Ohio Senator Introduces Bill to Combine VA and Social Security Application for Veterans

November 11, 2009

Washington – Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) has introduced a bill that would address the concern about redundancy and bureaucracy in the application of disabled veterans medical and social security benefits the other day.

The BRAVE Act or the Benefit Rating Acceleration for Veteran Entitlement Act, if approved, would simplify the process by letting veterans apply at the US Veterans Administration for benefits and Social Security disability at the same time.

Brown said that the current system does not serve our veterans as they have to apply separately to the VA and Social Security.

It may take a veteran weeks or even months to finish the application and that is on top of the average wait time of 495 days for Social Security disability benefits approval.

Brown concluded that if the veterans meet the VA criteria then they should automatically meet the Social Security disability requirements.

The people at SSA should not have to redo the work that the VA has already done, Brown added that it is inefficient and redundant.