VA Disability Benefits: Process for Identifying Conditions Presumed to be Service Connected and Challenges in Processing Complex Gulf War Illness Claims

Abstract

VA provides disability compensation to millions of veterans with service connected disabilities. Veterans are generally entitled to these benefits if they can prove their injuries or illnesses were incurred or aggravated by active military service. For certain claims, VA presumes a condition is due to a veterans service. For example, VA can provide benefits to any veteran with certain symptoms, from respiratory disorders to gastrointestinal issues, who served in Southwest Asia from 1990 to the present, without the veteran needing to prove cause. GAO refers to these as Gulf War Illness claims.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 09, 2020
Accession Number
AD1146302

Entities

People

  • Aimee Elivert
  • Alexander G. Galuten
  • Christina Bixby
  • Elizabeth Curda
  • Elizabeth Field
  • James E. Bennett
  • Karyn Angulo
  • Kathleen L. Van Gelder
  • Nisha R. Hazra
  • Nyree R. Tee
  • Susan Aschoff
  • Walter Vance

Organizations

  • United States Government Accountability Office

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Agent Orange
  • Congress
  • Department Of Defense
  • Department Of Veterans Affairs
  • Diseases And Disorders
  • Engineering
  • Governments
  • Health
  • Health Services
  • Infectious Diseases
  • Law
  • Persian Gulf Syndrome
  • Public Policy
  • Southwest Asia
  • Therapy
  • Training
  • United States Government

Readers

  • Government Contracting/Procurement.
  • Gulf War Illness and Chronic Multisymptom Illness in Veterans.
  • Theoretical Analysis.