PTSD Rules Changed

VA Simplifies Access to Health Care and Benefits for Veterans with PTSD

WASHINGTON – Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki announced a critical step forward in providing an easier process for Veterans seeking health care and disability compensation for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), with the publication of a final regulation in the Federal Register.

“This nation has a solemn obligation to the men and women who have honorably served this country and suffer from the often devastating emotional wounds of war,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “This final regulation goes a long way to ensure that Veterans receive the benefits and services they need.”

By publishing a final regulation today in the Federal Register to simplify the process for a Veteran to claim service connection for PTSD, VA reduces the evidence needed if the trauma claimed by a Veteran is related to fear of hostile military or terrorist activity and is consistent with the places, types, and circumstances of the Veteran’s service.

This science-based regulation relies on evidence that concluded that a Veteran’s deployment to a war zone is linked to an increased risk of PTSD. Under the new rule, VA would not require corroboration of a stressor related to fear of hostile military or terrorist activity if a VA doctor confirms that the stressful experience recalled by a Veteran adequately supports a diagnosis of PTSD and the Veteran's symptoms are related to the claimed stressor.

Previously, claims adjudicators were required to corroborate that a non-combat Veteran actually experienced a stressor related to hostile military activity. This final rule simplifies the development that is required for these cases. VA expects this rulemaking to decrease the time it takes VA to decide access to care and claims falling under the revised criteria. More than 400,000 Veterans currently receiving compensation benefits are service connected for PTSD. Combined with VA’s shorter claims form, VA’s new streamlined, science-based regulation allows for faster and more accurate decisions that also expedite access to medical care and other benefits for Veterans.

PTSD is a medically recognized anxiety disorder that can develop from seeing or experiencing an event that involves actual or threatened death or serious injury to which a person responds with intense fear, helplessness or horror, and is not uncommon among war Veterans.  Disability compensation is a tax-free benefit paid to a Veteran for disabilities that are a result of -- or made worse by -- injuries or diseases associated with active service.

To get benefits under the new policy, a veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder must do four things to get benefits:

1. Be diagnosed by the Veterans Affairs Department. The PTSD diagnosis must come from a psychiatrist or psychologist either on VA’s staff or under contract with VA. Diagnosis by a private doctor or by a military doctor is not enough.
2. Indicate on their disability benefits claim that their PTSD is related to a fear of hostile military or terrorist activity because they experienced, witnessed or were confronted with an event, injury or threat from an actual or potential incident that involved being under attack.
3. Indicate that their response to the real or threatened event was a state of “fear, helplessness or horror.”
4. Ensure the claimed event or threat is consistent with places and circumstances of military service.

For additional information, contact your local County Veterans Service Office. The Sauk County Veterans Service Office can be reached at (608) 355-3260.