Veterans 65 and over: Are you receiving the Veterans Non-Service Connected Disability Pension? If not, you may be missing out on the Aid & Attendance benefit.

This is a little known and under-utilized VA benefit for veterans who served in wartime, and surviving spouses, 65 and over. The assistance can supplement one's income, especially if living in an assisted living facility, nursing home, or receiving home health care. These facilities and services can impose a tremendous financial burden on the veterans and families. The benefit can help avoid placing a tremendous financial burden on the veteran's family.

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Veterans die after being placed on VA Hospital’s secret waiting list

The secret list was part of an elaborate scheme designed by Veterans Affairs managers in Phoenix who were trying to hide that 1,400 to 1,600 sick veterans were forced to wait months to see a doctor, according to a recently retired top VA doctor and several high-level sources.

For six months, CNN has been reporting on extended delays in health care appointments suffered by veterans across the country and who died while waiting for appointments and care. But the new revelations about the Phoenix VA are perhaps the most disturbing and striking to come to light thus far.

Continue Learning>>>http://myfox8.com/2014/04/23/veterans-die-after-being-placed-on-va-hospitals-secret-waiting-list/

Outrage as V.A. hides names of hospitals where vets died from delays

CNN reported in January that 19 veterans died as a result of delayed gastrointestinal cancer screenings, while another 63 were seriously injured. CNN obtained internal documents from the VA listing the number of “institutional disclosures of adverse events”—the bureaucratic phrase for a mistake that gravely harms or kills a patient.

However, the documents did not list the names of the hospitals and clinics where the deaths took place. When Altman asked VA for the names of the hospitals, he was told he would have to file a FOIA request. His subsequent FOIA request was denied.

"The VA needs to drop the secrecy routine and remember it’s a tax-funded organization that should conduct itself in as transparent a manner as possible without encroaching on patient confidentiality"” the Tampa Tribune wrote in an editorial Thursday.

Continue Learning:  http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/mar/31/outrage-v-hides-names-hospitals-where-vets-died-de/?page=1

"For all the incompetence that we’ve seen and all the lives that have been lost, the evidence shows there has been no accountability,’’ Boehner said.

Drew Brookie, a VA spokesman, said the department has cut the “disability claims backlog by more than 40 percent. Every day, our health care professionals provide an average of 236,000 appointments to Veterans and eligible family members.

"Changes that would single out VA employees for punishment by removing existing federal civil service rules not only put VA at a competitive disadvantage, but can ultimately harm VA’s ability to best serve veterans"” he said.

Continue Learning:  http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/news/national-govt-politics/boehner-va-is-failing-our-veterans/nfLzz/

Assisting Maine Veterans Who Trained at Gagetown

U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King have introduced legislation that would help Maine veterans with claims made to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) contending they have suffered from health problems as a result of being exposed to the herbicide Agent Orange during military training at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Gagetown. For years, veterans who trained at Gagetown have attempted to gain recognition from the VA that their health problems stem from exposure to Agent Orange, which was previously sprayed there in 1966 and 1967.

The Collins-King bill would direct the VA to establish a registry of U.S. veterans who have served or trained at Gagetown and who have subsequently experienced health problems. The establishment of a registry will provide veterans with a way to make their claims known to the VA and to identify commonalities among their shared experiences. The bill requires the VA to commission an independent study tasked with investigating the linkage between service at Gagetown and the development of health problems and disease associated with exposure to Agent Orange.

"Protecting the health of those who have served our nation is a solemn responsibility, and I have raised this issue directly with VA Secretary Eric Shinseki," said Senator Collins. "Just as the Government of Canada found a way to offer compensation to service members exposed to toxic herbicides at Gagetown, the VA should likewise be able to find a way to recognize the similar concerns voiced by Maine veterans."

VA didn't pay some veterans' health costs, report says

The Department of Veterans Affairs must reimburse non-VA hospitals that provide emergency care to disabled veterans — such as for car accident injuries — if the veteran is uninsured, enrolled in VA health care and has received recent treatment at VA.

Federal law requires that such emergency expenses be covered by the federal government even if the injury or illness is not related to the veteran's service-connected disability.

But when GAO looked at a sample of 128 of these claims brought by non-VA hospitals in 2012 seeking reimbursement and that were later denied by the VA, investigators discovered mistakes in half of them, the report says.

Continue Learning:  http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/03/07/va-veterans-disabled-insurance-claims-denied-millennium/6133691/

New Haven Vietnam veteran with PTSD, others, file class action lawsuit

The 65-year-old longtime New Haven resident is one of five Vietnam combat veterans and three organizations that have filed a class action suit in federal court seeking a review of all Vietnam era veterans diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, but who received less-than-honorable discharges.

