The U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate have passed the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2010 (S. 1963), which includes critical supports for caregivers of veterans with disabilities. VetsFirst has advocated for the passage of this legislation and is hopeful the President will quickly sign the compromise bill.

As urged by VetsFirst, the legislation includes at least some supports for caregivers of veterans from all eras. Caregivers for eligible veterans of all eras will have access to education sessions, support services, counseling, mental health services and respite care. VetsFirst believes that providing these tools to caregivers will ensure that veterans receive quality supports and services in their homes and communities.

The legislation also provides certain caregivers of OEF/OIF veterans who have a serious injury, such as a traumatic brain injury, with a monthly stipend and access to medical care.

Veterans have the right to receive their services and supports in the least restrictive environment. Most people with disabilities want to live in their homes and have the opportunity to be a part of their communities. Although funding services for caregivers requires an upfront investment, the long-term gains that result from assisting veterans with disabilities in their efforts to reintegrate into their communities are significant.

In addition to the new caregiver benefits, the legislation also seeks to expand and improve care for women veterans who seek care through the VA. The legislation also improves access to mental health services and eliminates the ability of the VA to demand copayments from veterans who have catastrophic disabilities.

VetsFirst will continue to advocate for legislation that ensures that veterans from all eras, their families and dependents have access to vital services and supports.

As a service-connected quadriplegic veteran going on 43 years now, I’m the first to admit that I never thought much about Veterans’ Mortgage Life Insurance. I’ve been living in the same wheelchair-accessible house for nearly 30 years, so one might assume that my mortgage is nearly paid in full.

Not exactly. There was a legal separation and eventual divorce that happened 18 years ago, and to continue living in my accessible home, I had no better choice at the time than to re-finance my mortgage.

Then, after “flying solo” for the first 14 of those years, close friends re-introduced me to a beautiful lady I had seen occasionally in social situations over the previous 21 years. We were both single, and two years hence we were married.

Apart from being the luckiest man on the planet, not long after our wedding is when the U.S. economy started to tank, and among other reactions, mortgage interest rates began to come down. I had a relatively high rate in late 2008, with 12 years of payments remaining. By re-financing in January of 2009, I reduced my interest rate significantly enough that I was able to obtain a 15 year mortgage.

If I haven’t lost you yet, let me add that my new spouse is a bit younger than me, so my worries include the possibility that she will be left with a burdensome mortgage payment after my demise. Suddenly, Veterans’ Mortgage Life Insurance is very important to me, and I’m guessing to many more disabled veterans, too.

Sometime during the past couple of years, I also learned from a colleague that a service-connected vet whom we both knew passed on unexpectedly, reducing his family’s income to about 15% of what it was when our mutual acquaintance died.

However, there is hope. Two separate and significant increases in Veterans’ Mortgage Life Insurance (VMLI)—one to take place this year and the second in 2012—were included in the version of the Veterans’ Benefits Enhancement Act (H.R. 1037) that passed the U.S. Senate. Although H.R. 1037 has passed both the House and the Senate, final action awaits because of significant differences between the versions passed by each chamber. Please take a moment to write to your members of Congress and urge them to turn the bill as passed by the Senate into law as soon as possible. You will be protecting the future of families like mine if you do.

Almost 43 years ago while serving in the United States Marine Corps, I dove into a river and fractured my neck at the sixth cervical vertebrae. I was face down in the water unable to move anything for what seemed like an eternity. Then, buddies from my platoon pulled me up the river bank to safety.

After a total of 19 months of acute care at a military hospital and rehab at a VA Spinal Cord Injury Center, I was discharged to my parent’s home as a “quadriplegic work-in-progress.” I had some self-care skills, enough to return to the local university to work on a degree that was paid in full through the VA Vocational Rehabilitation program. It was, as it turns out, a great investment since I worked from 1972 through 2008.

I started working the same year I was married. I remember thinking many times long before the wedding, “where will we live?” Again, I turned to the VA and gathered information about their Specially Adapted Housing grant. It was determined that I was eligible for this program and my options, to me anyway, were either to build a wheelchair-accessible home from scratch or to purchase an existing accessible home that was up for sale.

I found that existing wheelchair-accessible home in an ad in United Spinal Association’s newsletter. It was located 15 minutes from my parent’s home. We purchased it using the Specially Adapted Housing grant as a more-than-adequate down payment. Our monthly mortgage payment was manageable, but this, too, was thanks in large part to the equity investment made in my behalf by the VA Specially Adapted Housing grant.

