Report says 60,000 veterans get triple benefits

originally posted by: TDawgRex
a reply to: seeker1963

I wish I was "average". I get a pension (26 years and retired as an E-7), along with my 50% VA. Mind you, I'm not complaining, I'm fine with that. There are others who are a hell of a lot worse off than me.

I'm not fine with Coburn's reasoning either. I just think that with so many people being employed by the Gov't, that some of them could look into possible scammers.

Although I agree, as far as scamming the system should be looked into, how does Veterans scamming the system compare to Welfare, Lobbyists, Bankers, Multi national Corporations, Tax cheats etc etc....? How about things like studying "shrimp on a treadmill"?

In the scheme of things, I find this report quite troubling that out of all the above mentioned scams, the oligarchs are choosing to waste time to go after what I would call "small potatoes". It's like, mind boggling to even try to wrap my head around WTF are they thinking!!

a reply to: seeker1963

Thank you! That right there helps me put things into a better perspective.

I've bitched about all that you have listed and more before. This is truly, small potatoes compared to all that.

That said...I still really dislike any and all scammers.

originally posted by: ~Lucidity
It's legal. They earned it. But now someone will probably take it away. Probably the same idiots who made all this necessary.

Kind of amazing when you think about it. Being a history buff, I have seen the political parties swap positions over the decades/centuries.

Repubs used to be all about the Vets, and now with this, it seems not so much.

I guess since we are drawing down from mass deployments, us Vets aren't needed as much as before as a political pawn.

a reply to: TDawgRex

I know many retirees who are at least double-dippers (pension and SS). No one thinks anything of that, but if your pension comes from the government career you stayed with for decades, then I guess it's not okay. And god help you if you qualify for service-related disability pay.

I think that inflating government costs per contract by anywhere between 300 to 700 percent is wrong too, but it's written into every corporate contract that the government signs. If you want to save the government money - real money - go look into the corporate requirements that are written into every single government contract. Leave the old broken down vets alone. That's chump change and won't get us out of debt, even if you combine every damn none of those "triple dippers".

The real crooks get away with their robbing us blind by getting jackasses like Coburn to distract us with junk like this. Try being smarter about what's draining our Treasury or stay out of the effort to address it.

originally posted by: TDawgRex

Nearly 60,000 veterans were triple dippers last year, drawing a total of $3.5 billion in military retirement pay plus veterans and Social Security disability benefits at the same time, congressional auditors report.

It's all legal.

The average payment was about $59,000, but about 2,300 veterans, or 4 percent of the total, received concurrent payments of $100,000 or more, the Government Accountability Office said.

The highest payment was to a veteran who received $208,757 in combined payments in 2013.

Report says 60,000 veterans get triple benefits

I'm a retired Vet and have often thought to myself that triple dipping was wrong. Yes, those Vets did pay into the system. But receiving a retirement pension, plus VA disability AND Social Security just seems a tad bit greedy to me.

But I try to look at the other side as well. Most of these people are over 60. And if they are truly disabled, probably won't be with us much longer. Also being 100% disabled can be pricey, especially if they are in a nursing home. (Which can be a scam as well)

I will admit that I guess I would be termed a double dipper myself. I receive my pension and VA disability of 50%. Without that, I wouldn't be able to afford day to day expenses and medical bills, of which are piling up.

The VA does not take care of everything, just service related injuries and the follow up treatment.

But I still think that $100,000 and above is just a bit excessive for some Vets.

What say you ATS? I'm still on the fence on this one.

I really don't know about how it works, but it seems to me if they earned VA benefits, then that's what they earned. If they receive Social Security also because they earned it, then they earned it.

But on the other hand, my mom got my dad's VA after he died, and she wasn't able to get Social Security at the same time, but there are some older people receiving Social Security because they reached the age to, but are millionaires. I think that is something that should be changed.

I receive Social Security because I am a 100% disabled person who had paid into Social Security. I was never a Vet, so I don't know much about it. I suppose it all goes back to personal integrity.

The other part is this, even though my mom got my dad's VA benefit of money, she can't go to a VA hospital or doctor, she couldn't even get Medicare, so even if it was income, it was not helpful when it came to medical care. When it comes to spouses, they either get VA or Social Security until they reach a certain age. My mom may be old enough now, and she just started getting Medicare.

