VA to Ease Way for Vets to Get Stress Disability
By KIMBERLY HEFLING
The Associated Press
Wednesday, October 14, 2009; 7:03 AM
WASHINGTON -- Female soldiers and others in dangerous roles that once were behind front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan have long complained about how hard it is to prove their combat experience when applying for disability due to post-traumatic stress disorder.
That could soon change.
The Veterans Affairs Department has proposed reducing the paperwork required for veterans to show their experience caused combat-related stress. Even just the fear of hostile action would be sufficient, as long as a VA psychologist or psychiatrist agreed.
The VA says the change would streamline claims and recognize the "inherently stressful nature" of war service. The agency is accepting comment until Oct. 23.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., called it a significant shift in policy.
"Before, and for a long time, I've been fighting many times over for the VA not to discourage people from saying they have PTSD," said Murray, who serves on the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee. "We've have many cases where veterans were told it's all in your head."
Post-traumatic stress disorder can affect anyone who is traumatized by an experience. From the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, more than 134,000 veterans have sought help at a VA facility for possible PTSD, the VA says. The symptoms include flashbacks and anxiety, and for some, it's so debilitating that it makes it difficult to work after they leave the military.
While praising the VA's effort, veterans service organizations have questioned the requirement for a VA psychologist or psychiatrist to agree the experience caused the disorder. Rep. John Hall, D-N.Y., who chairs a subcommittee with oversight over the disability claims system, said he's concerned that the proposed rule isn't comprehensive enough.
The debate is a reflection of the changing battlefield.
A World War II-era law established that veterans who "engaged in combat with the enemy" receive special treatment when they seek disability compensation, so it's less burdensome to prove an injury was from war service.
Troops from an infantry or special forces unit are awarded a badge that makes it easier to prove they engaged in combat.
Truck drivers, cooks and others in support roles aren't eligible for the badge but can use other types of documentation or medals, such as a Purple Heart, to prove they were in combat.
But veterans and service organizations that work with them have said doing so is often incredibly difficult, in part because of the lack of paperwork kept by many units. About half of all post-traumatic stress disability claims filed by veterans are denied - with the majority of denials coming because the veteran lacks sufficient documentation, the VA has said.
The VA said it does not have an estimate of the number of veterans who would likely fall under the policy change, nor does it have a cost estimate.
In 2008, a Congressional Budget Office estimate, on legislation that would have made a similar change, concluded it would cost billions over a nine-year period. Based on 2006 figures, it said the average payout for a PTSD claim was $543 a month.
Natalie MacLeod, 51, a mother of five from Lowell, Mass., who served in Iraq is among the veterans hopeful that the proposed rule change will help her. She said she's been denied PTSD disability benefits because of a lack of documentation, even though she's been diagnosed with PTSD.
"The VA will diagnose you with the PTSD and then the VA will turn you down, which is what I'm fighting right now," said MacLeod, who said she was a cook and did administrative work for her Army Reserves unit.
At a hearing last week on the issue, representatives from veterans service organizations testified that many veterans go to private mental health providers for treatment. They said the law requires the VA to consider private medical evidence when considering claims, and asked the VA to allow that in these types of cases.
Hall said he thinks that in addition to fear, if veterans could show feelings of helplessness or horror while at war caused their PTSD, they should also be eligible under the new rule.
Bradley G. Mayes, director of compensation and pension service at the Veterans Benefits Administration, who attended the hearing, said the VA is considering all meaningful comments.
Christina Roof, national deputy legislative director for advocacy group AMVETS, said while the rule change isn't perfect, "it's a step forward. It's not a cure-all, but we need to so something now."
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Washington Post article on VA PTSD reform
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The way I read the change is that only VA doctors can make the disgnosis of PTSD that would be accepted in the claims process regardless of what military doctors have in your records or what private doctors write in "Independent Medical Opinions" these will be ignored by the passage of this new rule. Instead of making it easier for veterans for have their claims approved I see it as a way for the Veterans Administration to start making it harder for veterans to actually get PTSD claims approved rather than making it easier as this is being sold as. The fine print is stiffling, and I feel it behooves veterans and the Service Organizations to make their concerns loud and clear before this becomes law, by edict as the government so often does, what is it 30 days after being published in the Federal Register the rule takes effect, and all future claims filed after that date, fall under the new rules.
