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Veterans Page
New Law Change Increases Insurance Coverage for Veterans
WASHINGTON – Some Veterans covered under the Veterans Group Life
Insurance program (VGLI) now have the opportunity to increase
their coverage to the current maximum coverage under the
Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance (SGLI) program.
“Currently, 70 percent of the Veterans covered under VGLI are
under age 60, have less than $400,000 of coverage, and will
greatly benefit from this law change,” said Allison A. Hickey,
Department of Veterans Affairs under secretary for benefits.
Click for Complete Article
VA Announces Changes to Emergency
Care Payment Policy
WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs announced today
a change in regulations regarding payments for emergency care
provided to eligible Veterans in non-VA facilities.
“This provision helps ensure eligible Veterans continue to get
the emergency care they need when VA facilities are not
available,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki.
Click for Complete Article
VA Launches
Facebook Pages for All 152 Medical Centers
Strategy
Enables Returning Vets to Engage with VA at the Local Level
WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs announced today
that all of its 152 medical centers are now actively represented
on Facebook, the world’s largest social networking site.
Click for Complete Article
VA-HUD: Homelessness Among
Veterans Declines 12% in 2011
Obama Administration on Track to End Veteran Homelessness by
2015,
Announces $100 Million to Expand Homeless Prevention Program
WASHINGTON – The
Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban
Development today announced that a new national report shows
that homelessness among Veterans has been reduced by nearly 12
percent between January 2010 and January 2011. The 12 percent
decline keeps the Obama Administration on track to meet the goal
of ending Veteran homelessness in 2015.
Click for Complete Article
Rules Liberalized for Veterans with Undiagnosed Illnesses
Application Window
Extended for Five Years
WASHINGTON – Veterans of the Persian Gulf War with undiagnosed
illnesses have an additional five years to qualify for benefits
from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“Not all
the wounds of war are fully understood,” said Secretary of
Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “When there is uncertainty
about the connection between a medical problem and military
service, Veterans are entitled to the benefit of the doubt.”
Click for Complete Article
VA Announces PSA About Women Veterans
Nationwide
Release Encourages Public to Join VA Culture Change
WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans
Affairs is taking its internal culture-change message to the
public with a new video about the vital role women play in the
military and the importance of providing women Veterans with
high quality health care.
Click for Complete Article
VA Posts Online List of Ships Associated
with
Presumptive Agent Orange Exposure
WASHINGTON (Sept. 2, 2011)- Veterans who served
aboard U.S. Navy and Coast Guard ships operating on the waters
of Vietnam between January 9,1962, and May 7, 1975, may be
eligible to receive Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
disability compensation for 14 medical conditions associated
with presumptive exposure to Agent Orange.
An updated list of U.S. Navy and Coast Guard
ships confirmed to have operated on Vietnam's inland waterways,
docked on shore, or had crewmembers sent ashore, has been posted
at http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/to
assist Vietnam Veterans in determining potential eligibility for
compensation benefits.
Click for Full Article
VA Launches New Prevention Initiative to Serve
22,000
Veteran Families at Risk of Homelessness
Announces Nearly $60 Million in Homeless
Prevention Grants Nationwide
WASHINGTON – Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric
K. Shinseki announced today the award of nearly $60 million in
homeless prevention grants that will serve approximately 22,000
homeless and at-risk Veteran families as part of the new
Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) program. This
initial $60 million award will serve Veteran families at 85
non-profit community agencies in 40 states and the District of
Columbia under VA’s new homeless prevention initiative.
Click For Full Story
VA Begins
Implementation of Open Source Program
TIAG Selected to Build Custodial Agent
WASHINGTON –
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) today announced that it
has begun the implementation of an open source community based
on its electronic health record (EHR), selecting The Informatics
Applications Group (tiag) to create the Custodial Agent that
will serve as the community’s central governing body. VA will
contribute its current EHR, known as VistA (Veterans Integrated
System Technology Architecture), to seed the open source effort.
Click For Full Story
VA Creates Women Veterans Call Center
Major Outreach Effort Launched
WASHINGTON – The Department of
Veterans Affairs (VA) has embarked on a major initiative to
reach out to women Veterans in order to solicit their input on
ways to enhance the health care services VA provides to women
Veterans.
Click For Full Story
Bariatric Surgery Study Looks at Survival Impact in Older
Veterans
WASHINGTON – In the first study
to compare survival associated with bariatric surgery in mostly
male patients, bariatric surgery was not significantly
associated with decreased mortality, according to a research
study published in the June 15 issue of the Journal of the
American Medical Association.
