More Than 120,000 US Veterans Are Being Forced to Return Money They Received From the VA

As of 2022, there were about 16.2 million veterans living in the United States. These men and women gave years of their lives to protect their nation and the American people, and in return, they are cared for by the US Department of Veterans Affairs for life.

The law, which has stripped more than 122,000 veterans of their hard-earned benefits from the US Department of Veteran Affairs, has to do with those soldiers who received special separation payments over the past three decades.

Over the past several years, hundreds of thousands of veterans who have applied for disability benefits through the VA have received terrible news.

Veteran Vernon Reffitt, now 62, left the service more than 30 years ago, in 1992, as per the military’s request. At that time, he was given $30,000 in a special separation payment and simultaneously began receiving monthly disability compensation for an injury he incurred in the service.

Reffitt desperately needs the monthly disability pay he has been receiving for more than 30 years, but he doesn’t have $30,000 lying around. To pay it back, his wife is considering taking on a second job.

Of course, Reffitt’s story is not unique. Veteran Shawn Teller accepted a gross payout of $10,700 to leave the service in 1996 after serving in dangerous operations like Desert Storm and Desert Shield.

The law has forced at least 79,000 veterans to repay different separation benefits between 2013 and 2020, according to a study published in 2022 by the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit research group.

More than 120,000 other veterans’ stories are almost identical to Teller’s and Reffitt’s. The US Department of Veterans Affairs recouped more funds from more than 12,400 veterans in 2017 and more than 17,000 veterans in 2018.

“I think it’s likely that we’re missing a good number of people. We don’t have any way of knowing how big it is,” Stephanie Rennane, the study’s lead author, told NBC News.

A little-known law prohibits veterans from receiving both disability and special separation pay. Under the law, the VA has to recoup special separation benefits from veterans before those eligible can begin receiving disability payments.

According to the VA, the reason why this is happening now is because hundreds of thousands of veterans have applied for disability benefits over the past decade. When they apply for additional benefits, their records are flagged and the original mistake is highlighted.

When veterans apply for disability compensation, authorized by Congress in 1949, the VA says the form they use states that separation pay may be deducted from VA benefits. The suggestion has never had any action behind it until recently.

The Special Separation Benefit (SSB) was authorized by statute 10 USC 1174a, and allowed the VA to recoup from VA disability compensation under the section of the law that applies to 1174a by virtue of a third section, according to the VA press secretary.

The justification of the recoupment rule carried over in the 1990s when other forms of special separation payments were authorized. Those payments were designed to help the Defense Department manage its force size.

Even Shane Collins, who is familiar with the Defense Department’s manual, did not know he would have to repay his separation benefits if granted disability.

For many veterans, the monthly disability check is the only income that they have as they are unable to work due to their injuries. They have received these checks for years, but they are only being withheld now.

Unsurprisingly, veterans are extremely disappointed with this situation, and in response, the VA press secretary, Terrance Hayes, has said that the VA is legally bound to recover the special separation benefits from those who also received disability benefits.

In order to lessen the outrage, the VA has also announced that veterans can apply for a special waiver that allows them to keep their special separation payout, as well as continue to receive their disability checks.

The VA’s incredibly high standards, which make it nearly impossible for veterans to escape the burden placed upon them, is likely one of the reasons that only four waivers have been approved.

Some veterans are taking their case to the US Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. Navy veteran John Colage is currently arguing that the VA convoluted the law to justify recouping SSD payout.

This isn’t the first time that disabled veterans have had issues with the law. Their concerns prompted Congress to require a study on the effects recoupment has had on veterans.

There are many who believe that this law is not only unfair, it’s simply ridiculous. As Marquis Barefield, an assistant national legislative director with the advocacy group DAV, explained, while special separation pay is calculated by a veteran’s military career, disability pay solely relates to illness or injury.

The vast majority of veterans and even most Americans who hear about this frustrating reality are wildly disappointed in the US Department of Veterans Affairs.

Rep. Ruben Gallego introduced a bill that would eliminate the recoupment of disability benefits last year in Congress. “We need a statutory change,” he said.