I do applaud Secretary Shinseki on adding Parkinsons, Ischemic Heart disease and hairy cell luekemia to the presumptive list for Agent Orange exposure during Vietnam, many veterans have died from these medical problems (my father in law, died from Ischemic heart disease, my mother in law will be filing a DIC Claim) the Secretary of the VA has broad powers to run the VA, it is the most powerful post in the Cabinet today, it affects 26 million veterans lives and their millions of dependents and the power is basically in the Secretarys office, he answers only to the President, yes Congress has oversight, but they have been largely ignoring the real plight of veterans for decades, if not centuries, the agency that is advertised as being "non-adversarial" is actually the most adversarial agency there is, it is easier to solve problems with the IRS than it is for a veteran to get a compensation claim properly adjudicated before they die.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
VA to Ease Way for Vets to Get Stress Disability
Monday, October 12, 2009
Door Opens to More Health Claims Tied to Agent Orange
Door Opens to More Health Claims Tied to Agent Orange
By JAMES DAO
Published: October 12, 2009
Under rules to be proposed this week, the Department of Veterans Affairs plans to add Parkinson’s disease, ischemic heart disease and hairy-cell leukemia to the growing list of illnesses presumed to have been caused by Agent Orange, the toxic defoliant used widely in Vietnam.
The proposal will make it substantially easier for thousands of veterans to claim that those ailments were the direct result of their service in Vietnam, thereby smoothing the way for them to receive monthly disability checks and health care services from the department.
The new policy will apply to some 2.1 million veterans who set foot in Vietnam during the war, including those who came after the military stopped using Agent Orange in 1970. It will not apply to sailors on deep-water ships, though the department plans to study the effects of Agent Orange on the Navy.
The shift underscores efforts by the secretary of veterans affairs, Eric Shinseki, a retired Army chief of staff and a Vietnam veteran himself, to reduce obstacles to sick or disabled veterans’ receiving benefits. The department has come under sharp criticism from Congress and veterans groups for long delays in processing disability claims.
“Since my confirmation as secretary, I’ve often asked why, 40 years after Agent Orange was last used in Vietnam, we’re still trying to determine the health consequences to our veterans who served in the combat theater,” Mr. Shinseki said in a statement. “Veterans who endure a host of health problems deserve timely decisions.”
The veterans department already recognizes more than a dozen conditions as being presumptively connected to Agent Orange exposure in Vietnam, including Hodgkin’s disease, prostate cancer and Type 2 diabetes.
But for diseases not on that list, veterans are required to provide evidence directly relating their service in Vietnam to their illness, a requirement that often leads to application rejections and prolonged appeals.
Veterans department officials estimate that about 200,000 veterans might seek benefits under the proposed change in policy. But they said they could not estimate the cost of the change until the policy underwent public review and was published in final form, which could take several months.
Mr. Shinseki’s decision is a victory for groups like Vietnam Veterans of America, which has been pushing the department to add Parkinson’s disease, ischemic heart conditions and hypertension to the list of diseases presumptively linked to Agent Orange.
But the new policy is also likely to prompt debate over how much responsibility the federal government should take in compensating and caring for aging veterans who are exhibiting a growing list of physical and psychological problems.
The most common of the three illnesses, ischemic heart disease, restricts blood flow to the heart, causing irregular heartbeats and deterioration of the heart muscle.
Parkinson’s disease is associated with a loss of cells that secrete dopamine, a brain chemical essential for normal movement. Patients develop tremors, rigid posture, impaired balance and an inability to initiate movement.
Hairy-cell leukemia, a rarer condition, is a slow-growing cancer in which the bone marrow produces too many infection-fighting cells, lymphocytes, that crowd out healthy white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets.
