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Paralympians May Be Offered New Benefit Through VA

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the U.S. Paralympics may be increasing the benefit programs offered to those disabled veterans training for Paralympic competition.

The new benefit, if offered, will be a monthly allowance, which will be administered by the U.S. Paralympics and provided by the VA.

The goal of this program is to give as much help as possible to those veterans either training for, or participating in, competitive sports. For wounded veterans, sports and physical activity, especially performed at a competitive level, have been proven to be very advantageous and valuable to state-of-mind and recovery. This seems to be especially true for people that are naturally athletic.

There is a monthly allowance already established and available to veterans participating in a "full-time institutional program." Under the new program, this allowance will become available for those veterans competing in the U.S Paralympics.

To qualify, veterans must suffer from some disability without regard for whether it was received as part of their service. Further, that veteran must either be invited to compete for a chance to make the U.S. Paralympic team, or already be living and training at the U.S. Paralympic training center for Paralympic competition. The base amount of the benefit is $554 for a veteran without dependents.

This program will allow many disabled veterans to continue their recovery while feeding their thirst for competition.