That's a tough one, I don't know. But I know my mom was stuck after getting my dad's VA payments.

originally posted by: ~Lucidity
It's legal. They earned it. But now someone will probably take it away. Probably the same idiots who made all this necessary.

Yep. And those same people will retire with Congressional benefits while being paid as board members for corporations on top of all those hot stock tips they get in Congress. It's a millionaires club and they had to do was get elected using someone else's money to do it.

originally posted by: Asktheanimals

originally posted by: ~Lucidity
It's legal. They earned it. But now someone will probably take it away. Probably the same idiots who made all this necessary.

Yep. And those same people will retire with Congressional benefits while being paid as board members for corporations on top of all those hot stock tips they get in Congress. It's a millionaires club and they had to do was get elected using someone else's money to do it.

And why do We the People allow it to continue?

It's like no one ever is interested in their state politics and keep sending the same doofuses to Washington DC. Once We the People get the idea that it is our fault for not making an issue of no term limits nor showing up for all their stumping speeches or saying a word when the advertisement for someone running for the Senate or Congress.

I do know that my current Senator and Congressmen send emails telling me how good things are going for Indiana...blah blah blah. They keep getting emails from me and I'm not as generous to them.

Why is it very few people even have their Senators and Congressmen on their email address list? Everyone has an opinion, but never to the point of actually saying anything to them.

I say that We the People flood the system by overcrowding it and start splitting tickets. Enough of the two party system and regular guys start jumping in and changing it. Otherwise we will remain subjects of a few men, the vast majority of Americans don't even care who their Senators or Congressmen are.

I'd like to thank everybody for their replies.

This has been a quandary in my mind for a few years for me. I knew I needed an outside perspective, yet no one I knew could actually provide it in the way that many of you all have couched it.

I do believe that I am off the fence on this issue once and for all. Coburn and anyone in power who thinks like him needs to be booted from office.

Well...that's a relief. One problem out of the way. Hey! It's a start.

originally posted by: TDawgRex
I'd like to thank everybody for their replies.

This has been a quandary in my mind for a few years for me. I knew I needed an outside perspective, yet no one I knew could actually provide it in the way that many of you all have couched it.

I do believe that I am off the fence on this issue once and for all. Coburn and anyone in power who thinks like him needs to be booted from office.

Well...that's a relief. One problem out of the way. Hey! It's a start.

Good luck on your endeavor.

They should not receive SS if they're receiving veteran's benefits. That's a pig at the trough.

Anyone who is is dishonest and greedy.

a reply to: TDawgRex

Where can my husband sign for that amount of money? hell I have no problem with double dipping after all he is a retired marine, (retirement only pay for the house), he will become a double dipper when he starts to receive his social security in about another 10 years (if social security is still around), but retirement and SS combine will not be enough to live the same standards of living that we enjoy right now with him getting his retirement and a full pay check also as working under a government agency.

Still he have the choice to get into a Civil service position that so far he has been avoiding, (because it will not be equal in pay), but he could retire also as civil service worker making him a "triple" dipper,still retirement, SS and another retirement as CS is not enough to make that outrageous amount cited in the cases in you post.

Hell were can my husband sign for it

My ex was in the military for 3 years. He never saw combat. Yet he is collecting disability and unemployability benefits from the VA. At near 100% rates. Has been for about 5 or 6 years now.

He is fully capable of holding a job and working. He prefers to spend his time hunting and fishing, living in the middle of nowhere. I lived with him in the middle of nowhere for 18 months. 3 hours to the closest Walmart.

It is disturbing to me, that someone in their early 30's, who is fully capable of being a contributing member of society, has opted for laziness and is receiving these benefits that should be going to someone who truly deserves them. Not sponging them with various things being diagnosed as, "PTSD, OCD, ADD..." etc.

originally posted by: UtahRosebud
My ex was in the military for 3 years. He never saw combat. Yet he is collecting disability and unemployability benefits from the VA. At near 100% rates. Has been for about 5 or 6 years now.

He is fully capable of holding a job and working. He prefers to spend his time hunting and fishing, living in the middle of nowhere. I lived with him in the middle of nowhere for 18 months. 3 hours to the closest Walmart.

It is disturbing to me, that someone in their early 30's, who is fully capable of being a contributing member of society, has opted for laziness and is receiving these benefits that should be going to someone who truly deserves them. Not sponging them with various things being diagnosed as, "PTSD, OCD, ADD..." etc.

