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One of those got nothing else to do moments.

Here is how VA healthcare works. If you are a veteran with a DD214 of honorable discharge, you’re good. Various waivers and blah blah, but the vast vast majority, that.

Then comes an income verify (sitting aside disabled rating for a moment). If you’re over about $65K you are disqualified. There are levels below that that determine copays. The lower the income, the lower the copay. For primary care, hospital, etc. This is why this is mostly a retiree thing. Working years, guys often make more.

But most vets get free healthcare and pay a copay for drugs (and the copay is lower than most civilian arrangements for meds).

Now then, disabled rating. Badly phrased. It really means long term injury. Many vets refuse to make a claim they deserve because they don’t think they are disabled and other guys need it more. But the phrasing should be injury, not disability. If you got hurt in service, and it still is there, but you walk around and drive and work . . . you qualify. You made a sacrifice, got hurt, stayed hurt and it happened on active duty. There are very careful investigations into all of this.

So various levels of disabled (injured). Even 10% disabled (everyone gets firearms training, every year, pretty common to start tinnitus like that that lasts forever (and generates suicides)) is still a disabled rating.

10% is all it takes to erase that healthcare income threshold above. A 10% Service Connected veteran does not have an income limit on their healthcare. So even younger than retiree age can get VA healthcare.

The guys who were parachute guys, pretty common for them to have a knee or back injury, and that’s never going completely away. They will get a rating for that over 10%.

There are presumptive connections. Guys get cancer and were stationed on active duty around Agent Orange. They are presumed connected and that will be 100%, of course. (though if guys go into remission, the 100% reduces, and this generates some rage, but it does make sense). Oh, should have mentioned, there is a monthly check of about $170 per 10% of injury. For life.

The review process and justification process and the exams are thorough. Is there cheating going on? Probably. Are you or I qualified to know who is doing that? Probably not. The exam folks are carefully briefed and know exactly what determines injury and what does not. Because of that, there’s not much cheating — and the punishment is so severe for being caught — there’s even less.

Are there guys rated too low for their injury? Probably. They walk in still thinking other guys need it more.

The VA gives frequent briefings to try to stop that. “YOU are not qualified to know how badly you are hurt. We are. Come in and we’ll do the exam.”