Wounded troops and veterans should never have to fight for health care or benefits. IAVA recommends the following steps to treat these heroes with the respect they have earned.

3.1 Make VA Health Care Funding Sufficient and Mandatory

• IAVA believes the only way to ensure timely funding of the VA is to make VA health care funding mandatory. • IAVA endorses the annual Independent Budget, produced by leading Veterans Service Organizations including the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans, Paralyzed Veterans of America, and AMVETS, as the blueprint for VA funding levels.

3.2 Overhaul the Military and Veterans’ Disability System IAVA supports the creation of a DOD and VA disability system in which:

• The DOD and VA systems are streamlined: · There is one DOD/VA medical evaluation for troops leaving the service. · The DOD determines fitness for duty, and pays for a military pension or severance pay to those found unfit. · The VA determines the level of disability to compensate for loss of future earnings and quality of life. · The DOD performs a thorough medical examination on all troops prior to their separation. · DOD and VA have interoperable records to include an electronic DD214. · All troops have access to the Transition Assistance Program and Benefits Delivery at Discharge. • The entire VA disability benefits schedule is revised to include: · Adequate compensation for both loss of earning capacity and quality of life. · Adequate compensation for younger veterans, who are currently under-compensated. · A procedure to update benefits schedule to take into account changes in technology and the work force, and to accommodate new kinds of disability. · Revision of the ratings schedule for PTSD and TBI. • While such a system is being put in place, IAVA recommends that compensation rates are increased while the Rating Schedule is revised, as recommended by the Veterans’ Disability Benefits Commission.

3.3 Cut the Claims Backlog in Half

• IAVA supports the Veterans’ Disability Benefits Commission’s call to mandate a 50% decrease in the claims backlog in 2 years. To make this possible, IAVA recommends providing new funding to increase VA claims processing staff, to train claims processors regarding PTSD, and to evaluate claims processors based on the accuracy of their findings.

3.4 End the Passive VA System

• IAVA endorses funding an extensive VA outreach initiative to inform veterans of their eligibility for benefits and services. • IAVA recommends a pilot program to test an IRSstyle audit system of the Veterans Benefits Administration, which would grant VA disability benefits on the basis of a veteran’s initial application and retroactively audit some portion of the applications for fraud or error. • Until the DOD and VA system have been fully streamlined, IAVA recommends that the VA accept military disability ratings as temporary VA compensation levels. Wounded troops would therefore receive some level of VA disability payment while their VA claim was processing.

3.5 Increase Funding for Key Medical Research

• IAVA supports increased funding for independent and peer-reviewed research studies to address key medical issues facing Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Traumatic Brain Injury, extremity wounds, severe burns, and eye injuries.

3.6 Provide Fair Benefits for Disabled Veterans and Widowed Spouses

• In the case of serious injuries that preclude troops from finishing their service contracts, servicemembers should nevertheless receive their expected enlistment or reenlistment bonuses. IAVA recommends an audit to determine how many severely injured servicemembers have lost their bonuses, and the prompt repayment of troops who did not receive or were forced to repay their bonuses. • IAVA supports concurrent receipt of veterans’ disability and military separation or retirement benefits, and the repeal of the Widow and Widower’s Tax. • Housing and automotive adaptation benefits should be extended to all service-disabled veterans who need assistance, including burn victims who are currently excluded. • To qualify for Social Security benefits, one must have worked and paid into Social Security for a minimum amount of time. IAVA recommends the elimination of Social Security Disability Insurance minimum quarters for severely injured servicemembers, who have in some cases lost out on benefits because they had not been working long enough to qualify for SSDI under the current requirements. IAVA also supports the amendment of Social Security Disability guidelines, so that VA disability ratings are treated as disability level for SSDI.

3.7 Expand Health Tracking for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans

• Every effort must be made to inform veterans who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom that they are eligible to be a part of the Gulf War Registry, set up to track illnesses among the veteran population. In addition, this registry must be made available to veterans of the war in Afghanistan. • Congress should fund post-deployment longitudinal studies that bridge the gap from Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs to track veterans’ mental health problems and mortality.

3.8 Ensure Access to Care for Underserved Veterans

• The Secretary of the VA should design and implement national guidelines to instruct VA facilities when it is appropriate to contract with local community health care providers in areas where rural veterans do not have reasonable access to care. • The VA should receive adequate funding to ensure that, where appropriate, materials and care are available in languages other than English.