Your ex is exactly the type of person I complain about. Yet told to mind my own business if I'm not a Doctor. Those scammers are out there. Drives me nuts, especially when I saw what type of Soldier they were prior to them receiving benefits. They were usually dirtbags.

a reply to: UtahRosebud

Darn my husband should read this, because he just had knee surgery that I always said that is link to his years as a marine and he saw combat, but never complain to the VA about that, I told him that he should be receiving at least some degree of disability for that knee that always bothered him even when he was still active duty.

My husband is one of those people that is too honest and do not want to burden the government in any way, perhaps because his employment depends on it

a reply to: marg6043

Here's the kicker. While serving, Servicemembers do pay into the SS system. So why wouldn't they be qualified for it?

My retirement check: ~$1,000.00/mo (I retired before the big raise around the turn of the century). I opted out of applying for disability. I didn't serve for the money, but I'll readily admit I'm PO'd at what they did to the promise of enduring healthcare.

Last time I checked, a four-star w/30yrs, takes home $26K/mo. There's a cap, but whatever they can't 'take home' is a tax deduction.

Better hope Paul Ryan is never elected president.

a reply to: TDawgRex

Exactly, specially if you has been paying for SS all your working life and never has qualified for any other government services.

My husband has pay into SS for the last 40 years.

Darn, then you pay into your regular taxes, when he got for the first time in his working life, 4 months "unemployed" due to contracts disputes,( quite often in government dealings with the private sector.)

The unemployment benefits even paid at a higher scale due to his former salary at the time, was nothing but pennies on the dollars compare to what he had paid in taxes for 40 years.

Still recently after three years that this happen now the state send us a letter telling us that he didn't qualify for one week of that unemployment, I was like what in the heck this people are talking about?.

I told him to got write a check for the miserable amount and tell them to shove it where the sun doesn't shine.

Something's sometimes are very unfair taking into consideration that a lot of dishonest people just ride the system and nobody cares to investigate

in my way of thinking...1st, the massive, intrusive & costly Congressional Investigation found only 60,000 triple dippers
out of the 10s of millions of Veterans over the years

this excerpt from the OP & the busy-body Legislator poking his eminent nose into noble veterans is an assault to me,
that most likely draft dodger (by stretching legal loopholes or by realistic fact) never 'gave of himself' but used politics as a pathway to feathering-his-nest in life-----BOO to him !

excerpt:

Most Americans would find it hard to understand how someone making $86,000 a year in tax-exempt VA income qualifies for Social Security Disability Insurance, when civilian workers are disqualified from the program if they make as little as $13,000 a year, Coburn said.

Only 17 percent of those who received multiple forms of compensation had suffered a combat-related disability, according to the GAO.

Veterans have long been exempted from rules that deny Social Security benefits to anyone with other income exceeding $13,000 a year.

it is easy to break down...
+ the VA Pension is Tax-Free for a reason....

+ the Social Security program is a voluntary thing, & you pay over a 12% special payroll tax deduction to enter that social security program (it is completely independent of the VA Pension and VA determined 'rated' disability package

+ the 17% rate of combat-related injured Vets. is another issue...service connected/non-service connected injuries are decided by a VA board not by Congress

+ the $13k cutoff threshold might be a point of future debate between the VA & Congress ...
which would be breaking contract law in the promise to Vets that VA Pension Compensation is to remain exempt from income considerations
Whereas, entering the SS program and It's promise of Disability payments when becoming incapacitated once had no $13k barrier/exclusion in that promise...the participant only hoped to work as long as needed to qualify for a retirement benefit
income (of all types)-wages-compensation are all particular definitions in the tax law
Pensions are not earned-income, nor dividend income, nor interest income. nor a realized 'gain'
but all that is for the lawyers to iron out, quibble over

the articles' penny-pincher needs to study the Billions sent out in IRS scams of fake tax returns by terrorists and others and the hundreds of thousands in monthly multiple handouts to scam artists using the welfare resources of gov't to get rich

a reply to: Snarl

That is what my husband said when I told him about this thread, he said that it has to be officers retirement pay on disability and then combined with SS.

a reply to: St Udio

Bravo!!!!!!!!!!!!!, I agree, the IRS waste and abuse of working class tax dollars to benefits those that give nothing to the system

Yes, most of the money been paid to retirees recipients is mostly to Officers, I am sure of that.