In his "Marching Home" series, my colleague Mark Brunswick reported Sunday how use of disability benefits varies widely depending on where you live in Minnesota. "A veteran in Little Falls or Royalton, for example, is more likely to be receiving disability benefits than a veteran living in Minneapolis or St. Paul, even if they fought in the same war and have the same injury," Brunswick wrote. Veterans in rural areas were "generally more effective at getting veterans aid."
You can check out a sortable list of disability benefits by zip code, courtesy of digital expert Dave Braunger. You can also search an interactive map for this information, thanks to graphics editor Ray Grumney.
Brunswick also credits a report by McClatchy Newspapers reporter Chris Adams in November about disparities among veterans nationwide in who gets disability benefits. Adams also found that a quarter of recent veterans don't have health insurance.
