VA Final Draft Rule on Disability Ratings based on Medication Usage

VA wants to change how it determines a disability rating is determined based on whether a Veteran uses medication to treat their service connected conditions to change their ratings to the level of rating for their after medication is administered. This will cause Veterans with pending rating decisions to have lowered ratings. Medication, while it does treat conditions, such as musculoskeletal injuries, autoimmune diseases, and mental health conditions, none of them are cured by it. The VA Schedule for Rating Disabilities (VASRD) is stated to evaluate conditions at its worst level, not the treated level. Most conditions that are treated with medication are not static in nature. The VASRD was created to compensate Disabled Veterans for their service connected conditions, as their lifetime earning potential is drastically lowered in comparison to non-Veterans. Reducing the ratings based on the treated conditions will have a negative impact on a population that face far more challenges and barriers will lead to an increase in Veteran Homelessness (which the administration claims to care about) and Veteran Suicide. These actions go against the mission statement of the VA of “to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan,” as stated by Abraham Lincoln, and revised to “To fulfill President Lincoln’s promise to care for those who have served in our nation’s military and for their families, caregivers, and survivors.” All of this, as with many polices and programs, are being targeted under the guise of “fraud.” The fraud rate is extremely low. The medical community at large does not support this kind of medical determination. This is not based on any fact, just based on lining the pockets of the rich, and take it out on the vulnerable. This needs to be stopped.