Agent Orange, named after the color-coded band on storage drums, was the most common herbicide used in Vietnam to clear jungle canopy and destroy crops. It contained one of the most toxic forms of dioxin, which has since been linked to some cancers.
Aides said Mr. Shinseki’s decision was influenced by a report released in July from the Institute of Medicine that found “limited or suggestive evidence” of an association between exposure to herbicides and an increased chance of Parkinson’s disease and ischemic heart disease in Vietnam veterans. The report also found “sufficient evidence,” a stronger category, of an association between herbicides and hairy-cell leukemia.
The report, written by a 14-member panel appointed by the institute, was based on a review of scientific literature. The institute is required by Congress to monitor the health effects of herbicides used in Vietnam and produce updates every two years.
In its report, the panel warned that there was a paucity of epidemiological data about Vietnam veterans. As a result, the panel said, its findings did not represent “a firm conclusion” about herbicides and Parkinson’s and herbicides and ischemic heart disease. It said it could not estimate the chances of veterans’ developing either disease.
Despite those caveats, the Institute of Medicine report has been cited by veterans advocates as providing sufficient evidence to justify a rule change. Under laws governing Agent Orange policies for veterans, the department cannot make benefits decisions based on cost, only on the scientific evidence. Aides to Mr. Shinseki said the Institute of Medicine report provided that evidence.
Some doctors and researchers say the expansion of Agent Orange benefits has been based on weak or inconclusive science, given the lack of studies on Vietnam veterans. Those skeptics argue that diseases like prostate cancer or Type-2 diabetes are just as likely the result of aging, lifestyle or genetic predisposition as exposure to Agent Orange.
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Thank you General Shinseki for doing the right thing, these veterans have suffered for decades waiting and suffering and their families suffering both mentally and financially due to these medical problems. I have ischemic heart disease which is already SC due to other nexus but I did also serve on the DMZ of Korea where Agent Orange was also used to kill brush along the US area of the wire that we patrolled, we also bought vegetables from Freedom Village which uses water that was polluted in the aquifer with dioxin from AO and the half life of AO is decades, which no one recognizes for veterans, however the State Department does for employees of the state Department who worked at Panmunjom for years after they last sprayed in 1971.
The dioxin is just as dangerous years later as it was the days it was sprayed look at the Vietnamese people near Danang where we spilled tons of it. They are still getting sick now 40 years later. Yet we do nothing to help the Vietnamese we poisoned.
Without your intervention I imagine the VA itself would still be ignoring these new 3medical issues as being related to AO, thank you.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Other VA loan benefits include:
Booming popularity will likely make 2009 a record year for VA loans. The growing interest is due in part to the VA program’s exceptional benefits. Chief among those is the fact that qualified veterans in most parts of the country can purchase a home with no down payment.
Other VA loan benefits include:
-Less stringent qualifying criteria
-No private monthly mortgage insurance
-No penalties for loan pre-payment
-Higher debt-to-income ratio allowed than for most conventional loans
-Sellers can pay up to 6 percent of closing costs
-And many more
In terms of VA loan requirements, prospective borrowers must first meet the agency’s standards of eligibility. Those who may be eligible for a VA loan are:
-Military members who’ve served 181 days on active duty or three months during war time may be eligible.
-People who have spent at least a half-dozen years in the National Guard or Reserves
-Spouses of those killed in the line of duty
Veterans interested in a VA loan must first apply for a Certificate of Eligibility (COE) by completing VA Form 26-1880 and including proof of military service. Active duty members must include an original statement of service signed by the adjutant, personnel officer or unit commanders that identifies you and your Social Security Number and provides date of entry. Those discharged from regular active duty after January 1, 1950, should include a copy of DD Form 214 (Certificate of Release or Discharge). Anyone discharged after October 1, 1979, also should include DD Form 214 copy 4.
There are typically less stringent income and credit requirements to qualify for a VA loan. Agency officials will examine an applicant’s financial and credit history along with other key indicators before making a determination.
Veterans and their families must live in the homes they purchase – these loans can’t be used to buy land or investment properties.
