60,000 veterans got triple benefits last year — legally

Click here to read the AP story by Matthew Daly. Excerpts: 

"Nearly 60,000 veterans were triple dippers last year, drawing a total of $3.5 billion in military retirement pay plus veterans and Social Security disability benefits at the same time, congressional auditors report.

It’s all legal.

The average payment was about $59,000, but about 2,300 veterans, or 4 percent of the total, received concurrent payments of $100,000 or more, the Government Accountability Office said.

The highest payment was to a veteran who received $208,757 in combined payments in 2013."

"“We should fulfill our promises to the men and women who serve, but we need to streamline these duplicative programs,” said Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., who requested the study."

"Most Americans would find it hard to understand how someone making $86,000 a year in tax-exempt VA income qualifies for Social Security Disability Insurance, when civilian workers are disqualified from the program if they make as little as $13,000 a year, Coburn said.

Only 17 percent of those who received multiple forms of compensation had suffered a combat-related disability, according to the GAO."