Because of that discharge, he had not been able to get medical care at the Veterans Affairs medical center, obtain educational benefits or help with home loans available to other veterans.

The suit, if approved, would represent tens of thousands of veterans across the United States, according to Virginia McCalmont, a student at the Yale Law School working with in its Veterans Legal Services Clinic that brought the suit.

Continue Learning:  http://www.nhregister.com/general-news/20140303/new-haven-vietnam-veteran-with-ptsd-others-file-class-action-lawsuit

VA Concedes Whistleblower's Allegations Were True, Including That It Ignored Veterans' Suicidal Tendencies

A government whistleblower who suffered retaliation from his agency has been vindicated by a Department of Veterans Affairs admission that it failed to reach out to 2,000 veterans in a research study who said they had suicidal ideas, many of whom later committed suicide.

The agency's admission, which has not been previously publicized, resulted from a congressional inquiry into the allegations of Dr. Steven Coughlin, a former epidemiologist at the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Public Health, who disclosed that the VA was guilty of shocking ethical lapses.

Continue Learning:  http://www.ibtimes.com/va-concedes-whistleblowers-allegations-were-true-including-it-ignored-veterans-suicidal-tendencies

Scope of missing federal military records grows

The number of missing or destroyed military records at a federal government warehouse in St. Louis is significantly larger than initially reported.

      A 2012 audit found that a file clerk at the National Personnel Records Center wrongly filled nearly three-fourths of 1,200 files assigned to him over a three-month period. Archives workers could earn bonus pay through an incentive program for completing more filings.





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Veterans Affairs purged thousands of medical tests to 'game' its backlog stats

About 40,000 appointments were “administratively closed” in Los Angeles, and another 13,000 were cancelled in Dallas in 2012.

That means the patients did not receive the tests or treatment that had been ordered, but rather the orders for the follow-up procedures were simply deleted from the agency’s records.

It is not known how widespread the practice is, or how many veterans hospitals have mass-purged appointment orders to clear their backlogs.

Continue Learning:  http://washingtonexaminer.com/veterans-affairs-purged-thousands-of-medical-tests-to-game-its-backlog-stats/article/2544580

 
VA Defends Deleting Veteran Medical Appointments

VA Ignores Medical Conditions Linked to El Toro

Exposure to TCE directly affects the genitourinary (GU) system, and also causes cancer of this system. TCE is broken down in the liver to vinyl chloride and excreted by the GU system. TCE is also excreted in the urine. Together they can cause renal (kidney) and bladder tumors, like the transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder that Mr. O’Dowd had. These chemicals also cause non-cancer illness like interstitial cystitis, hyperactive bladder, and prostatitis. These problems occur from several days to decades after exposure. The latency appears to be dose related and over different periods of time.

TCE and vinyl chloride have profound effects on the liver and can cause liver failure from direct toxicity to the hepatic cell. Vinyl chloride has also been positively linked to a rare malignancy of the liver, hemangiosarcoma. The hemangioma found in Mr. O’Dowd’s liver has to be followed carefully, because it could be or could change to a malignant tumor. 

 

Continue Learning:  http://www.salem-news.com/articles/february162014/va-el-toto-ro.php

 

 

Marine Denied VA Disability For El Toro

More than 1,800 vets' records intentionally destroyed or misfiled by 2 clerks

Some employees seeking to earn an incentive bonus were intentionally misfiling, or "stashing"” records to finish more quickly, state court files show. Although Halkmon denied stashing files and said he'd lacked proper training, a tribunal handling Halkmon's appeal of the rejection of his unemployment benefits said his claims were not credible.

Continue Learning:  http://www.stripes.com/news/veterans/more-than-1-800-vets-records-intentionally-destroyed-or-misfiled-by-2-clerks-1.264849

Disabled local veteran caught up in VA red tape

"The Secretary of the VA has to sign off on it, so that's where we are," said Haynie.

General Shinseki oversees 285,000 employees and a $153 billion annual budget and has to decide if Haynie can get a new toilet and shower at his two bedroom home in Spring. And until that happens, he will wait on a federal government that promised to take care of him in combat in 1964 and is still seemingly struggling to keep the promise 50 years later.

