New Bill Would Allow Veterans to Receive VA Benefits for Sexual Assault By Their Word Only
If this bill is approved does anyone think the VA will be flooded with new sexual assault claims?:
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The Department of Veterans Affairs is opposing a new bill that would expand access to disability benefits for survivors of military sexual trauma.
Department officials characterized the legislation at a congressional hearing Thursday as too broad, saying it would require the VA to approve claims based on a veteran’s word alone without any corroborating evidence.
But after a recent inspector general report found the VA may have wrongly refused benefits to thousands of military sexual assault victims in recent years, supporters of the Servicemembers and Veterans Empowerment and Support Act of 2019 say changes are necessary to keep the department from retraumatizing victims who deserve to be compensated for what they went through — even if there’s no paper trail.
“It is just unthinkable that in this day, we ask people to serve in the military, they have these horrendous experiences … but then people present themselves for claims — and many of them going back an incredibly long period of time — and then hit these brick walls,” said Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, who introduced the legislation.
Among other things, the bill would lessen the burden of proof for military sexual assault survivors applying for disability benefits, requiring the VA to resolve every reasonable doubt in favor of the veteran, as is already standard VA practice for claims of combat-related PTSD.
Army Times
You can read more at the link, but how come the burden of proof is not lowered for other claims to the VA such as for muscular-skeletal injuries or even agent orange exposure?
It allows those in power who do not like the military or what it’s mission is a way to in a few years shout and point that the huge number of claims and say how horrible the military is and we need to do something about this. It’s the same as AD sexual assault claims. Finally women realize that if they are assaulted the need to seek out military law enforcement, medical care and find their perpetrators can and will be served justice regardless of rank. So women (& men) are stepping up and admitting the assaults occurred and justice is happening. It’s not a new onslaught it’s a new attitude. It would be like saying the military never had an issue with the computer system being compromised until the 1960s then the cases went through the roof…
Come to think of it, I might have been sexually assaulted or abused by someone, sometime, somewhere. It depends on whether a lunch is being provided.
As a taxpayer, I feel like I’m being raped by all these greedy narcissists who can’t or won’t measure up to the DoD standards or their Oath and want a big money settlement. I think they and their attorneys ought to be dropped off somewhere in Southeast Asia and told they’re no longer needed, and their citizenship is revoked.
But that’s probably why I’m not in charge. 😀 😀 😀
“I got screwed over by the Army” will be the new VA rape claim.