Evaluation of New Content on the 2008 ACS: Service-Connected Disability Status and Ratings

1. Evaluation of New Content on the 2008 ACS: Service-Connected Disability Status and Ratings Kelly Ann Holder Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division Industry and Occupation Statistics Branch Kelly.A.Holder@census.gov

2. Introduction In 2008, two new questions about service-connected disability status and ratings were added to the American Community Survey (ACS).

3. What is service-connected disability? “Service-connected” means the disability was a result of disease or injury incurred or aggravated during active military service. These disabilities are evaluated by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) according to the Schedule for Rating Disabilities in Title 38, U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, Part 4.

4. Why were these questions added? The VA needs to classify veterans’ disability-rating level by several demographic characteristics in order to place them into priority groups for health care enrollment. VA administrative records on compensation and pensions lack information on veterans’ residence and income.

5. Background: 2006 ACS Content Test • Conducted in January through March 2006 • Results of test determined the content of the 2008 ACS • National sample of approximately 62,900 • Half of sample assigned to test group and half to control group • Questions were subjected to cognitive testing • Two versions of the questions were tested

6. Two Versions of the Test Question

7. The ACS collects detailed person-level data from a national sample of 3 million households each year. Data for the ACS are collected continuously throughout the year. The 2008 sample includes the household population as well as the population living in group quarters. The universe for this analysis is the veteran population 18 years and older living in the 50 states and District of Columbia. Active-duty military members are excluded. A veteran is defined as a man or woman who served on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces. About the Data Data Source : 2008 American Community Survey (ACS) Descriptive statistics only are used in this analysis. All comparative figures and statements have undergone statistical testing at the 90-percent confidence level. An asterisk denotes a statistically significant difference.

8. The data in the Compensation and Pension report include only veterans who were paid through the Benefits Delivery Network (BDN) and VETSNET. As of the end of Fiscal Year 2008, nearly 575,00 veterans were paid compensation via BDN and nearly 2.4 million were paid through VETSNET. The universe for this analysis is the entire veteran population living in the 50 states, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and other countries. Active-duty military members are excluded. A veteran is defined as a man or woman who served on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces. About the Data Data Source : Veterans Benefit Association’s (VBA) 2008 Annual Benefit Report on Compensation and Pension Descriptive statistics only are used in this analysis. Because the VBA report shows data from administrative records, no margins of error are associated with the estimates.

9. Differences between sources All counts in the VBA report were tabulated by the VA. ACS data were recoded as closely as possible to make these comparisons. Count of “0-percent” ratings: --VBA report only shows the number of veterans compensated for their disabilities. --Not all 0-percent ratings are compensated. --ACS does not ask about compensation. ACS has a “rating not reported” category.

10. Cautions ACS also collects a separate series of questions about disabilities: communication, mental, physical. Service-connected disability ratings are not necessarily correlated with disability concepts in the ACS. Information about the number of veterans compensated for specific disabilities is available from the VBA report.

11. The 2008 ACS found a higher percentage of veterans with a service-connected disability than were reported in the VBA report. 1 Department of Veterans Affairs total veteran population comes from VetPop2007 projections. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2008 American Community Survey; Veterans Benefits Administration 2008 Annual Report on Compensation and Pension.

12. Veterans with a Service-Connected Disability by Disability Rating(in percent) Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2008 American Community Survey; Veterans Benefits Administration 2008 Annual Report on Compensation and Pension.

13. Veterans with a Service-Connected Disability by Age(in percent) Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2008 American Community Survey; Veterans Benefits Administration 2008 Annual Report on Compensation and Pension.

14. Veterans with a Service-Connected Disability by Period of Military Service(in percent) Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2008 American Community Survey; Veterans Benefits Administration 2008 Annual Report on Compensation and Pension.

15. Comparison of Non-Zero Service-Connected Disability Ratings(in percent) Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2008 American Community Survey; Veterans Benefits Administration 2008 Annual Report on Compensation and Pension.

16. Conclusion The goal of this analysis was to benchmark the first year of ACS data on service-connected disability status and ratings against administrative records data from the VA. The results of this analysis reaffirm findings from the 2006 ACS Content Test that the new ACS questions are capable of producing useful data on these topics.

17. Contact Information Kelly Ann Holder U.S. Census Bureau Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division Industry and Occupation Statistics Branch Kelly.A.Holder@census.gov 301-763-5887