New rules pave way for veterans' PTSD disability claims

The New York Times: Veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder who are seeking disability benefits will get a break when new rules go into effect as early as next week. "The regulations from the Department of Veterans Affairs, which will … cost as much as $5 billion over several years according to Congressional analysts, will essentially eliminate a requirement that veterans document specific events like bomb blasts, firefights or mortar attacks that might have caused P.T.S.D., an illness characterized by emotional numbness, irritability and flashbacks." Documenting such events has long proved a challenge for veterans, including those who served in noncombat roles in Afghanistan and Iraq but still suffer from the illness (Dao, 7/7).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.