• Veterans’ disability benefits face rampant fraud as billions flow to dubious claims while legitimate cases wait months for approval.
• VA will spend $193 billion this year, with hundreds of thousands compensated for eczema, hemorrhoids, and toenail fungus.
• Bodybuilders fake paralysis and VA employees run kickback schemes, exploiting a system built on an honor code with veterans.

A System Built on Trust, Exploited by Fraud

The numbers tell a shocking story. About 556,000 veterans receive disability benefits for eczema. Another 332,000 collect monthly checks for hemorrhoids. Tens of thousands more get compensation for acne, varicose veins, and benign skin growths—mundane conditions that rarely prevent anyone from working.

Meanwhile, fewer than 1,700 veterans receive disability payments for losing limbs during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Only about 10,900 service members who suffered severe or penetrating brain injuries since 2000 are eligible for benefits.

The Washington Post analyzed 25 years of government data and sued VA under the Freedom of Information Act, forcing the disclosure of thousands of internal records and dozens of surveillance videos. The investigation exposed an increasingly costly disability program prone to rampant exaggeration and fraud.

The Fraudsters Among Us

Freedom-Loving Beachwear by Red Beach Nation - Save 10% With Code RVM10

The cases are brazen. An Army veteran was indicted last year on charges of defrauding the government of $1.1 million by pretending to be paralyzed while taking Caribbean vacations and gambling in Las Vegas. She has pleaded not guilty.

In June, a Vietnam War veteran pleaded guilty to pretending to be blind for 29 years while driving and repeatedly renewing his license. The Justice Department said he defrauded taxpayers of nearly $1.2 million.

Zachary Barton, a former Army medic from Florida, hobbled into VA appointments with a cane, wearing a diaper and a T-shirt reading “Not All Heroes Wear Capes.” He claimed urinary incontinence, PTSD, erectile dysfunction, and a neurological disorder. He said he could barely lift 10 pounds.

In reality, Barton was a competitive bodybuilder on steroids doing 650-pound leg presses. When confronted, he admitted he had “gamed the system” and called himself “a shitbag.” He was sentenced to a year in prison and ordered to repay $245,000.

Easy Money for Exaggeration

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE THE DUPREE REPORT

The current disability program was designed 80 years ago to provide a safety net for unemployable veterans wounded during World War II. Today, the vast majority of disabled veterans under age 65 still work full-time jobs.

According to Bureau of Labor Statistics figures, the unemployment rate for disabled veterans last year was 4.1 percent—about the same as the population at large. More than 100,000 disabled veterans reported an income of $250,000 or higher in 2023.

Yet the perks for a 100 percent disability rating have become increasingly generous. In addition to receiving free medical care and prescription drugs from VA, those permanently rated as 100 percent disabled pay nothing for dental treatment and don’t have to repay federal student loans. Their spouses and children get free health care and up to $60,000 each for college or trade school.

More than 1.5 million veterans held a 100 percent rating last year—double the figure from 2019 and nearly nine times as many as in 2001. Each received, on average, $49,645 in disability compensation.

Outdated Rules Create Perverse Incentives

VA’s rating system remains stuck in 1945, creating absurd discrepancies. Sleep apnea, a common breathing disorder treated effectively with a nighttime mask, wasn’t even identified until mid-century. Yet VA considers most veterans prescribed such a mask to be 50 percent disabled, entitling them to $1,102 per month.

Combat veterans who had their legs amputated below the knee are generally rated 40 percent disabled, receiving just $774 per month.

Dr. Carol Ramsey, a 78-year-old Air Force veteran and physician from Colorado, receives about $34,000 a year for a 90 percent disability rating, mostly because she had a hysterectomy while on active duty. “Nobody ever shot at me,” she said, noting the unfairness compared to combat-wounded veterans.

The Honor System Fails

Justice Department prosecutors acknowledged the fundamental problem in a 2021 court filing: “One inherent problem [VA] must contend with is that it operates on an honor system with its veterans.”

