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Newsletter for Veterans and active military

Altus Times - 4/11/2018

VA can now award benefits for disabling pain:

In a sweeping legal victory for veterans, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit overturned a 19-year lower court precedent which prohibited the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) from awarding disability benefits to a veteran for disabling pain if it was not linked to a medical diagnosis.

“What this ruling means is that if a physician cannot diagnose the cause of the pain the veteran is experiencing, but the pain is related to an event, injury, or disease that occurred during the veteran’s military service, the veteran should now win disability benefits,” said Bart Stichman, executive director and co-founder of the National Veterans Legal Services Program (NVLSP) and one of the attorneys who represented the veteran in the case.

The Federal Circuit’s decision in Saunders v. Wilkie overturned the 1999 precedential decision issued by the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims that said VA had no authority to award benefits for pain alone, if the pain was untethered to a medical diagnosis explaining its cause.

Man arrested for

pretending to be Vet:

According to an April 4ABC News story by Julia Jacobo, a Florida man who posed as a U.S. military veteran and claimed to have earned more than 20 medals and badges has been arrested, according to police. Port St. Lucie Police had been investigating 46-year-old Edward Louis Liroff for three weeks before they arrested him after he allegedly tried to apply for a job using a fraudulent DD214 form, a certificate of release from active duty, said Master Sgt. Frank Sabol.

On the form, Liroff stated that he served in the U.S. military from 1988 to 2004 and listed that he was the recipient of more than 20 medals and badges, included the Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver Star Medal, the Purple Heart Medal and the Air Medal for Valor, according to authorities.

VA Community Care has existed for more than 70 Years, and has nothing to do with privatization:

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs on April 5, 2018 -VA has been offering community care since the World War II era, starting with the then-Veterans Administration’s Hometown Program that began in 1945.

As former Secretary Shulkin said, “No health care provider delivers every treatment under the sun. Referral programs for patients to get care through outside providers (known as Choice or Community Care at the VA) are as essential to the medical profession as stethoscopes and tongue depressors.”

Currently, VA operates seven distinct community care programs. VA is working with Congress to merge all of VA’s community care efforts into a single, streamlined program that’s easy for Veterans and VA employees to use so the department can work with Veterans to coordinate their care with private providers when VA can’t provide the care in a timely way or when it’s in Veterans’ best medical interest.

The fact is that demand for Veterans’ health care is outpacing VA’s ability to supply it wholly in- house. And with America facing a looming doctor shortage, VA has to be able to share health care resources with the private sector through an effective community care program. There is just no other option and, once again, VA has offered this solution since the World War II era.

Arlington National Cemetery, slowly running out of space, reaches out to public for help:

I realize that I have stated this before but two days ago - Arlington National Cemetery is reaching out to the public for suggestions after Congress asked to find the means necessary to keep the burial site open — despite estimates it could run out of space in approximately 23 years.

Army National Military Cemeteries Executive Director Karen Durham-Aguilera testified before a House panel on March 8 and warned about the grim future of capacity at Arlington based on current eligibility requirements, according to a press release.

“Without changes to the current eligibility requirements and physical footprint, Arlington National Cemetery will not be a burial option for most who served in the Gulf War – or any conflict since – regardless of their contribution, achievements, or valor,” she said.

Arlington officials are asking the public to share their thoughts and a survey can be found on the cemetery’s website.

GI Bill changes:

Some veterans have requested that I again report on some changes to the GI bill, so here they are -

Lifting The 15-Year Time Limit To Use GI Bill

The law eliminated the current 15-year time limit on use of the Post-9/11 GI Bill for those who were discharged on or after Jan. 1, 2013. This means that you have forever to use your GI Bill benefits! This removal of the 15 year time limit also applies to surviving dependents using the Fry Scholarship. Surviving spouses and children who first became eligible after Jan. 1, 2013 will have no time limit to use their Fry Scholarship benefits.

GI Bill Benefits

Restored For Those Who Attended Some Colleges That Closed

If you went to a school that closed or lost accreditation and you didn’t get credit for the classes you took, the GI Bill that you used for those classes will be given back to you. This is effective for any school closings after Jan. 1, 2015.

More Guard, Reserve Members Now Eligible

Reservists called to active duty under sections 12304(a) (when a governor requests federal assistance in responding to a major disaster or emergency), or 12304(b) (when the DoD mobilizes reservists in support of a combatant command) are now eligible. Previously, only reservists called to active duty by presidential order as a result of a national emergency were eligible.

This applies to all reservists mobilized after Aug. 1, 2009, but reservists can get only get paid for classes that started after Aug. 1, 2018.

CHANGES EFFECTIVE AUG. 1, 2018

All Purple Heart

Recipients Get Full Benefit

Anybody who is awarded the Purple Heart will get the full GI Bill amount no matter how long they served on active duty.

Dependents’ Education Assistance (DEA)

Dependents’ Education Assistance (DEA) monthly payments will increase by about 50 percent, but the maximum number of months that a dependent can get DEA decreases from 45 to 36. This applies if you begin using the benefit after Aug. 1, 2018. Individuals who first enrolled in school before Aug. 1, 2018, would still qualify for a maximum of 45 months of entitlement.

Reserve Duty That Counts Toward

Post-9/11 Eligibility

If a Reservist was ordered to active duty after September 1, 2010 to receive authorized medical care, be medically evaluated for disability, or complete a DoD health care study, that time will count as active duty toward GI Bill eligibility. The reservist can use their Post-9/11 GI Bill, if otherwise eligible after August 1, 2018.

Isakson applauds

Senate passage of

Veterans Cemetery Benefit Correction Act:

U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, on March 1, 2018applauded Senate passage of the Veterans Cemetery Benefit Correction Act, legislation he introduced to require the U.S. Department of the Interior to provide outer burial receptacles – also known as grave liners – for buried in cemeteries under the control of the National Park Service. In Georgia, this would include Andersonville National Cemetery in Andersonville.

Current law requires the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide an outer burial receptacle to a veteran buried in a national cemetery under the control of the National Cemetery Administration, a branch of the VA. Additionally, the VA can provide a reimbursement if the family chooses to purchase one in lieu of a government-furnished grave liner.

National Park Service cemeteries are not currently covered by this statute, and neither the VA nor the National Park Service is able to provide this benefit for veterans buried in those cemeteries.

The Veterans Cemetery Benefit Correction Act amends the law to require the Department of Interior to provide an outer burial receptacle for each new veteran’s grave in a national cemetery under the control of the National Park Service. This bill also provides for the reimbursement of a veteran’s survivors who provide a privately purchased outer burial receptacle for use in a National Park Service cemetery.