Concurrent Receipt of Military Retired Pay and Veteran Disability: Background and Issues for Congress (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
Revised June 22, 2023 |
| Report Number |
R40589 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Charles A Henning, Specialist in Military Manpower Policy |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
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Summary:
“Concurrent receipt” refers to the simultaneous receipt of two types of monetary benefits:
military retired pay and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) disability compensation. Prior to
2004, existing laws and regulations dictated that a military retiree could not receive two payments
from federal agencies for the same purpose. As a result, military retirees with physical disabilities
recognized by the VA would have their retired pay “offset” or reduced dollar-for-dollar by the
amount of their VA compensation.
Proponents for the concurrent receipt of both military retired pay and VA disability compensation
have argued that these pays were for discrete and different purposes: military retired pay is postservice
compensation for time in service, while VA compensation recognizes physical or mental
disability incurred while in the service. Opponents have maintained that concurrent receipt is
expensive, is not supported by precedent, and could result in the elimination of currently existing,
similar offsets between other federal programs.
This report addresses the two primary components of the concurrent receipt program: CombatRelated
Special Compensation (CRSC) and Concurrent Retirement and Disability Payments
(CRDP). It reviews the possible legislative expansion of the program to additional populations
and provides several potential options for Congress to consider.
Legislative activity on the issue of concurrent receipt began in the late 1980s and culminated in
the provision for Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC) in the Bob Stump National
Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2003 (P.L. 107-314). Successive legislation since then
has added CRDP, extended concurrent receipt to additional eligible populations, and further
refined and clarified the program.
Legislation enacted since 2003 has incrementally expanded the eligible population. As of
September 2016 there were 529,117 retirees receiving CRDP, with an additional 91,305 receiving
CRSC at a total annual cost of $11.3 billion.1 However, there are still approximately 450,000
military retirees who are receiving VA disability compensation but are not eligible for concurrent
receipt. Determining whether to make some or all of this population eligible for concurrent
receipt remains a key point of contention in Congress. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO)
has estimated that to extend benefits to all veterans who would be eligible for both disability
benefits and military retired pay would cost $30 billion from 2015 to 2024. In 2016, CBO
estimated that eliminating concurrent receipt would save the government $139 billion between
2018 and 2026.
There are two common criteria that define eligibility for concurrent receipt: (1) all recipients must
be military retirees and (2) they must also be eligible for VA disability compensation. With regard
to the two separate and distinct components that are commonly referred to as the Concurrent
Receipt program, an eligible retiree cannot receive both Concurrent Retirement and Disability
Payments (CRDP) and Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC). The retiree must choose
whichever is most financially advantageous to him or her and may move back and forth between
either benefit during an annual “open season.”
Concurrent receipt continues to be an often misunderstood and controversial military retirement
issue and one that remains the object of intense public and congressional interest.