Many conditions are impossible to verify objectively. Since 2001, approved claims for migraines have multiplied by 23, from 47,000 to 1.1 million today. Nearly 3.3 million veterans—more than half of those on disability—receive benefits for tinnitus, or ringing in the ears, a condition difficult to confirm with certainty.

Social media influencers and for-profit “claims sharks” have turned gaming the system into an industry. A YouTube video titled “A Tinnitus VA Rating Is A GOLD MINE & Here’s Why (No Proof!)” received 300,000 views in seven months.

One in every 10 disabled veterans—595,589 of them—held an approved claim in 2024 for “penile deformity” with a “loss of erectile power.” Veterans openly acknowledge it’s “easy money” based on nothing more than their word.

Inside Jobs and Kickback Schemes

The fraud extends inside VA itself. Anthony Medrano, a Marine veteran who worked as a VA service representative, received $183,000 in disability benefits after claiming he was homebound and needed a full-time caregiver. In reality, he continued working for VA, coached youth sports, and posted Facebook videos doing push-ups with a child on his back. He received eight months in prison.

In May, a federal grand jury indicted Ángel Carrer Rivera, a VA supervisor in Puerto Rico, on charges of leading a conspiracy to approve fraudulent disability claims for veterans in exchange for cash. Nine other defendants were also charged.

Michael Darrah, a veterans service representative in Rhode Island, pocketed nearly $30,000 to expedite legitimate claims that had languished for months. He offered to “grease the wheels” if veterans paid him through cash apps or gift cards. In one text message, a friend described a payment as “crooked shit.”

A Backlog Crisis

The fraud and exaggeration clog an already overwhelmed system. As of September 27, VA was processing nearly 635,000 claims, of which 134,000 had been pending for more than four months.

“There is already a backlog in the system,” federal prosecutor Coreen Mao said during a 2022 sentencing. “Committing fraud on the program makes it harder for all of the other veterans to get the services that they need in a timely manner.”

Former claims processors describe constant pressure to approve questionable applications. Vince Hancock, who worked as a disability ratings specialist for 12 years before retiring in 2022, said: “Our job was not to look for the truth, but to grant what we could. Honestly, I granted some that I personally didn’t believe.”

Political Untouchables

Despite President Donald Trump‘s efforts to slash government spending and root out fraud, the White House has promised not to curtail veterans’ benefits. The U.S. DOGE Service has largely spared VA from the deep cuts imposed elsewhere.

Proposals to reform the disability system rarely get far because veterans groups wield enormous political clout. In March, the Trump administration drew up plans to cut VA’s workforce by 15 percent but abandoned the proposal after bipartisan backlash.

VA Secretary Douglas A. Collins did not respond to interview requests. Instead, VA press secretary Pete Kasperowicz provided a statement calling The Post “extraordinarily liberal” and accusing it of believing “many Veterans don’t deserve the VA benefits they’ve earned.”

“Under President Trump, we are improving VA so it’s faster and more convenient for Veterans to get what our nation owes them,” Kasperowicz wrote.

The Cost of Dysfunction

The $193 billion VA will spend this year on disability compensation is about $8 billion more than what it costs to run the entire Army. Adjusted for inflation, that’s more than six times what VA spent on the disability program in 2001.

The odds of getting caught cheating are infinitesimal. VA’s inspector general opens an average of just 63 fraud investigations each year—a tiny fraction of the more than 2 million claims processed annually.

“Investigations are pretty rare and criminal prosecutions are even rarer,” said William Griesbach, a federal judge in Wisconsin. “The government doesn’t have resources to chase after everybody.”

Should VA reform its disability system to distinguish between combat injuries and common ailments, or would any changes risk denying benefits to deserving veterans?

Freedom-Loving Beachwear by Red Beach Nation - Save 10% With Code RVM10