Click For Full Story
HUD, VA TO PROVIDE PERMANENT HOUSING, CASE
MANAGEMENTTO NEARLY 700 HOMELESS VETERANS ACROSS THE U.S.
Funding part of Obama Administration plan to end
Veteran homelessness
WASHINGTON – U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun
Donovan and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric
K. Shinseki announced today that HUD will provide $5.4 million
to public housing authorities in 18 states to supply permanent
housing and case management for 676 homeless Veterans in
America.
Click for Full
Story
VA to Expand Housing for Homeless Veterans and
Their Families
Unused & Underused VA Buildings to Be Developed
WASHINGTON
– The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) continues to develop
housing opportunities for homeless and at-risk Veterans by
adding 34 VA locations across the country. This strategy will
increase the Department’s available beds by over 5,000. VA
currently has 15,000 transitional beds available to homeless
Veterans.
Click for Full Story
Agent Orange Exposure Blue Water Navy
The Department of Veterans Affairs has released
a new list of Blue Water Navy ships now determined to have
operated on the Inland Waters of Vietnam. Additionally, they
have added a new class of eligibility for individuals who had
“visitation” to Vietnam while attached to a vessel that had
smaller craft that regularly went ashore with either supplies or
personnel. This new class includes veterans who may have gone
ashore even if the ship did not dock, but was in close proximity
to Vietnam for extended periods of time.
Click for Full Story
VA Publishes Final
Regulation to Aid Korean War Veterans Exposed to Agent
Orange Will Provide Easier Path
to Health Care and Benefits
WASHINGTON – Veterans exposed to herbicides while serving along the
demilitarized zone (DMZ) in Korea will have an easier path to access quality
health care and benefits under a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) final
regulation that will expand the dates when illnesses caused by
herbicide exposure can be presumed to be
related to Agent Orange. Click for Full Story
President Signed Improvements to Post-9/11 GI Bill
Many
Non-College Programs and State Service of
Reserves and Guard now Covered
WASHINGTON (Jan. 5, 2011) - To bring the educational benefits of
the
Post-9/11 GI Bill closer to more Veterans and Service Members,
President
Obama
signed legislation Jan. 4 that streamlines the 18-month-old
education program administered by the Department of Veterans
Affairs (VA).
Click for full story
VA Begins Paying Benefits for New
Agent Orange Claims
VA Encourages Affected Vietnam
Veterans to File Claims
WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has begun
distributing disability benefits to Vietnam Veterans who qualify
for compensation under recently liberalized rules for Agent
Orange exposure.
Click for Full Story
VA Publishes Final
Regulation to Aid Veterans Exposed to Agent Orange
VA Health Care and
Benefits Provided for Many Vietnam Veterans
WASHINGTON – Veterans exposed to herbicides
while serving in Vietnam and other areas will have an easier
path to access quality health care and qualify for disability
compensation under a final regulation that will be published on
August 31, 2010 in the Federal Register by the Department of
Veterans Affairs (VA). The new rule expands the list of health
problems VA will presume to be related to Agent Orange and other
herbicide exposures to add two new conditions and expand one
existing
category of conditions.
Click Her for Full Story
Washington, DC – The U.S. Departments of Defense, Labor and
Veterans Affairs, as part of their continued commitment to our
Nation’s Service Members, Veterans, and their families,
launched a new and improved National Resource Directory (www.nationalresourcedirectory.gov).
This free online tool provides access to thousands of services,
programs and resources at the national, state and community
level. The Web site has a fresh look with many key features
that include an improved search engine, Really Simple
Syndication (RSS) news feeds, subscriptions to e-mail updates,
and new subject areas such as “Homeless Assistance.”
The National Resource Directory is designed to serve a broad
base of users including Wounded Warriors, Service members
Veterans, their families and caregivers. In addition, it
provides a useful tool for supporting service providers, such as
Recovery Care Coordinators, Federal Recovery Coordinators,
health care providers and case managers at Veterans Service
Organizations.
“(The National Resource Directory) is wonderful,” says Cara
Hammer, an Army Veteran who served in support of Operation Iraqi
Freedom. “I’ve been using it pretty regularly. It is very
comprehensive and fool proof – I love it.”
The new features allow the Military and Veteran community to
identify and stay informed about the thousands of resources that
are available to them as well as browse for information they may
not have known about it the past. Additionally, a faster, more
accurate search engine provides the tools to sort results by
subject area, audience and government or non-government
resources to ensure users locate exactly what they want, without
having to sort through thousands of links themselves.
