CAPITAL REGION Area veterans still struggle to collect benefits BY LEE COLEMAN Gazette Reporter
Vietnam combat veteran Robert Shave had heart problems associated with being exposed to the defoliant Agent Orange used during that war. The 66-year-old Schenectady resident applied for a disability benefit when the Department of Veterans Affairs added this to the list of aliments covered by Agent Orange impacts two years ago. “I got mine [approved] in 1 /2 years, which is fast,” Shave said, adding many veterans don’t get a final word on their disability claims for three, four, or sometimes five years after applying. “There’s been a major backup for many years,” Shave said. Shave is the commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars for Schenectady-Schoharie Counties, so he hears complaints from his fellow veterans about the long wait to get benefits promised them. The typical scenario is a veteran going to his county veterans service officer and filling out a disability claim. “That claim has to go through New York,” Shave said about the Department of Veterans Affairs office in New York City. The New York office says the veteran needs a physical, so he is sent to the local VA hospital for the physical. The waiting continues. Sometimes records are misplaced or lost. “It’s a long process,” Shave said. The federal government admits the backlog has existed for years. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki, in his report to the president and Congress on Nov. 15, said the Department of Veterans Affairs processed more than 1 million claims for the third year in a row. Shinseki said there is a “concerted effort” in his department to eliminate the claims processing backlog by 2015. Vietnam veterans are now the largest segment seeking benefits. The Vietnam War era covers 1964 through 1975. However, veterans who served in Vietnam between 1961 and 1964 are also considered eligible for wartime claims and pensions. Andrew Davis, director of the Saratoga County Veterans Service Agency, said Vietnam veterans applying for disability benefits, especially those related to Agent Orange, are a large part of his office’s work. He said the regional offi ce in New York City is at a bottleneck. “We have had claims that have sat in New York for over two years,” Davis said, with the average waiting period for a claim to be processed there 379 days. He said the department’s statement that it will have the backlog issue solved by 2015 is not realistic. Davis, a U.S. Army Ranger veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan who has been involved in veterans’ services for seven years, said the backlog hole is deep “and it’s growing deeper.” He said every secretary of Veterans Affairs, like Shinseki, tries to improve the system and reduce backlogs. “The problems are a lot lower in the food chain,” Davis said. He said regional managers — the department has regional offi ces in New York City and Buffalo — have to deal with constant change. “The VA just adopted technology that has been used in the private sector for many years,” Davis said. but is now making available computerized applications that are confusing to veterans. “The veterans don’t know what forms and evidence that they need,” Davis said about the online applications. Each county has a veterans service agency, and the state Division of Veterans Affairs has counselors assigned to each county. These offices specialize in handling disability and pension applications. The services are free. VIETNAM COHORT Ned Foote, a Marine Corps veteran of Vietnam who lost his leg in combat in the late 1960s, said more and more Vietnam veterans are fi ling disability claims as this segment of the population grows older. Foote, a Queensbury resident who is president of the Vietnam Veterans of America, New York State Council No. 2, said it is very difficult for Vietnam veterans to get compensated for post-traumatic stress disorder when making applications 40 years after their combat experience. He said Vietnam veterans had pushed their post-traumatic stress issues into the background during their younger years. “These people start to retire, they have time to think, they start to remember what happened 40 years ago,” Foote said. He said the Vietnam Veterans of America support young veterans coming back from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, many of whom are also reluctant to seek help for post-traumatic stress disorder. Foote said there are two aspects to veterans’ benefits. One is the veterans’ hospitals, which have improved their service greatly in recent years, including the Stratton VA Medical Center in Albany. The other aspect is the benefi ts side. “The hospital has gotten better. I have no complaints. They have turned around 100 percent,” Foote said. But the delay in the processing and awarding of benefi ts continues to grow worse. “Because of the overload, its about quantity, not quality,” Foote said. It seems like some VA benefi ts staff try to deny benefits rather than approve them, though, he said. “The majority are good people. They try to do the best they can,” he said. Foote said if a veteran does apply for a disability claim, the VA now sends them a letter saying they have the paperwork and are working on it. These letters are sent out every three or four months, sometimes for years. The Vietnam Veterans of America try to notify their members about changes in such disability coverage as Agent Orange, including what types of illnesses are covered. But the increased claims in this area — diabetes and heart disease, as well as certain types of cancer — have “overloaded an already overloaded system.” Foote had a neighbor who served in Vietnam and had a heart attack. He urged this neighbor to fi le a claim under the Agent Orange coverage. For some reason it only took his neighbor six months to hear that his claim had been approved and the veteran is now getting a monthly check based on 30 percent disability. Foote receives a 100 percent disability payment because of the loss of his leg during combat. This amounts to $2,800 check monthly. Foote agreed with Davis and Shave that he didn’t think the government can resolve the deep backlog in claims processing by 2015. PENSIONS Any veteran who served during a period of wartime, whether or not they served in a combat zone, is eligible for a pension. These claims are processed at a Department of Veterans Affairs office in Philadelphia. Davis said that pension, which covers a veteran’s spouse, as well, is income based. He said it generally comes into play when the veteran or his spouse is in an assisted living facility or requires home visits for nursing care. “If they are not in assisted living, it’s hard to meet the [financial] threshold,” Davis said. .......................>>>>....................>>>>............................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01102&AppName=1
Remember.......... veteran healthcare is 'national healthcare'......
