WILMINGTON, N.C. — Wounded troops are still waiting to file new appeals of disability ratings that determine what kind of medical care and benefits they get after federal officials missed their goal for beginning the process.
The Department of Defense was already months behind on starting the work of a three-member board that will hear the appeals.
The December 2007 act of Congress that created the board mandated it start hearing appeals within 90 days. Though defense officials missed that deadline, they said they planned to start by the end of 2008. That didn’t happen either.
“Thousands of wounded troops have gotten inexplicably low disability ratings. An incorrect rating can cost a disabled veteran hundreds of dollars a month,” said Vanessa Williamson, the policy director at New York-based Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. “Especially in this economy, this is an enormous burden.”
Capt. Mike Andrews, a spokesman for the Air Force, which is overseeing the panel’s creation, said the board is waiting for the secretary of defense’s office to finish vetting the application troops will file. The Associated Press