Continue Learning:  http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/in_focus&id=9425483

VETERANS VIC CARDS: Veterans say no one told them about risk

Safeguarding Your VIC

Veterans are warned to keep their VIC safe and secure. Some bar code readers, including those available as applications on cell phones, can scan the bar code on the front of the card, and reveal the Veteran’s social security number. This could make the Veteran subject to identity theft if the card is lost or stolen.

Continue Learning:  https://www.va.gov/healthbenefits/access/veteran_identification_card.asp

Veterans Affairs woes not just regional concern

First, waterborne bacteria in Pittsburgh Veterans Affairs hospitals led to at least five deaths from Legionnaires' disease. 

Then insulin pens reused on more than 700 patients in the Buffalo VA Center exposed them to hepatitis. 

And last month, improper use of electronic medical records led to three deaths in the Memphis VA medical center's emergency department. 

In all, the deaths of at least 21 veterans nationwide appear linked to failures in VA medical care revealed during the past year in VA inspector general and news reports.

Continue Learning:  http://triblive.com/news/editorspicks/5004924-74/veterans-health-outbreak#axzz2lgJoMgWP

Memphis VA hospital faces congressional probe after patient deaths

A letter from the committee chairman, Rep. Jeff Miller, to the Department of Veterans Affairs on Wednesday mentions three patients who died in the hospital's emergency room.

A VA inspector general's report released Oct. 23 said one patient was given a medication despite a documented drug allergy and had a fatal reaction.

Another patient was found unresponsive after receiving multiple sedating medications. A third had critically high blood pressure that was not aggressively monitored and experienced bleeding in the brain about five hours after going to the emergency room, the report said.

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PTSD: Vietnam veterans experiencing return of nightmares late in life

But experts say his experience is not uncommon. As Vietnam veterans age, many discover they have more time to contemplate their lives. The time for reflection — as well as retirement, reunions with war buddies and the deaths of loved ones — can stir memories from a long-ago war.

Anniversary dates and holidays such as Veterans Day may begin to bother people. But even when a veteran seeks treatment late in life, experts say, in many cases the post-traumatic stress disorder had been there all along.

Continue Learning:  http://www.columbian.com/news/2013/nov/17/vietnam-veterans-experiencing-return-of-nightmares/

Hospital delays are killing America's war veterans

Military veterans are dying needlessly because of long waits and delayed care at U.S. veterans hospitals, a CNN investigation has found.

What's worse, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is aware of the problems and has done almost nothing to effectively prevent veterans dying from delays in care, according to documents obtained by CNN and interviews with numerous experts.

Continue Learning:  http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/19/health/veterans-dying-health-care-delays/index.html?sr=sharebar_facebook

War Veterans Fighting For Lung Disability Compensation After Toxic Exposures

However, some veterans say otherwise. Staff Sgt. Moses Scarberry, a 30-year-old military policeman with the West Virginia Army National Guard, says that although the U.S. Veterans Administration will provide some disability compensation following sub-par lung test results, he cannot prove the level of deterioration to his lungs without a baseline evaluation. In making his case for greater compensation, he lacks a "before-and-after" comparison.

Outside the of the military, fire departments and other employers require baseline lung testing for occupations known to carry a risk to pulmonary functioning. But military service also carries a risk to lung health, according to Fox News and investigative journalist Katie Drummond, whose “Ring of Fire” report describes toxic exposures endured by some troops who have served overseas.

Continue Learning:  http://www.medicaldaily.com/war-veterans-fighting-lung-disability-compensation-after-toxic-exposures-262516

VA Offers Dental Insurance Program

VA is partnering with Delta Dental and MetLife to allow eligible Veterans, plus family members receiving care under the Civilian Health and Medical Program (CHAMPVA), to purchase affordable dental insurance beginning Nov. 15, VA officials announced today.
 

"VA continues to explore innovative ways to help Veterans get access to the care and services they have earned and deserve"” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. "This new dental program is another example of VA creating partnerships with the private sector to deliver a range of high-quality care at an affordable cost, for our Nation’s Veterans"”

Also eligible for the new benefits are nearly 400,000 spouses and dependent children who are reimbursed for most medical expenses under VA’s CHAMPVA program.  Generally, CHAMPVA participants are spouses, survivors or dependent children of Veterans officially rated as “permanently and totally” disabled by a service-connected condition.

For more information on VADIP, visit www.va.gov/healthbenefits/vadip, or contact Delta Dental at 1-855-370-3303 or MetLife at 1-888-310-1681.

Veterans who are not enrolled in the VA health care system can apply at any time by visiting www.va.gov/healthbenefits/enroll, calling 1-877-222-VETS (8387) or visiting their local VA health care facility.

Continue Learning:  http://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=2495