percent of active duty troops suffered concussions, but only one-third of them have symptoms lasting beyond a few months.

That's still a big number, and "it's very rare that someone has just a single concussion," said David Hovda, director of the UCLA Brain Injury Research Center. Suffering multiple concussions, or one soon after another, raises the risk of long-term problems. A brain injury also makes the brain more susceptible to PTSD, he said.

On a more mundane level, many new veterans have back, shoulder and knee problems, aggravated by carrying heavy packs and wearing the body armor that helped keep them alive. One recent study found that 19 percent required orthopedic surgery consultations and 4 percent needed surgery after returning from combat.

All of this adds up to more disability claims, which for years have been coming in faster than the government can handle them. The average wait to get a new one processed grows longer each month and is now about eight months — time that a frustrated, injured veteran might spend with no income.
More than 560,000 veterans from all wars currently have claims that are backlogged — older than 125 days.

The VA's benefits chief, Hickey, gave these reasons:

—Sheer volume. Disability claims from all veterans soared from 888,000 in 2008 to 1.3 million in 2011. Last year's included more than 230,000 new claims from Vietnam veterans and their survivors because of a change in what conditions can be considered related to Agent Orange exposure. Those complex, 50-year-old cases took more than a third of available staff, she said.

—High number of ailments per claim. When a veteran claims 11 to 14 problems, each one requires "due diligence" — a medical evaluation and proof that it is service-related, Hickey said.
—A new mandate to handle the oldest cases first. Because these tend to be the most complex, they have monopolized staff and pushed up average processing time on new claims, she said.
—Outmoded systems. The VA is streamlining and going to electronic records, but for now, "We have 4.4 million case files sitting around 56 regional offices that we have to work with; that slows us down significantly," Hickey said.

Barry Jesinoski, executive director of Disabled American Veterans, called Hickey's efforts "commendable," but said: "The VA has a long way to go" to meet veterans' needs. Even before the surge in Agent Orange cases, VA officials "were already at a place that was unacceptable" on backlogged claims, he said.

He and VA officials agree that the economy is motivating some claims. His group helps veterans file them, and he said that sometimes when veterans come in, "We'll say, 'Is your back worse?' and they'll say, 'No, I just lost my job.'"

Jesinoski does believe these veterans have more mental problems, especially from multiple deployments.

"You just can't keep sending people into war five, six or seven times and expect that they're going to come home just fine," he said.

For taxpayers, the ordeal is just beginning. With any war, the cost of caring for veterans rises for several decades and peaks 30 to 40 years later, when diseases of aging are more common, said Harvard economist Linda Bilmes. She estimates the health care and disability costs of the recent wars at $600 billion to $900 billion.

"This is a huge number and there's no money set aside," she said. "Unless we take steps now into some kind of fund that will grow over time, it's very plausible many people will feel we can't afford these benefits we overpromised."

How would that play to these veterans, who all volunteered and now expect the government to keep its end of the bargain?

"The deal was, if you get wounded, we're going to supply this level of support," Bilmes said. Right now, "there's a lot of sympathy and a lot of people want to help. But memories are short and times change."
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Online:
VA's Home Page http://www.va.gov/
VA budget, performance: http://www.va.gov/budget/report/
IOM Coming Home report: http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12812
Costs of war: http://bit.ly/y5cLsH
Veterans quick facts: http://www.va.gov/vetdata/Quick_Facts.asp
War casualty reports: http://www.defense.gov/news/casualty.pdf
Brain Injury Center: http://www.dvbic.org/
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05/27/2012 13:39 © Copyright The Associated Press. All rights reserved.