For veterans who have already cleared one of the federal government’s toughest disability reviews, being told by another federal agency that they are not disabled enough is confusing.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
Army veteran Monika Witherspoon has been considered 100% disabled by the Department of Veterans Affairs since 2016 because of post-traumatic stress disorder after service in Afghanistan. But when she turned to the Social Security Administration for disability benefits, she was denied.
“I would love to be working,” Witherspoon said. “My last job before I went on deployment, I worked at a psychiatric hospital. I was a nurse assistant. So I worked, I’ve worked all my life.”
A determination by the VA that a veteran is fully disabled does not automatically qualify that veteran for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits.
Army veteran Charles Grieder received the same answer from Social Security.
“The VA is saying this, but Social Security is saying this,” Grieder said.
For Grieder, it resulted in two different conclusions from two parts of the federal government about the impact of his PTSD.
“You got all these notes from the VA saying here’s all the evidence. So it’s weird, they don’t work with one another,” Grieder said.
The difference comes down to how the two agencies define disability.
Gayle Conner, a disability attorney with Victory Disability, said the VA and Social Security are evaluating applicants under different standards.
“It’s two different programs analyzing it in two different ways,” Conner said. “But at the end of the day, they are disabled veterans with physical and mental limitations.”
The most recent Social Security Administration analysis examining the issue was published in 2014. That study found that when 100% disabled veterans apply for Social Security disability, “nearly one-third are denied DI benefits based on medical (or medical-vocational) considerations.”
Conner believes VA disability findings should carry greater weight during the Social Security review process.
“If they have a VA rating, I would like to see that hold a little bit more weight. I’m not sure it really does right now,” Conner said.
While veterans can still be denied benefits, Social Security policy gives special treatment to veterans who have received a VA 100% Permanent and Total disability rating.
According to a 2023 update to SSA’s internal Program Operations Manual System, known as POMS, Veterans Affairs 100 Percent Permanent and Total, or VAPT, cases are “identified as priority cases” and “are given priority processing through all levels of case development and adjudication.”
The agency also says the VA provides SSA with weekly information on those veterans through an automated data exchange. VAPT claims are flagged within Social Security’s systems to expedite review.
Witherspoon said she continues to fight for benefits. She is now on her seventh appeal.
“I think what they want veterans to do is give up,” she said.
More than half of veterans with VA ratings of 100% disability were denied during their first attempt to obtain Social Security disability benefits, according to the Social Security study. Approval rates improved as claims moved through the appeals process, but veterans often faced a lengthy and complex system before reaching a final decision.
Channel 2 Action News asked the Social Security Administration whether it has conducted a more recent analysis of approval and denial rates for disabled veterans and whether the agency tracks outcomes for those priority cases. SSA has not responded to those questions.
TRENDING STORIES:
- Recall alert: Thyroid medication Levothyroxine recalled nationwide
- Best 25 high schools for athletes in Georgia
- Officer-involved shooting under investigation in Athens
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]