1. The Crisis in Veterans Disability Compensation
Using Free Society Principles to Help People Help Themselves

2. Recipients of Veteran Disability Compensation (VDC)

3. Distribution of Post-9/11 VDC Recipients by Rating*
*Pay and benefits are distributed according to percentage disability rating

4. Individual Unemployability* Recipients
*Individual unemployability is a special program that allows veterans with ratings as low as 60% to receive compensation at the 100% level, provided they do not work.

5. Proportion of Living Veterans Receiving VDC

6. Total Inflation-Adjusted VDC Spending (2017)

7. Average Annual VDC Payment* by Rating (2016)
*All VDC payments are tax-free and do not include other transfer payments like SSDI and Individual Unemployability, state-level tax benefits, healthcare coverage, and education benefits.

8. Average Annual VDC Payment (2017)

9. Top ten most claimed disabilities
Most common disabilities among all VDC recipients (2016)
Prevalence
Tinnitus (ringing in the ears)
1,610,911
Hearing loss
1,084,069
Post-traumatic stress disorder
887,899
Lumbosacral or cervical strain (lower back pain)
844,353
Scars
827,459
Limitation of flexion of knee
755,204
Paralysis of sciatic nerve
580,986
Limitation of motion of the ankle
511,300
Diabetes mellitus
438,572
Migraine
436,339
Most common disabilities among Post-9/11 VDC recipients (2016)
532,091
Limitation of flexion of the knee
410,647
397,262
344,219
293,951
258,182
244,160
Degenerative arthritis of the spine
217,234
Sleep apnea
171,069
168,691

10. Compensation-seeking and Wounded-In-Action Rates*
2016 ABR
Disabilities per recipient
% living population receiving compensation
% seeking compensation
WIA per 100,000 troops
WWII
2.41
14%
4,260
Korea
2.44 9%
No info
Vietnam
3.78
21%
3,473
Peacetime
3.3 NA
Gulf War I
5.49
23%
208
Post-9/11
7.44
36%
45%
2,060
*Although more servicemembers are surviving battle injuries than in the past, overall battle injury rates are lower than in any major previous conflict for which records are available. In short, more of today’s veterans are entering the VDC system but battle injuries cannot explain this growth.

11. *Although VDC isn’t the only factor driving down workforce participation, it is the most potent.

13. Thomas Meyer, Director of Veteran Services
Contact Information
Thomas Meyer, Director of Veteran Services