Republicans Try to Balance Budget on Backs of Veterans and Children
This past March, Republicans in the House released a "new" budget proposal. There wasn't much new about it. Yet again, Republicans want to cut Medicare, Medicaid, medical and education benefits for veterans and food programs for children.
All that before we get to the tax proposal, which would cut taxes for the wealthiest Americans and raise taxes on almost everyone else.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
Friend of ours has their 90 year old parents in assisted living. They have been private pay for 2 years but their money was running out. They started the veteran benefit process 2 years ago when they first went into assisted living.
After 2 years of hundreds of phone calls, faxes and a file large enough to fill a file cabinet.....NOTHING!!!
SOOOOOOOOOOO.....they contacted Taxin' Tonko's office and miraculously they received a respond THAT DAY, their first monthly check within a month and the retro money from 2 years ago a month later!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This happened just before the november election......so these conservative republicans voted for TONKO!!
So even though Tonko didn't solve the problem as a whole.....he solved one. So EVERYONE should be calling Tonko....really!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Republicans Try to Balance Budget on Backs of Veterans and Children
This past March, Republicans in the House released a "new" budget proposal. There wasn't much new about it. Yet again, Republicans want to cut Medicare, Medicaid, medical and education benefits for veterans and food programs for children.
All that before we get to the tax proposal, which would cut taxes for the wealthiest Americans and raise taxes on almost everyone else.
YOU ARE SO OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY THAT I CAN'T EVEN RESPOND.......OMG OMG OMG!!! COUGH COUGH COUGH!!!!! YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM THIS COUNTRY FACES......CLEARLY NOT PARTY OF THE SOLUTION!!! NOT TO MENTION SO TERRIBLY UNINFORMED!!! OMG!!!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
YOU ARE SO OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY THAT I CAN'T EVEN RESPOND.......OMG OMG OMG!!! COUGH COUGH COUGH!!!!! YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM THIS COUNTRY FACES......CLEARLY NOT PARTY OF THE SOLUTION!!! NOT TO MENTION SO TERRIBLY UNINFORMED!!! OMG!!!
Bumbler, You really should take something for that cough! Post about "OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY"???
I think that men should also be included in the advertising of women's feminine hygiene products.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
Interesting that Graham manages to blame all problems on the President when it's Democrat Obama, but could find no real blame for Republican Bush.
Selective outrage!
I can blame Obama for not closing down Gitmo, for folding on the single payer and for extending the Bush Tax Cut for the Rich, among other things. IT WAS OBAMA'S FAULT! When the president is at fault... YOU BLAME THE PRESIDENT! As in: The WMD lies... Sept 11 attacks... Cutting taxes while borrowing to pay for two wars... The Saddam/Al Qaeda Lie... Promising Immigration Reform, and folding to pressure from the racist TeaBaggers... Etc, etc etc...
See Graham? You could actually live in reality and Blame Obama for his actions AND Blame Bush for his... Or you could be safe and warm with your lame excuse... "Sure... Always Blame Bush" mantra.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
the veterans 'help' has ALWAYS SUCKED THE BIG ONE......
the government isn't very good at being a true caretaker because the tax payers DON'T TRUST IT and demand value for their paid taxes.....
By this logic... they are good caretakers of Big Oil... and the tax payers TRUST IT and receive value for their paid taxes.....
Ridiculous!
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
unless one is in the medical field......yes va benefits have been scarce at best....however....obamacare has taken more away from medicare, medicaid and the va than ever before in history!!!!
but don't kid yourselves......obamacare was in the making for decades.....they gotta save as much as they can with those damn boomers that are going to drain the health care system dry.......well.....unless they limit their healthcare.....yes?
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
the veterans 'help' has ALWAYS SUCKED THE BIG ONE......
.
TRUE........A veteran we know went to the va.....they told him he had had a heart attack....sent him home and said to come back in a month for a follow up...........TRUE STORY!!!!!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
THE GOVERNMENT DOESN'T BELONG IN THE BUSINESS OF caring......
Yea... caring should be done by people like Jack Welch... a fine human being!
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
Republicans Try to Balance Budget on Backs of Veterans and Children
This past March, Republicans in the House released a "new" budget proposal. There wasn't much new about it. Yet again, Republicans want to cut Medicare, Medicaid, medical and education benefits for veterans and food programs for children.
All that before we get to the tax proposal, which would cut taxes for the wealthiest Americans and raise taxes on almost everyone else.
Why shouldn't they pay their "fair share"? They get special treatment? You talk about not wanting to pay for the health problems of tobacco smokers. How about paying for a person's choice to join the military and go off to war?
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