This week, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) presented a new plan to Congress that would restructure and integrate VA and non-VA health care programs to expand access to quality health care. We believe this would be an important step in the right direction to ensuring veterans can receive high-quality, comprehensive, accessible and veteran-centric health care now and in the future.

We were pleased that the VA plan took many of the recommendations for change that we have been putting forward for many months, such as ensuring veterans have access to a nationwide system of urgent care. However, there is still work to be done with this plan, including adopting a number of additional reforms that DAV and our partners in The Independent Budget (IB) have proposed to ensure that there is sufficient resources, infrastructure, management reform and accountability.

At a hearing in the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee last week, DAV and our IB partners (VFW and PVA) submitted a comprehensive framework for reform based on four principles:

Restructure the veterans health care delivery system;
Redesign the systems and procedures that facilitate veterans’ access to health care;
Realign the provision and allocation of VA’s resources to reflect its mission; and
Reform VA’s culture with workforce innovations and real accountability.

Over the coming weeks and months, we will be working with VA, Congress and other veterans stakeholders to take advantage of this generational opportunity to strengthen and reform VA and veterans health care. We encourage you to read the IB testimony submitted this week and continue to stay educated and involved. We will need your support during this campaign to ensure that all the promises are kept to the men and women who served.

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On October, 15, 2015, the Social Security Administration (SSA) announced that due to low inflation this year, no cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) would be made in 2016 for Social Security beneficiaries. Since that decision would also apply to veterans receiving financial benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs, DAV issued a Commander’s Action Network alert on November 4, 2015, calling on our members and supporters to contact their House Members and Senators to urge them to introduce and enact legislation that would guarantee a reasonable COLA for wounded, injured, and ill veterans and their dependents and survivors.

Senator Elizabeth Warren and 18 of her colleagues have jointly introduced a bill, S. 2251, the Seniors and Veterans Emergency Benefit Act. The bill would provide veterans and others in receipt of VA financial support a one-time payment of about $580 (calculated based on 3.9 percent of the average annual Social Security payment). This one-time payment would soften the financial blow associated with the lack of an increase through a COLA, and the payment would be tax free. Payments would be disbursed to beneficiaries beginning 120 days after enactment. Even if eligible for multiple federal benefits payments, individuals could receive only one payment under this bill.

A one-time payment is not comparable to an annual COLA, and a one-time payment becomes less valuable to more seriously disabled veterans because of their higher cost of living. However, in absence of a COLA or other viable alternative, DAV calls upon its members and supporters to contact their elected officials in Congress and urge their support, co-sponsorship and passage of S. 2251. A letter for this purpose has been prepared for your use, or you may write a personalized message to inform your House Member and Senators of your support for this bill.

Thank you for your participation in the Commander’s Action Network, and for your support of DAV and our mission on behalf of wounded, injured and ill wartime veterans. Your activism makes DAV a more effective organization.

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According to a November 6 Military.com article by Jim Absher, legislation was introduced in both the House and the Senate to reinstate GI Bill benefits to people attending a school that closes during their enrollment. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), the ranking member on the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, and co-sponsor Thom Tillis (R-NC) introduced Senate Bill 2253; and Representatives Mark Takano (D-CA), a member of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, and co-sponsor Chris Gibson (R-NY) introduced the companion House Bill 3991 in reaction to the closure of several colleges earlier this year.
Senate Bill 2253, the “Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Education Relief and Restoration Act of 2015” calls on the VA to restore any GI Bill entitlement used on courses that fail to transfer to another institution. It also directs the VA to continue paying the Post-9/11 GI Bill housing allowance until the end of the term during which the school closure occurred.

