“Wounded Warrior Bill” Sails Through Congress

With extraordinary speed, the “Wounded Warrior Bill”—designed to help support severely injured soldiers and their families during the rehabilitation process—sailed through both houses of Congress and was signed into law by President Bush on May 11.

Known as “traumatic injury protection,” the legislation will provide servicemen and women who have sustained a traumatic, life-altering injury a one-time payment of between $25,000 and $100,000 within days after being wounded. The money will help support the soldiers and their families during the months, and sometimes years, of grueling physical rehabilitation.

The driving force behind the bill was Ryan Kelly—a former Army staff sergeant from Abilene, Texas, who had the lower part of his right leg blown off in an ambush near Baghdad in 2003—and the Wounded Warrior Project.

(See the “Sgt. Kelly Takes the Hill” in the March 2005 Orbit.)

Working with United Spinal’s Director of Public Policy Jeremy Chwat, a draft legislative proposal was crafted and, along with Sergeant Jeremy Feldbusch who was blinded in combat in Iraq and Sergeant Heath Calhoun who had both legs blown off by a rocket propelled grenade in Mosul, Iraq, Chwat and Kelly went to Washington, D.C. in January looking for support.

They quickly found a sympathetic ear with Representative Rick Renzi (R-AZ). As the first elected official to support the concept, Renzi introduced legislation (HR 1618) in the House of Representatives and vigorously pressed the issue with his colleagues. Then Senator Larry Craig (R-ID), chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs—a critically important committee—embraced the cause and introduced an amendment to the $81 billion Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror and Tsunami Relief, 2005. Soon thereafter, Senator Mike DeWine (ROH) introduced a companion amendment making the payments retroactive to the start of Operation Enduring Freedom, which began in Afghanistan on October 7, 2001.

Four months later, President Bush signed the emergency supplemental bill and traumatic injury protection for servicemen and women became law. “The legislation moved with incredible speed,” Chwat said. “Such speed is rare and demonstrates the absolute necessity for this insurance.”

The benefit is entirely self-funded; it will cost taxpayers nothing. Through a very modest rider (less than one dollar per month) on the Service-member’s Group Life Insurance (SGLI) policy, the Traumatic Injury Protection amendment will allow the injured soldier to focus on recovering without worrying about financial stress.

“It will allow families the necessary flexibility to put their lives on hold at a moment’s notice to fly across the country and be with their loved one,” explained Chwat. “Most importantly, it would ensure that these soldiers can concentrate more fully on their recoveries and transition back into civilian life rather than on the financial hardship that their newly incurred disability will have on their families and their lives. Financial security should not be a concern to injured soldiers during their recovery process.”

In earlier wars, soldiers suffering injuries of such magnitude rarely made it home; they died before medics could save them. But with advances in battlefield medical technology, swifter evacuation procedures, and advances in surgical techniques, more young men and women can be safely returned to the U.S. and rehabilitated. The time between rehabilitation and the return to civilian life, however, can be anywhere from six months to two years, and spouses, parents, friends or other loved ones often take unpaid leave from work or quit their jobs entirely to help with recovery. This usually results in overextended credit cards, missed car and home loan payments and, in many cases, bankruptcy.

Sergeant Kelly went through more than a year of rehabilitation at Walter Reed Army Hospital, and his mother had to leave her job for three months to be by his side during the initial phase of his treatment. “While this was difficult for my family, we made it through,” Kelly explained. “But just imagine military families, whose main breadwinner is now unable to work because they’re laid up in a hospital and spouses have to leave their jobs to be by their side. It can be financially devastating for a family.”

The bill represents a small, but significant, victory for our servicemen and women who are facing an agonizing level of uncertainty—from where the enemy might strike next to when the War in Iraq might be over. The Wounded Warrior Bill, however, removes at least one uncertainty: Traumatic injury will no longer include the threat of bankruptcy for the families of our soldiers.

Rob Ingraham is senior editor in Communications at United Spinal.