For most of my “wheelchair life,” I have lived in only two houses. I lived in my first home until 1980 when I moved to my brand new, somewhat larger current home. The real value to me has not been the appreciation of the value of these houses but having a home where I could function at my maximum ability, and from which I could come and go easily so that I was able to be a productive, employed disabled veteran for 36 years. Having a wheelchair-accessible home has played a large part in my life of fulfillment.

The VA Specially Adapted Housing grant helps many seriously disabled veterans obtain a suitable home so that they can complete their long road back to community and productivity.

This grant helped me immensely. Congress, grow this important benefit so that today’s newest seriously disabled veterans can own the home that they need to experience success in their lives.

Just the Facts:
As of October 1, 2009, the Specially Adapted Housing maximum allowable grant is $63,780. VetsFirst strongly supports H.R. 1169, which would provide a significant increase in not only this housing grant program but also the Special Home Adaptation grant program and the grant to purchase an automobile. Under this proposed legislation, the maximum allowable Specially Adapted Housing grant would be increased to $180,000. The legislation is currently being considered by the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.

VetsFirst’s 2010 public policy priorities work toward systemic changes that must be realized to ensure the continued health and welfare of all veterans with disabilities to allow greater self-sufficiency. In order to accomplish these changes, VetsFirst has developed a robust public policy agenda to address the main areas of concern for veterans from all eras and their families.

Our top five legislative priorities include access to health care services, reform of the VA claims adjudication process, increased employment opportunities for veterans with disabilities, housing and homelessness, and support for families and survivors. Other areas of concern include access to community-based services for veterans with disabilities, cross-generational research on the effects of exposure to hazardous substances, streamlining the transition from solider to veteran, and enhancing education opportunity and benefit programs.

Click here for more information on VetsFirst 2010 Public Policy Priorities.

VetsFirst believes that the actual number of backlogged claims is closer to the latter number, if you include appeals in the mix. However, the VA often gets innovative in times of crisis. But – does innovation for the sake of just doing something really solve big problems? Let’s take a closer look.

In response to the claims backlog, the VA has implemented a two-year pilot program called the Expedited Claims Adjudication (ECA) initiative to speed up the claims process. There are currently four test sites participating in the e ECA program (Philadelphia, PA, Seattle, WA, Lincoln, NE and Nashville, TN.)
The VA asserts that ECA will allow proactive veterans to have eligible claims adjudicated more quickly. Sounds great, right? Better read the fine print before you decide.

Congress, the federal courts and even the VA have spent decades establishing procedural and substantive due process rights for veterans, their family members and survivors who file claims for VA benefits. These rights include setting deadlines to file benefit applications, appeals and responses to VA inquiries that allow sufficient time for the claimant to do what is required, These rights also include freedom of choice in selecting a representative to handle a claim or an appeal before the VA.

In order to participate in the ECA program, however, a claimant must sign a waiver of these important rights. This waiver must be made at the very start of the claims process – when the claim is actually filed. In other words, time is shaved off the decision making process by forcing VA claimants to agree to shortened or even eliminated time limits to gather evidence, respond to VA inquiries, prepare appeals and to take other actions. All of the sacrifice for expediting the process is carried by the claimant, while the VA is not required to expedite its own actions.

A major problem with agreeing to the ECA sacrifices at the beginning of the process is that often, the issues that must be resolved are extremely complex. Evidence needed to prove entitlement to a benefit can be quite difficult and time consuming to obtain. On top of that, VA laws and regulations are equally complex. Even experienced veterans service representatives, attorneys and agents need time to research and prepare legal arguments. You never know what is going to happen during the claims process and it is that uncertainty that makes it so dangerous to waive your due process rights before the start whistle even blows.

Another problematic ECA eligibility requirement is that the claimant must be represented by a VA-recognized veterans service organization (VSO) or a VA-accredited attorney or agent in order to participate in the program. The representation must be in effect at the time that the claim is filed. Nevertheless, many VA claimants, for whatever reason, do not have VSO, attorney or agent representation. As a result, these claimant will not be allowed to participate in the ECA program.

