Under this seldom used education program, family members of troops killed in action or those with 100% serviceconnected disabilities are able to obtain up to 45 months of education benefits in the form of a monthly stipend. The DEA program provides education and training compensation to eligible dependents of veterans who are permanently and totally disabled due to a service-related condition or of veterans who died while on active duty or as a result of a service-related condition. The amount allocated to a dependent can be up to a maximum of $1,021.00 a month for full-time students per rates as determined in October 2015. The money from this program is intended to be used as supplemental income for dependents seeking degrees, certificate programs, apprenticeships, or on-the-job training. The DEA program is separate from the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill. Dependents of service members who died in the line of duty or served adequate time to be able to transfer their G.I. Bill benefits can also be eligible for the DEA program, but only for up to 81 months of total full-time benefits. However, both programs may not be used concurrently. Dependent children planning to apply for this benefit must fall between the ages of 18 and 26. As a dependent child, he/she will have up to age 26 to use the benefits. Spouses must use it within 10 years from the date VA finds one eligible or from the date of death of the Veteran. The bill appears to be flexible in that children of fallen or disabled service members can be married, the money can be used for colleges or job training programs, and there are rates that vary and can apply to part-time or full-time schooling — unlike with the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill. In order to apply, dependents must complete VA Form 22-5490 [https://www.vba.va.gov/pubs/forms/vba-22-5490-are.pdf] and submit it to the VA for consideration.

A federal bill seeks to extend an aspect of burial benefits for Native American veterans provided by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Senate Bill 2248 proposes that the distribution of headstones upon request be provided to spouses and dependent children of veterans interred in tribal veterans cemeteries operated or funded by the VA’s National Cemetery Administration. There are 11 tribal veterans cemeteries — located in Arizona, California, Maine, Montana, Oklahoma and South Dakota — that are eligible for programs administered by the VA’s National Cemetery Administration. The two cemeteries in Arizona are the San Carlos Apache Tribal Veterans Cemetery in San Carlos and the Monte Calvario Cemetery in Tucson. The bill, sponsored by U.S. Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) was passed by the Senate this month. It moved to the House of Representatives on 5 MAR for consideration there. We owe a solemn debt to these men and women who have sacrificed so much for our country, and I applaud Sen. Tester’s leadership to correct this disparity,” Udall said in a press release from his office. The Navajo Nation has a community veterans cemetery in Fort Defiance, Arizona, and several cemeteries in communities on the reservation designate areas for the burial of veterans. Sen. Tom Udall Ned Adriance, a spokesman for Udall, said the federal proposal does not address any benefits for community cemeteries specifically or for interment in burial sites on family land. Adriance added the VA website indicates that the VA will furnish, on request, a government headstone or marker for any deceased eligible veteran in any cemetery, regardless of location. [Source: Farmington Daily Times | Noel Lyn Smith | March 19, 2018 ]

Most major cell phone providers — including AT&T, Boost Mobile, Sprint, U.S. Cellular, and Verizon — offer military discounts on wireless plans to current and former servicemembers. To find the best deal for your family, do some shopping and focus on the plan that is right for you

Do you have Tricare Retiree Dental Program coverage now? If so, then you need to know that this program will end on December 31st, 2018. Anyone who’s enrolled this year or who’s eligible for the plan can choose a dental plan from among 10 dental carriers in the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program or FEDVIP. You can begin reviewing program options now at opm.gov/fedvip. And you’ll be able to enroll in FEDVIP during the 2018 Federal Benefits Open Season, which runs from November 12th to December 10th. Coverage begins on January 1st, 2019.

An effort gained momentum in Congress on Wednesday to protect veterans’ credit scores when the Department of Veterans Affairs is slow to reimburse private-sector doctors for their medical care. The House Financial Services Committee advanced legislation that would provide a one-year grace period before veterans’ credit reports could be negatively affected because of slow VA payments

VA Secretary David Shulkin suggests he favors expansion of Agent Orange-related health care and disability compensation to new categories of ailing veterans but that factors like cost, medical science and politics still stand in the way.
Shulkin told the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee on Wednesday that he made recommendations to White House budget officials last year on whether to add up to four more conditions — bladder cancer, hypothyroidism, Parkinson-like tremors and hypertension (high blood pressure) — to the VA list of 14 illnesses presumed caused by exposure to herbicides used during the Vietnam War.

excerpts from an artivce by Richard Sisk
The $1.3 trillion spending bill signed Friday by President Donald Trump left the Veterans Choice Program in limbo and rejected a major expansion of the caregivers program that provides stipends to family members of severely disabled vets.
“Everyone in Congress constantly brags that taking care of veterans is a nonpartisan issue, so I have to ask why Congress wouldn’t support improving the VA Choice Program, or allow more family caregivers to access VA support programs,” Veterans of Foreign Wars National Commander Keith Harman said in a statement.
We need to let our elected officials know of our opinion and you cannot say, “Ill do it later”.

Recently, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) completed a “think tank” report on veterans’ disability compensation. The ranking member on the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs asked for this study, which looks in detail at trends and policy options in regard to future veterans’ compensation. Though the study looked at many areas, the report was primarily focused on potential ways to save future budget dollars (2018 through 2024) in regard to compensation by modifying current compensation to all veterans. Listed below are the areas they reviewed:
• Limit the time in which a veteran can file an initial claim for service-connection after leaving the military. The CBO looked at 5-, 10- and 20-year time frames. As expected, the less time afforded to file a claim resulted in the greatest budgetary savings.
• Increase VA reexaminations on veterans already service-connected.
• Reexamine the standards for declaring something a presumptive condition.
• Change the rules about individual unemployability (IU) in that only those veterans younger than the full social security retirement age will be able to receive this benefit.
• Reexamine the rules as to how compensation payments are determined for veterans with serviceconnected mental disorders.
• Change cost-of-living adjustments.
• Eliminate concurrent receipt for military retirees. This results in the greatest savings in regard tofuture VA budget dollars.
• Tax VA compensation disability payments.

REMEMBER – THIS IS JUST A THINK TANK REPORT

Did you know this Act was signed into law August 23, 2017. However, the new law does not take effect until February 2019. The law creates a new claims and appeals process, which features three separate avenues; (1) Higher-Level Review, which consists of an entirely new review of the claim by an experienced adjudicator; (2) Supplemental Claim, which provides an opportunity to submit additional evidence and (3) Appeal, which provides an opportunity to appeal directly to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals.

The Pentagon on February 12, 2018 released its new policy on military lethality, which will begin separation procedures for service members who have been non-deployable for the last 12 months or more. “This new policy is a 12-month deploy or be removed policy,” Robert Wilkie, the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, told a Senate panel Wednesday. “However, there are exceptions. As was previously reported, there will be exceptions, such as pregnancy. Medical boards will review wounded personnel, and the services will retain the ability to grant exceptions to wounded warriors.