Coming home and transitioning often leads to more questions than answers as the reality sets in. Trying to get good information, often with a local Lehigh Valley slant — i.e., tailored information? Lost in the thicket of government, nonprofit and business websites when simply trying to get a lead on where to first inquire? (more…)
David M. Dubois, Deputy Director of the Office of Servicemember Affairs in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau of the Federal Trade Commission, has put out this alert to various veterans groups: “Veterans and their families are a target for some dishonest advisers who are claiming to offer free help with paperwork for pension claims.”
“The scheme involves attorneys, financial planners, and insurance agents trying to get veterans to make decisions about their pensions, without giving them the whole truth,” according to Dubois. (more…)
Less than two weeks are left until the March 2nd through 3rd Student Veterans Education & Employment Conference at the William Pitt Student Union on the University of Pittsburgh campus, Pittsburgh, PA. Register today to meet the Student Veterans of America Staff and National Leadership Council Members who know first-hand effective strategies for supporting student veterans. And even fewer days are left to register. The deadline for registration is Friday, February 22nd. (more…)
On 31 January 2013, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced it had begun a new initiative which will reduce the requirement for an in-person medical examination for some veterans when applying for a service-connected disability compensation rating – when sufficient information is in the individual’s records. The intent is to shorten processing times. It is a product of the Veterans Benefits Administration’s (VBA) Transformation Plan – a five-year effort to improve its processes with the goals of eliminating the widely reported backlog in claims and processing all claims within 125 days with 98 percent accuracy by 2015. (more…)
The Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA), under which the Office of Veterans Affairs is found, is hosting its first Pennsylvania Women Veterans Symposium (PWVS) on March 8-10, 2013, at the Wyndham Hotel in Gettysburg. All Pennsylvania women veterans, regardless of period of service, are welcome.
The symposium is geared to meet the needs of women veterans by providing them with information and resources, to include VA benefits and health care. Important guest speakers will be featured, as well as breakout sessions on a variety of topics of particular interest to women veterans. The event will also provide an opportunity to meet fellow vets and build camaraderie. (more…)
What: Women Veterans Retreat
Where: Comfort Inn, Duncansville, PA
When: From 22 March at 4:30 p.m. to 24 March at about 9 a.m.
Cost: Free, courtesy of state VFW Posts and Ladies Auxiliaries
RSVP required: PAWomenVets2013@gmail.com by 1 March 2013
Primary POC: Sandy Showalter, Chair, Women’s Programs, VFW Dept. of PA
Registration starts 22 March at 4:30 p.m. Bring a DD Form 214 or its equivalent, VA Card, or Military ID Card. Program starts 22 March at 6:00 p.m.
This one-of-a-kind event is open to any woman veteran of any period of service and sponsored by women veterans for women veterans. You do not have to be affiliated with any organization — this event is not about organizations. Come learn about your benefits, learn about yourself, enjoy the company of other women veterans, be “vet proud,” and also feel the appreciation of the Blair County community. (more…)
As a result of the enacted Fiscal Year National Defense Authorization Act of 2013, beginning this February new copayments for prescription drugs purchased through TRICARE off-base are about to go into effect. Off-base TRICARE Pharmacy copays will continue to vary based upon class of drug and where beneficiaries choose to fill their prescriptions. (more…)
Since we have been asked, the President’s signing of the 2013 National Defense Act last November authorized veterans to receive a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) increase of 1.7% in their compensation and pension payments. The same applied to survivors enrolled in either a pension or dependency and indemnity compensation program, and also to Social Security recipients and military retirees (except 2012 retirees and REDUX retirees). (more…)
VBA CHANGES EVR REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
Besides seeming to signal lately the transition in nomenclature from the poorly named Disability Pension and the Death Pension to the terms Veterans’ Pension and Survivors’ Pension respectively, the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) has gone on to do something truly significant in this benefit area which is worthwhile to our veterans and their survivors: preventing the unnecessary interruption of monthly payments over the failure to file a report on time. The new procedure also applies to Parents Dependency Indemnity Compensation (Parents DIC) because it too is income-based and is, therefore, essentially a pension in the VA’s lingo. (more…)
VA SEEKING TO PROMULGATE A REGULATORY CHANGE IN HOW IT HANDLES SECONDARY ILLNESSES
On 7 December 2012 (Pearl Harbor Day), the Department of Veterans Affairs is proposing to change its disability compensation rating rules to add five diagnosable illnesses which are secondary to service-connected Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). It would improve the timeliness of decisions. To accomplish this, the VA proposes to add a new subsection to its adjudication regulation by revising 38 CFR 3.310 to state that if a Veteran who has a service-connected TBI also has one of the five illnesses, then the illness will be considered service connected as secondary to the TBI. (more…)
