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STD Payments for Life
By USVCP Staff Writers
November 20, 2018
Here's a sampling of some of a few veterans granted monthly disability benefits for "service-connected" sexually transmitted diseases (STD) for life. None of the veterans' names were revealed in the case files.
A veteran who retired in 2000 after 20 years of service said he contracted genital herpes in 1994 and has been plagued with recurrent outbreaks since then. Because he has hepatitis C, he is unable to use the anti-viral medications commonly prescribed for herpes.
"This had made sexual activity difficult on a repetitive basis," the veteran contended, according to a summary of the appeals board hearing. In 2005, four years after he filed his claim, the board deemed him 30% disabled by his herpes infection and thus entitled to about $300 a month in disability benefits for the rest of his life.
Another veteran who served two years in the mid-1970s asked for benefits nearly 24 years later for his penile warts, which he said he acquired while in service. He said he deserved benefits because his "sex life has been affected due to the fear of infecting his partner, and he suffers embarrassment each time he seeks treatment for the warts," according to a summary of his appeals hearing. "He testified that although he has a girlfriend, he has not had sex for a year and a half due to the fear of infecting her," the summary said.
In 1996, the board said his condition left him 10% disabled, which translates today into about $100 a month for him in perpetuity.
Another veteran who served from 1962 to 1965, and for eight months in 1991, filed for benefits for the six condyloma acuminata, or anal warts, which medical dictionaries describe as sexually transmitted. The veteran stated the growths had bedeviled him since his service during the Persian Gulf War in Saudi Arabia and, despite treatment, always return.
"The veteran also testified that he experiences a lot of discomfort when he is in the sitting position," said a summary of his testimony during a 1994 hearing on his case.
In 2000, the appeals board deemed him 10% disabled because of the warts, entitling the veteran to about $100 a month for the rest of his life.
How To Apply
Did you know that thousands of veterans across the country are getting lifetime checks from the Government for gonorrhea, genital herpes and other venereal diseases they caught while in the military?
The disability payments are made under a little-known provision from three decades ago that entitles veteran to monthly benefits for sexually transmitted diseases they contracted, or simply aggravated, while in the service, even if they became infected on their own time years ago.
Under the rule Congress created at the end of the Vietnam War, even genital warts are considered a "service-connected" condition entitling a veteran to a minimum $100 or more a month for the rest of his or her life.
Many veterans chose to apply for this benefit on their own. Simply complete the appropriate VA forms, include medical evidence of the condition, and wait for the outcome.
Add Comment
Ken Bain, 3/26/24
I contracted gonorrhea while serving in Izmir Turkey in 1972. I do not have a medical record but was treated by the military.
Cynthia Fraser, 12/25/21
I was diagnosed with herpes in 1989 and have been taking Acyclovir. I usually get a breakout two to three times a year. More is I can't keep my stress level under control. Dating has been the worse. I am the type to disclose my condition before trying to get intimate with someone. I'm not able to allow friends and family to set me up because once I tell the person and they reject me now they have to tell other's why they decided not to date me. Now more people know my secret who don't a need to know. I know it is not a bad as HIV but to me it is very depressing. Dating gets harder the older I get. I am usually not in a relationship for 3 years at a time. Rejection hurts and then you have to try an build your confidence up again, some times you just want to give.
Charles Brown, 9/9/20
All Veterans should be able receive benefits, if served honorably. Veterans should be able to go out while serving their country and enjoy themselves without contracting something that will effect them for the rest of their life. The VA give them orders to be placed in different areas of the world. Anyone that went to war and come out alive should never be given a hard time about receiving benefits. VA is wrong in doing what the are doing to vets... Period
Agnes Sorrell, 1/2/19
This is so totally asinine!! I cannot believe the government pays someone for such rediculous afflictions that started when the above mentioned could not keep it in their pants! And some veterans are deaf due to what they did while fighting for our country, and receive nothing for their disability! What is happening to this world!! disability!!