Veterans who receive an e-mail touting a piece of legislation that would double their disability pay should not pay any attention to it, advocates advise. The e-mail is wrong. The bill mentioned in the e-mail – the Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Act of 2010, is real, the Fleet Reserve Association (FRA) notes. But the e-mail’s claim about the increase in the payable amount of disability compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is not. Rather, as always, any cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) for disabled veterans, retired military members, or Social Security recipients will be pegged to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), a calculation of out-of-pocket expenses produced by the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Veterans’ Benefits Act of 2010 (H.R. 3219), which has cleared Congress and awaits President Obama’s signature, does include some increased allowances and improved benefits, FRA says.