For more than a year, the National Resource Directory has
provided Wounded Warriors, transitioning Service Members and
Veterans, and those who support them with quick and easy access
to resources they need. Resources on the National Resource
Directory are vetted and must meet the participation policy
standards before being added. This ensures that all the posted
resources are relevant and from reputable sources.
The new National Resource Directory is simple, easy-to-navigate
and even more relevant to the needs of the Wounded Warrior,
Veteran and caregiver communities. It also contains “In the
News” and “Spotlight” features to highlight important news and
updates. To tell friends and family about the new National
Resource Directory, use the “Bookmark and Share” function to
post updates on more than 200 social media networks such as
Facebook or Twitter.
To learn more about the National Resource Directory’s new
features, and to explore the thousands of resources provided,
visit the Web site at
www.nationalresourcedirectory.gov.
Click Here for the
NRD Fact Sheet
VA’s Suicide Prevention
Program Adds Chat Service
New Service Expands Online Access for
Veterans
WASHINGTON – The Suicide Prevention campaign of the Department
of Veterans Affairs (VA) is expanding its outreach to all
Veterans by piloting an online, one-to-one “chat service” for
Veterans who prefer reaching out for assistance using the
Internet.
Called “Veterans Chat,” the new service enables Veterans, their
families and friends to go online where they can anonymously
chat with a trained VA counselor. If a “chatter” is determined
to be in a crisis, the counselor can take immediate steps to
transfer the person to the VA Suicide Prevention Hotline, where
further counseling and referral services are provided and crisis
intervention steps can be taken.
“This online feature is intended to reach out to all Veterans
who may or may not be enrolled in the VA health care system and
provide them with online access to the Suicide Prevention
Lifeline,” said Dr. Gerald Cross, VA’s Acting Under Secretary
for Health. “It is meant to provide Veterans with an anonymous
way to access VA’s suicide prevention services.”
Veterans, family members or friends can access Veterans Chat
through the suicide prevention Web site (www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org).
There is a Veterans tab on the left-hand side of the website
that will take them directly to Veteran resource information.
On this page, they can see the Hotline number (1-800-273-TALK),
and click on the Veterans Chat tab on the right side of the Web
page to enter.
Veterans retain anonymity by entering whatever names they choose
once they enter the one-on-one chat. They are then joined by a
counselor who is trained to provide information and respond to
the requests and concerns of the caller.
If the counselor decides the caller is in a crisis, the
counselor will encourage the Veteran to call the Suicide
Prevention Hotline, where a trained suicide prevention counselor
will determine whether crisis intervention techniques are
required.
The pilot program, which has been in operation since July 3, has
already had positive results. In one instance, the online
counselor determined that a Veteran in the chat required
immediate assistance. The counselor convinced the Veteran to
provide the counselor with a home telephone number and then
remained in the chat room with the Veteran while the hotline
staff called the number and talked to the Veteran’s mother. The
hotline counselor worked with the Veteran’s mother to convince
the Veteran to be admitted to a medical facility for further
treatment.
“The chat line is not intended to be a crisis response line,”
said Dr. Janet Kemp, VA’s National Suicide Prevention
Coordinator at the VA medical center in Canandaigua, N.Y., where
VA’s trained counselors staff the chat line from 4 p.m. to 11
p.m. VA’s suicide prevention hotline is staffed 24 hours a day,
seven day a week.
“Chat responders are trained in an intervention method
specifically developed for the chat line to assist people with
emotional distress and concerns,” Kemp said. “We have procedures
they can use to transfer chatters in crisis to the hotline for
more immediate assistance.”
Both Veterans Chat and the VA’s Suicide Prevention Hotline have
been established under the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline,
which was established through collaboration between VA and the
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Since becoming operational in July 2007, VA’s
Suicide Prevention Hotline has received more than 150,000 calls,
resulting in 4,000 rescues.
VA DEPENDENCY
AND INDEMNITY COMPENSATION BENEFITS
DEPENDENCY AND
INDEMNITY COMPENSATION (DIC): DIC is a monthly tax
free benefit paid by the Veterans administration to
eligible survivors of a:
• Military service
member who died while on active duty, active duty for
training, or inactive duty training; or
• Veteran whose
death resulted from a service-related injury or disease;
or
• Veteran whose
death resulted from a non service-related injury or
disease, and who was receiving, or was entitled to
receive, VA Compensation for service-connected
disability that was rated as totally disabling for at
least 10 years immediately before death, OR since the
veteran's release from active duty and for at least five
years immediately preceding death, OR for at least one
year before death if the veteran was a former prisoner
of war who died after September 30, 1999.
