Assets for Individuals with Disabilities…and the Veterans Administration?

Tuesday, October 20th I attended a summit pulled together by the National Disability Institute as part of their “Real Economic Impact Tour.” The REI tour is “is a national, public/private initiative assisting low income persons with disabilities with asset building strategies, free tax preparation and filing assistance.” Worthwhile stuff and very interesting, there’s a lot of work to be done in the assets field for people with disabilities and special challenges faced because of some of the bureaucratic barriers created by programs serving those individuals.

Regardless, one of the presenters at the summit was from the Veteran’s Administration (Sunil Gupta) and he began his remarks in Admiral Stockdale-like fashion, asking “Who Am I? Why is the VA here?”

The answer, however, was as sober as the SNL skit was silly. According to Mr. Gupta (apologies if that’s the wrong honorific), the VA estimates that some 600,000 servicemen and women will end up disabled as a result of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The VA defines and treats both visible and invisible disabilities in the same fashion–thus the shockingly high number. The VA is doing some research on the economic aspects of rehabilitation and is examining the hypothesis that improved economic education and management can lead to improved welfare and reduced stress for returning, disabled members of our armed forces. They believe that improved asset management can be a part of a holistic medical approach to treating their patients which yields improved outcomes and a better use of VA resources.

According to Mr. Gupta, returning disabled service members are often young when discharged, often from backgrounds that do not have experience in asset protection and development, and often sitting on large amounts of back pay, combat pay, and bonuses sometimes as much as $100,000. This makes for a potential nest egg and asset building opportunity which all too often could be wasted.

I was stunned that the VA had people thinking about these issues and the impact on their soldiers. I guess it just goes to show that Phil Longman was right…