The Hidden Cost
Why the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act Is Asking Veterans to Sacrifice for Veterans
Congress is preparing to pass legislation that sounds good on the surface—the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act. It includes a version of the Major Richard Star Act that would allow combat-injured veterans with 20 or more years of service to receive both military retirement pay and VA disability compensation at the same time. For medically retired combat veterans with fewer than 20 years of service, however, the bill uses a “lesser of” calculation that could significantly reduce their concurrent receipt benefit. It also expands caregiver support and increases survivor benefits.
Those are worthwhile goals.
The concern isn’t with those provisions. It’s with how Congress proposes to pay for them.
Buried in this 553-page package is language that would significantly reduce disability compensation for future veterans with service-connected tinnitus and sleep apnea—two of the most common service-connected disabilities among America’s veterans. In effect, Congress would fund new veterans’ benefits by reducing disability compensation for future veterans.
This isn’t a budget problem veterans created. It’s one Congress should solve responsibly.
The Deal That Doesn’t Add Up
The Major Richard Star Act is estimated to cost approximately $10 billion, according to congressional budget analysis. To avoid increasing the deficit, Congress looked for an offset—and its proposed solution is to reduce disability compensation for future veterans.
Under the proposal, sleep apnea would no longer automatically receive a 50% disability rating based on the use of a CPAP machine. Instead, ratings would be based on residual symptoms and the effectiveness of treatment. Likewise, tinnitus, which is currently rated at 10%, would no longer qualify for standalone compensation and would only be compensable when linked to another service-connected condition, such as hearing loss.
According to veteran advocacy groups and VA analysis, these changes could reduce disability compensation by tens of billions of dollars over the next decade. The Disabled American Veterans (DAV) organization estimates that as many as 1.5 million veterans could ultimately be affected. Nearly 3.2 million veterans currently receive compensation for service-connected tinnitus, while hundreds of thousands more receive benefits for sleep apnea.
What the Major Richard Star Act Actually Provides
The version of the Major Richard Star Act included in this legislation is more limited than many people realize.
For combat-injured retirees with 20 or more years of military service, the bill would provide full concurrent receipt of both military retirement pay and VA disability compensation without offset.
Section 101, however, creates a different formula for medically retired combat veterans with fewer than 20 years of service. Under the bill, DFAS must calculate their benefit using the lesser of two amounts: either their actual Chapter 61 disability retirement pay plus VA disability compensation, or a hypothetical 20-year longevity retirement calculation plus VA disability compensation—whichever amount is lower.
As written, the proposal asks one group of veterans to absorb disability compensation reductions while another group receives a version of the Major Richard Star Act that is itself more limited than originally envisioned.
A Real Case: Why This Matters
Consider a veteran we’ll call “M.” His/her situation illustrates why the uncertainty surrounding this legislation matters.
M has:
- Service-connected PTSD (70%)
- Service-connected tinnitus (10%)
- Service-connected rhinitis
- A pending claim for sleep apnea secondary to rhinitis
- A pending appeal for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Under current regulations, if M’s sleep apnea claim is approved, it could qualify for a 50% disability rating based on today’s rating schedule.
The uncertainty created by pending legislation is the issue. M’s existing tinnitus rating would likely be grandfathered and protected. But veterans with pending or future claims face the possibility of an entirely different rating system. That uncertainty is one reason many veterans’ organizations have opposed tying earned disability compensation to budget negotiations.
The Fundamental Injustice
When veterans develop tinnitus after years of exposure to weapons fire, aircraft, or other military noise, those injuries are the result of military service—not accounting errors. When the VA recognizes sleep apnea as service connected, it is acknowledging that the condition is linked to military service under existing law and evidence.
These are earned benefits intended to compensate veterans for documented service-connected disabilities. The Disabled American Veterans organization has argued that reducing compensation for these conditions would not reflect improved health outcomes for veterans, but rather a budget-driven policy decision that shifts costs onto those who have already sacrificed.
There is also a broader concern. As Kyleanne Hunter, CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, warned:
“Today it’s tinnitus and sleep apnea. Tomorrow it could be PTSD, migraines, toxic exposure conditions, or any other disability that becomes a tempting budget target.”
Whether or not one agrees with that prediction, it highlights the concern shared by many veterans’ organizations: once disability compensation becomes a source of budget offsets, future benefit reductions become easier to propose.
What Needs to Happen
Veterans’ organizations from across the political spectrum—including Common Defense, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), Disabled American Veterans (DAV), and Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW)—have opposed using disability compensation reductions to help fund this legislation.
Congress faces legitimate budget challenges. But those challenges shouldn’t be solved by asking future veterans to give up earned disability benefits.
The Major Richard Star Act deserves to become law. Major Richard Star—a combat engineer who developed terminal lung cancer after burn pit exposure—should never have been forced to choose between military retirement pay and disability compensation. That injustice deserves to be corrected.
But Congress can correct that injustice without creating another.
The Bottom Line
The Major Richard Star Act deserves to become law.
Caregiver support deserves to be expanded.
Survivor benefits deserve to be strengthened.
Congress can accomplish all of those goals without paying for them by reducing disability compensation for future veterans with service-connected disabilities.
Veterans upheld their end of the bargain when they served. Congress should uphold its end now.
If you believe veterans shouldn’t be asked to fund veterans’ benefits, contact your representatives and urge them to remove the proposed disability compensation reductions from the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act before it becomes law.
Resources
Below are a few resources so you can read more about the bill, why groups may oppose it, and what groups think about it.
- H.R.9237 – Take Care of America’s Veterans Act
- DAV condemns congressional proposal to cut disability benefits for 1.5 million veterans
- Bill Meant to Aid Veterans Instead Betrays our Military Heroes and Federal Caregivers
- American Legion – After extensive review, The American Legion believes the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act offers the strongest opportunity to advance long-stalled legislation for veterans and their families.
Disclaimer: This article was researched using multiple sources, including AI-assisted research tools, to compile the information presented.