Those eligible
to receive benefits are:
1. Surviving
spouses meeting the following criteria:
• Validly married
the veteran before 1 JAN 57; or
• Was married to a
service member who died on active duty, active duty for
training, or inactive duty training; or
• Married the
veteran within 15 years of discharge from the period of
military service in which the disease or injury that
caused the veteran's death began or was aggravated; or
• Was married to
the veteran for at least one year; or
• Had a child with
the veteran, and cohabited with the veteran continuously
until the veteran's death or, if separated, was not at
fault for the separation, and is not currently
remarried. However, a surviving spouse who remarries on
or after 16 DEC 03, and on or after attaining age 57, is
entitled to continue to receive DIC.
2. Surviving
child(ren) who are not included on the surviving
spouse's DIC and are unmarried and under age 18, or
between the ages of 18 and 23 and attending school, or a
helpless adult meeting specific criteria. Criteria
requirements for helpless adult children can be obtained
by calling 1-800-827-1000.
3. Surviving
parent(s) may be eligible for an income-based
benefit. When countable income exceeds the limit set by
law, no benefit is payable. Eligible parents must
report all sources of income to VA; for example, gross
wages, retirement annuity, insurance proceeds or
annuity, interest, and dividends. The spouse's income
must also be included if living with a spouse. A spouse
may be the other parent of the deceased veteran, or from
remarriage. The 2009 income limit for a sole surviving
parent, or one of two parents not living with a spouse
is $13,456. For a sole surviving parent living with a
spouse, or one of two parents living with a spouse it is
$18,087. Payment rates are reduced based on the
countable income of the parent or parents: Income limits
change annually.
Those eligible
for DIC are also eligible for Health Care (CHAMPVA),
Federal Employment Preference, Home Loan Guaranty, and
Survivors' & Dependents' Educational Assistance. Under
current law a spouse's Survivor Benefits Plan (SBP)
annuity is reduced by any DIC amount received. Bills
have been submitted in Congress for the last 4 years to
eliminate this deduction without success. The 2009 bill
is H.R. 775. The basic monthly rate of DIC changes
annually with COLA adjustments. There can be no decrease
in the amount. For 2009 it is $1,154 for an eligible
surviving spouse. The rate is increased for each
dependent child, and also if the surviving spouse is
housebound or in need of aid and attendance. Add $246 if
at the time of the veteran's death, the veteran was in
receipt of or entitled to receive compensation for a
service-connected disability rated totally disabling
(including a rating based on individual unemployability)
for a continuous period of at least 8 years immediately
preceding death and the surviving spouse was married to
the veteran for those same 8 years. VA also adds a
transitional benefit of $286 to the surviving spouse's
monthly DIC if there are children under age 18. The
amount is based on a family unit, not individual
children. For benefit rate tables, including those for
children alone and parents, refer to
http://www.vba.va.gov/bln/21/Rates or call
1-800-827-1000. To apply for DIC claimants should
complete VA Form 21-534 Application for Dependency and
Indemnity Compensation, Death Pension and Accrued
Benefits by a Surviving Spouse or Child. Veterans in
receipt of VA disability compensation are encouraged to
brief their spouses on how DIC would apply to them to
ensure there are no false expectations in their estate
planning. [Source:
www.vba.va.gov/VBA/benefits/factsheet 12 Jan 09 ++]
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Its official, DD-214's are NOW Online.
The National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) has provided the
following website for
veterans to gain access to their DD-214's
online: http://vetrecs.archives.gov/
This may be
particularly helpful when a veteran needs a copy of his DD-214
for employment
purposes. NPRC is working to make it easier for
veterans with computers and Internet access to obtain copies of
documents from their military files. Military veterans and the
next of kin of deceased former military members may now use a
new online military personnel records system
to request documents. Other individuals with a need for
documents must still complete the Standard Form 180, which can
be downloaded from the online web site. Because the requester
will be asked to supply all information essential for NPRC to
process the request, delays that normally occur when NPRC has to
ask veterans for additional information will be minimized.
The new web-based application was designed to
provide better service on these requests by eliminating the
records centers mailroom and processing time.
The website
www.willsforvets.com is dedicated to assisting U.S.
veterans in their estate planning.
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