The VA Family Caregiver Program – Family Caregivers provide crucial support in caring for Veterans. VA recognizes that Family Caregivers in a home environment can
enhance the health and well-being of Veterans under VA care. Under the “Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2010, ” additional VA services are now available to seriously injured post-9/11 Veterans and their Family Caregivers through a new program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers. VA is now accepting applications for these services.
Who Is Eligible?
Veterans eligible for this program are those who sustained a serious injury –
including traumatic brain injury, psychological trauma or other mental disorder
– incurred or aggravated in the line of duty, on or after September 11, 2001.
Veterans eligible for this program must also be in need of personal care services
because of an inability to perform one or more activities of daily living and/or need supervision
or protection based on symptoms or residuals of neurological impairment or injury

President Obama vetoed the annual defense authorization bill Thursday as part of an ongoing fight with congressional Republicans over the federal budget that has left a host of military policy changes caught in the crossfire.
The move puts in doubt whether lawmakers can complete a planned overhaul of the military retirement system and whether a host of military specialty pays and bonuses will be renewed in January. The authorization bill has been signed into law for 53 consecutive years, a rare piece of bipartisan compromise through eras of partisan fighting.

America’s veterans are some of our nation’s bravest, hardest-working men and women. However, it’s hard to show them the appreciation they deserve when, back home and out of uniform, they’re more camouflaged than ever. Greenlight A Vet is a campaign to establish visible national support for our veterans by changing one light to green.
Walmart is starting a campaign to honor veterans and they are asking everyone to shine a green light through the month on November to show support for veterans.
Those interested in participating in the campaign are encouraged to change one light to green in a visible location, such as a porch light at home or an office light at work and keep it glowing every day as a sign of support for the nation’s veterans

According to an October 23 Military Times article by Patricia Kime, the former chairwoman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee wants to overhaul the VA Choice program, the initiative that lets veterans see private physicians if they can’t get an appointment at a VA medical center.
Speaking on the Senate floor Thursday, Murray proposed an overhaul to Choice that would include strict guidance and clear eligibility rules designed to help veterans fully understand the program.
She said a revision also should streamline the process for doctors and medical personnel and the system itself, which suffers from duplication of contracts to provide non-VA care as well as mismanagement.

Almost 50 years after Adrian Cronauer belted out his signature “Gooooooood Morning, Vietnam!” across Southeast Asia, a Marine veteran is bringing original Armed Forces Vietnam Network broadcasts to American airwaves.
Former Sgt. Harry Simons, an AFVN disc jockey with the call sign “Your Brother” in Saigon and Da Nang from 1967 to 1969, teamed up with Florida-based WEBY radio to broadcast original AFVN radio programming in a tribute to America’s veterans.
The commemoration will air from 4-6 p.m. CST, Oct. 26 through Oct. 30, on 1330 AM in the American southeast and live-streamed on the station’s website. An encore presentation will also air in its entirety from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Veteran’s Day, Nov. 11.

According to an October 20 posting by Peter S. Green on The Skyline Task & Purpose website, combat-related insomnia is taking a toll on U.S. veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq. A report from Van Winkle’s cited it as the most unnoticed, under-prevented, and untreated injury that servicemembers face, a major problem when the best treatment for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder is sleep.
As the longest war in U.S. history drags through its 13th year, America’s armed services are discharging an increasing number of soldiers with serious sleep problems. Exact numbers are hard to lock down, but the RAND Corporation found earlier this year that 48.5 percent of service members reported such poor sleep quality, it would qualify as a “clinically significant sleep disturbance” on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. With roughly two million U.S. veterans of the wars in Iran and Afghanistan, that means some 900,000 active or retired service members may have significant sleep disturbances or sleep disorders

According to an AP article published in the February 2 Washington Post, the Obama administration has pushed back by one year its goal for ending homelessness among the general public. However, it’s still maintaining a goal for ending homelessness among veterans by the end of the year.
Officials at a Housing and Urban Development Department briefing Monday said both goals were being pushed back a year, but then corrected that description to say that only the benchmark for chronic homelessness among the public had been delayed.
Veterans Affairs officials say they will push hard to end homelessness among veterans this year, but caution the results won’t be known until 2016.