Interesting article on FAA medical fraud investigation

CFI A&P said:
I need to correct myself, 18y is medical disability benefits. Those could be DoD, VA, State or federal benefits. 18r & s ask about military medical discharge and medical rejection by military service. Plus 18x: other illness, disability, or surgery. They have their bases covered. I do agree that this appears to be an effort targeting the veterans that are receiving benefits from the DoD or VA, yet not disclosing those conditions on the FAA medical.

About 6 months ago the various advocacy groups warned pilots that OKC would be mailing letters out to select veterans and encouraging them to comply with the letters and correct their medical disclosures.

Something similar happened five years ago, for the same reasons.

www.justice.gov

Bay Area Aviators Indicted For Making False Statements

www.justice.gov www.justice.gov
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I was making the point that 18y is not as clear as you suggest, highlighting one oddity, the military medical retirement. I found it odd that a military medical retirement isn’t a disability benefit or considered a medical discharge.

Of course, I can’t imagine a condition that resulted in a medical retirement that wouldn’t have to be disclosed otherwise, regardless of the 18y answer.
 
drunkenbeagle said:
I honestly still have a very poor grasp of what I should and shouldn't be reporting on medicals - after 20+ years of getting them. The guidance could certainly be better or at least easier. It's a lot like tax returns, where one box has 400 pages of instructions, 99.99% of which don't apply to you. At least with taxes, you can hire a CPA to do them for you, and it is mostly their problem if they had the information and manage to screw it up. Paying an AME to assist filling out MedXpress might not be a terrible idea.

With headlines like this, these clearly aren't isolated problems.
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I think most guys don't realize the resources available for help with Medical issue reporting. 2 years ago I broke my neck in a motorcycle accident, reached out to my ALPA rep, Aeromedical Committee, APLA Doctor, all their information jived together and my AME confirmed everything I needed for my next medical. At least for the Airline guys the resources are out there to help before a problem arises with the FAA.
 
Wardogg said:
Because they want their cake, and a chance to eat it.

I find it infuriating when a vet tells me he's 100% disabled because of diabetes. But then doesn't want to jump through the FAA hoops.
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I can't believe I agree with you...but yes 100%
 
averettpilot said:

Don’t know how interesting or uninteresting this is to pilots, or how willing we are to discuss the FAA’s archaic approach to medical issues in a public forum, but I’m interested to hear thoughts on this.
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At a recent medical, the question was asked ... for the first time ever. For decades, I've been advocating for that question to be asked, so it didn't bother me none.
 
Wardogg said:
I don't know if the topic is the FAA medical system or the propensity of some veterans to get "everything they can" from the VA whether warranted or not.

I have tinnitus so bad I can hear it over the wind noise of an open window in my jeep at 70 mph. All claimed and annotated with both the FAA and the VA.
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What?? ;)
 
Wardogg said:
Because they want their cake, and a chance to eat it.

I find it infuriating when a vet tells me he's 100% disabled because of diabetes. But then doesn't want to jump through the FAA hoops.
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Yeah, pisses me off, too. Has for a long time. It's pretty messed up how our so many of our "honorable veterans" are working the system worse than folks grabbing a job just so they can get fired and start collecting unemployment insurance again. Worst part is, most of those "honorable" VFW types were enlisted REMFs whose MOS was manually logging the temperature every hour at some very very safe weather station and then blamed their diabetes on "the cold weather" they suffered during combat.
 
form810 said:
Yeah, pisses me off, too. Has for a long time. It's pretty messed up how our so many of our "honorable veterans" are working the system worse than folks grabbing a job just so they can get fired and start collecting unemployment insurance again. Worst part is, most of those "honorable" VFW types were enlisted REMFs whose MOS was manually logging the temperature every hour at some very very safe weather station and then blamed their diabetes on "the cold weather" they suffered during combat.
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This is my beef with modern day fighter pilots claiming PTSD. You said what happened to you? (yes, I realize some of our friends did FAC/ALO tours that could have theoretically involved real, personal, combat, and I don't cast doubt in their cases)
 
Just a side note, many civilians don’t understand DoD and VA benefits and say silly things.

You can have 100% scheduler disability rating and have no restrictions on work.

Most folks with a 100% scheduler rating have multiple conditions that add up to 100%. You can be at 100% and be pretty active. Hearing loss and a bad knee can get you to 70% pretty easily.

Folks should disclose or be prepared to face the consequences.

That said, I can’t criticize folks that act in their own self interest without putting others at risk. That’s my standard.
 
I do know a guy who was bewildered that he got a near 100% rating. Some small things are big ticket items at the VA. And generally not an issue with the FAA too. I told him that it is good he is being recognized for having micropenis.
 
///AMG said:
I do know a guy who was bewildered that he got a near 100% rating. Some small things are big ticket items at the VA. And generally not an issue with the FAA too. I told him that it is good he is being recognized for having micropenis.
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Knees are backs are big ticket items as level of pain is a factor, independent of objective data like MRI, X-Ray, and CT.
 
Pilot Fighter said:
Knees are backs are big ticket items as level of pain is a factor, independent of objective data like MRI, X-Ray, and CT.
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Yep, chronic back pain is pretty normal in this world. I know a few people who have had periods of time without the ability to move their legs due to the persistent pain. I blame the crossfit/HIT routines in addition to the flying, since I currently have no pain at all (I don't do that stupid •). But it is real, for sure.
 
///AMG said:
Yep, chronic back pain is pretty normal in this world. I know a few people who have had periods of time without the ability to move their legs due to the persistent pain. I blame the crossfit/HIT routines in addition to the flying, since I currently have no pain at all (I don't do that stupid •). But it is real, for sure.
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Yeah, some things weren't meant to be done as fast as possible.
 
As former military and current professional pilot, I can understand how this happens. A lot of friends who are also former military found it very very easy to get a service-connected disability. It would take probably one phone call and I could get a 10% disability for hearing and I am not deaf by any stretch. They don't test my hearing on a first-class medical, in fact, I haven't had a hearing test in a million years. Who would even think that you would have to disclose that if you don't connect the dots. In reality, you need to pretty much disclose anything and everything.

Hearing and back, service-connected disability is probably the most common problem we are going to see with this issue.
 
Inverted said:
As former military and current professional pilot, I can understand how this happens. A lot of friends who are also former military found it very very easy to get a service-connected disability. It would take probably one phone call and I could get a 10% disability for hearing and I am not deaf by any stretch. They don't test my hearing on a first-class medical, in fact, I haven't had a hearing test in a million years. Who would even think that you would have to disclose that if you don't connect the dots. In reality, you need to pretty much disclose anything and everything.

Hearing and back, service-connected disability is probably the most common problem we are going to see with this issue.
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My guess is a bunch of ptsd claims that werent reported. Or sleep apnea.

This isn't....i didnt known I should claim. This is more blantant.
 
Inverted said:
As former military and current professional pilot, I can understand how this happens. A lot of friends who are also former military found it very very easy to get a service-connected disability. It would take probably one phone call and I could get a 10% disability for hearing and I am not deaf by any stretch. They don't test my hearing on a first-class medical, in fact, I haven't had a hearing test in a million years. Who would even think that you would have to disclose that if you don't connect the dots. In reality, you need to pretty much disclose anything and everything.

Hearing and back, service-connected disability is probably the most common problem we are going to see with this issue.
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Actually they do, you just aren't aware of it...



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