Perhaps the most glaring problem with the ECA program is that even though a VA benefits decision may be made faster, the VA is not required to make any more effort than it normally does ensure that the quality, accuracy and correctness of the expedited claims or appeals decision. Denied VA benefit decisions are appealed and won all of the time. There is simply no reason to believe that veterans and their family members or survivors will not vigorously appeal denied ECA decisions as well. This will only add to the VA’s claims backlog, not help to reduce it.

The bottom line is that ECA is a tempest in a teapot. It sounds just fine in theory. In reality, however, it could do more harm than good.

Veterans and others who are eligible to participate in the ECA program will receive a letter from the VA when they file a claim for VA benefits. If you receive such a letter and are considering waiving your due process rights in exchange for a quicker decision, we strongly urge you to contact VetsFirst to learn about the consequences that you are facing.

Nevertheless, with a new contractor on board to design and implement an electronically based claims processing system, the VA has announced that it will begin accepting claims for Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits beginning May 1, 2009. The new application process will be fully electronic over a secure Internet connection that can be accessed through VA’s education benefits website (http://www.gibill.va.gov/).

Early enrollments in the new GI Bill program will allow the VA to work out bugs in a process that is expected to have more than 450,000 applicants for higher education benefits in the first year of the program. Complex benefit payment calculations include such factors as the length of active military service since September 11, 2001, the number of credits to be earned , the location of the institution of higher learning and, in the case of private institutions, whether the college or university is taking part in a tuition-reduction program.

Highlights of the Post-9/11 GI Bill program include the payment of full tuition and fees for attending public colleges and universities at a rate equal to the most expensive in-state undergraduate tuition at a public institution of higher learning in the state where the veteran is attending school, a monthly living and housing expense stipend and a book allowance. In addition, service members and veterans will be able to transfer their eligibility for education benefits to certain family members. Being pre-certified as eligible for the new education benefits program will make it easier to complete the enrollment process later this summer when the program is fully launched.

While applications will be accepted soon, there is still some reason for worry that the VA will still not be ready to go on August 1, 2009. The Department of Defense has yet to announce how service members will qualify for transferring unused benefits to a spouse or a child. The VA has indicated that even though there remain unknowns in the final application process, potential enrollees will be encouraged to apply early and that full details are still to come.

Stay tuned to the VetsFirst website for further developments in the Post-9/11 GI Bill program. Our complete guide to VA education benefits will be available shortly.

VetsFirst believes that because the draft ARRA provisions included a similar payment to disabled recipients of Social Security benefits, it would be unfair to exclude disabled veterans who receive VA disability benefits from the economic boosts under the same law. Congress and the President agreed and now veterans can rightfully participate in advancing the U.S. economy.

Under the Act, veterans who receive VA service-connected disability compensation or nonservice-connected VA pension will also receive a $250 economic stimulus check. This payment will be tax-exempt and will not be considered as countable income for purposes of qualifying for VA and other federal benefits. Checks are expected to be issued beginning in June 2009.

VetsFirst will steadfastly continue its mission to advocate for interests of disabled veterans and their families.

For more than 30 years many a veteran has been faced with the chilling reality of discovering that their military service records had gone up in smoke in a St. Louis fire.

Since that time countless numbers of veterans have been fired up by responses to inquiries and benefits applications that include the now infamous "Your records were burned…" statement.

To this day among many veterans the standard wisecrack upon being told that a service or VA document of theirs has been misplaced or is temporarily unavailable is- "Must have had another fire in St. Louis." More skeptical vets feel that the fire offered a convenient opportunity for covering up long standing mismanagement of important records and offered the system yet another means of dodging the benefits bullet.

What about the fire? And what was burned? The only answer is the official one and official answers tend to serve only as confirmation to the believers and fuel for fire for the skeptics. Nonetheless, here it is:

"On July 12, 1973, a disastrous fire at National Personnel Records Center, Military Personnel Records (NPRC-MPR) in St. Louis destroyed approximately 16-18 million Official Military Personnel Files." The National Archives

