Accidental Event Compensation: The Differing Philosophies and Objectives of the Civilian and Martial Sectors

Includes bibliographical references.As a result of the growing scrutiny of the military in recent times, understanding the philosophy and objectives behind the military sector’s method of disability compensation relative to the civilian sector stands as a relevant topic. There exist many similar types of disability within the civilian and martial sectors, yet the compensation levels can show great variation. This work attempts to understand the reasoning behind the differing levels of benefits by investigating the underlying philosophies and objectives applied in each sector through an extensive review of work from independent organizations such as the GAO and the RAND Corporation. This work does not wish to offer an opinion on which sector does a better job; instead, it only seeks to convey that comparing the two sectors would be unfair because of the stark differences in philosophy and objectives. Because the civilian sector employs a philosophy of replacement of earnings, while the martial sector employs a philosophy of supplementation of earnings, the differing amounts of compensation for similar disabilities do not reflect over or under compensation to either sector, but rather only exist because of a fundamental difference in disability compensation philosophy