“If you are interested in a similar guest post on your blog or more information on VA loans contact Robert at this e mail address.....
Robert@valoansguidelines.com”
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Volunteer leaves $1.5 million to Ill. VA hospital
Volunteer leaves $1.5 million to Ill. VA hospital
By DAVID MERCER
4:40 p.m. CDT, October 6, 2009
E-mail Print Text Size
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - After serving in the Korean War, John Wright apparently lived a quiet life in Danville, where he volunteered at the local Veterans Administration hospital but otherwise kept to himself.
As it turns out, Wright was also building a fortune in real estate and other investments worth $1.56 million, all of which he left to the eastern Illinois town's VA hospital when he died.
The staff and other volunteers he got to know in his 40 years volunteering at the hospital's recreation therapy section were the closest thing Wright had to family, said Douglas Shouse, a hospital spokesman.
"They were his family," Shouse said. "On holidays he would go to (meet) the recreation staff for meals."
His colleagues at the hospital did not know much more about Wright's life outside the hospital or his military record.
"John was pretty subdued and didn't really talk about his military service," Shouse said.
Wright, who was in the Army, died in March 2008 at the hospital. He was 74.
According to Vermilion County Circuit Court records, Wright's estate consisted of a mix of real estate holdings, investments such as shares of Fannie Mae and other more mundane assets such as a money market fund.
Shouse said he had no idea about Wright's fortune -- or how he built it -- until the VA was contacted about the will after his death.
The estate only recently cleared all the legal hurdles preventing it from turning the fortune over to the hospital, Shouse said.
He said the hospital decided against saying anything publicly about the money until after a service last week to honor Wright because people who knew him said he would not have liked the fuss.
The money will buy a 16-passenger van to take veterans on outings and will be used to renovate a recreation hall that will be named in his honor, according to Shouse.
Wright was buried in the Danville National Cemetery near the hospital.
Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Myapologies to the AP but as a 100% disabled veteran I felt that all veterans and the public should know the kind of men that have served this nation and how they keep on giving long after they leave the military. He gave of his time to be a volunteer at the local VA hospital and when he died, he left a small fortune he had accumulated over his lifetime, and the VA will now put that money to use to continue to help veterans.
If this makes me wrong for re-relling this story and linking it back to the Chicago paper where it was published then I will be wrong all the time, this man truly is an American "hero" he may not have ever been awarded a Medal of Honor or a Silver Star but he lived a life of "honor" and UI for one SALUTE him. I also give my thanks to the AP for allowing their reporter to spend his time to tell this story, of giving.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Military and Veterans Suicides help is available
Every day, five U.S. soldiers try to kill themselves” (CNN.com).
In recognition of Army Suicide Prevention Month (September 2009) and the upcoming observance of Veterans’ Day (November 11), here is a valuable resource for aiding our veterans in need.
HEALING SUICIDAL VETERANS: Recognizing, Supporting and Answering Their Pleas for Help (October 2009, New Horizon Press) is written by Victor Montgomery, III, MAEd., CMAC, RAS, who has worked with thousands of veterans and families as a former crisis intervention therapist at the National Veterans’ Suicide Prevention Lifeline and as an addiction therapist in outpatient clinics.
In HEALING SUICIDAL VETERANS, Montgomery provides:
· Tips and effective strategies for veterans to cope and heal.
· Checklists to identify symptoms of depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury and substance abuse.
· Twelve real-life stories featuring veterans from the Iraq, Afghanistan, Gulf, Beirut, Vietnam and Korean wars.
· Resources for veterans to seek the help they need.
We hope you will want to feature HEALING SUICIDAL VETERANS, a vital guide for any veteran struggling with suicidal impulses.
Sincerely,
Dr. Joan S. Dunphy
Publisher
908.604.6311
nhp@newhorizonpressbooks.com e mail here
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I don't endorse many books but anything dealing with mental health and to try and stem the flow of suicides is something I fully support since I have tried it 3 times and luckily I even failed at that now I try and keep others from attempting it.