Just as important an issue is- Which records went up in smoke? Once again, the official word from The National Archives: "Army records: Personnel discharged November 1, 1912, to January 1, 1960. 80% estimated loss. Air Force records: Personnel discharged, September 25, 1947, to January 1, 1964 (with names alphabetically after Hubbard, James E.). 75% estimated loss." From NPRC (MPR): "No duplicate copies of the records that were destroyed in the fire were maintained, nor was a microfilm copy ever produced. There were no indexes created prior to the fire. In addition, millions of documents had been lent to the Department of Veterans Affairs before the fire occurred. Therefore, a complete listing of the records that were lost is not available." All finger pointing and bad mouthing aside. Is there anything that an affected veteran can do to obtain proof of service? Actually there is. NPRC (MPR) can attempt to reconstruct certain basic service data from alternate sources. If they are successful in reconstructing your data a Certification of Military Service will be issued. This Certification can be used for any purpose for which the original discharge document was used, including the application for veterans benefits. How do they do it? A primary source of alternate data is a collection of 19 million final pay vouchers. These records provide name, service number, dates of service, and character of service. These are the most critical service data elements needed for the reconstruction process. In 1988, a collection of computer tapes containing ten million hospital/treatment facility admission records was transferred to NPRC (MPR). These records, originally created by the U.S. Army Surgeon General’s Office (SGO), were discovered by the National Academy of Sciences and offered to the National Archives for use by NPRC (MPR). The source records existed in a computer code format and required extensive analysis to interpret the code into English. Between 1988-1990, NPRC (MPR) was able to salvage 7.8 million records of individual admissions for use as a major supplement to other smaller sources of medical information. Requesters should collect as much information from old personal papers before submitting a request pertaining to records from the fire-related collections. Good information on a request helps NPRC (MPR) identify which sources to research for reconstructing basic service data. As always, if you are unsure about your situation or the service data reconstruction process, get some help from experienced people.

“These changes will allow VA to assist a substantial number of veterans with subprime mortgages refinance into a safer, more affordable, VA guaranteed loan,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James B. Peake. “Veterans in financial distress due to high rate subprime mortgages are potentially the greatest beneficiaries.”

Veterans can now refinance their home loans up to 100% of the property value. In the past these loans were limited to 90% of the property value and were capped at $144,000. With the new legislation, such loans may be made up to $729,750 depending on where the property is located.

VA’s authority to guaranty Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMs) and Hybrid ARMs will also be extended under this new law through September 30, 2012. Unlike conventional ARMs and hybrid ARMs, VA limits interest rate increases on these loans from year to year, as well as over the life of the loans.

VA’s Prosthetic Service Card, or PSC, is a card issued to eligible veterans that allows them to go directly to a local (non-VA) source to obtain needed repairs for a VA issued wheelchair, orthopedic brace, blind aid, or artificial limb. A PSC should be issued for each item that an eligible veteran has obtained from the VA by the facilities Prosthetic Service.

The PSC can be handy to have. It can cut down the normal red tape and authorization time required and help to get those important repairs done quickly, regardless of where you are.

From the VA:
“When eligible beneficiaries requiring repairs to authorized appliances do not possess a PSC, prior approval for repairs must be given by the Prosthetic Representative, or designee, before payment of repairs can be made.”

It also allows veterans the use of non-VA sources and closer to home sources for repair of their prosthetic devices. When traveling the PSC can come in really handy for emergency repairs and adjustments.

There are some funding limits to the Prosthetic Service Card. The allowable per-repair coverage is a throwback to sixties pricing.

From the VA:
PSCs are limited to the following amounts:

• Blind aids and/or braces $100
• Wheelchairs $200
• Artificial limbs $300

But-

“Vendors are responsible for ensuring that the appliance being repaired is described on the PSC and for obtaining a Form Letter (FL) 10-55, Authority to Exceed Repair Costs of Prosthetic Appliance, when repairs exceed the authorized limitations of the card.”

This places the red tape squarely in the hands of those who can deal with it. The vendor and the VA.

So what ever happened to the Prosthetic Service Card? Provision for its issue is still on the VA books. Some VA facility Prosthetic Services just stopped issuing them! Unknowing veterans don’t ask for them and many of those who do may get answers such as- “We don’t issue them any longer” or “We stopped doing that at this facility.” Not reassuring answers by any means and by all means incorrect. Provision of Prosthetic Service Cards is not an option that can be decided on a facility-by-facility basis. It should be issued by all VA facilities having prosthetic programs.

If you would like to obtain a Prosthetic Service Card for a device issued by the VA, you can contact the Prosthetics Service at the VA facility from which the device was issued and ask for one. If you are an eligible veteran they should issue a card to you.