Financial Frontlines ™

Agent Orange. You may be aware that the VA recently added (October 2009) new illnesses to the list of Agent Orange Service-connected diseases. If not, check out my Post from 14 Oct 09 here.

We’ve come to find out the announcement was a bit premature.  While the diseases have been added to the list, the claims processes, rating factors and systems are not ready to handle the claims.  The VA has told Veteran Service Offices to process claims as normal however, the claims decision will be “deferred.”  This means your claim will be held until the bureacracy catches up and then the claim will be processed.  Filing a claim, even when deferred, gets your claim date in the system so any retro payments will be based on the claim date.

Stop-Loss.  Another delay in the works as the Services determine the impact of a provision in the law overlooked previously.  If you were stop-lossed and later re-upped/accepted a reenlistment-retention bonus, you are not eligible for stop-loss pay.  There won’t be a recoupment of money if you have been paid (so few have been paid in total).  The intent is to pay members extended beyond their term of service and who were getting out of the Service.  The intent wasn’t to pay people who were staying in.  Now there is more paperwork to be reviewed to determine who is eligible and who isn’t.  Here’s more info.

Retired Pay.   Noticed a change in your retired pay?  Here’s the deal…  Last February as part of an economic stimulus program, your tax withholding was reduced to put more money in your pocket.  The stimulus was not continued into 2010 so the tax withholding rates went back up and your retired pay went down.  Usually the difference is around $17.  If you don’t like the amount received or paid in taxes, just fill out a new IRS W-4 form and sent to DFAS or your pay agent.  You can also go to the DFAS “My Pay” web site to change your tax withholding.

I have recently learned of a couple of organizations I think are using the front of helping with VA benefits as a way to meet prospective customers. These groups solicit for your business. They offer to get you money from the VA for long term care cost, assisted living, or survivor benefits. Tread lightly around these offers.

I have no evidence or indication that these organizations have or will cause harm. One has the Better Business Bureau seal on its web site. On the surface, they appear legitimate. So why are my senses peaked?

• Because both organizations have at their base, a financial services firm.
• Because neither of the organizations is an official Veteran Service Organization (VSO). VSOs are chartered by the VA to act as an official VA representative for members on VA matters.
• Because I question the motives behind a financial service firm’s interest in helping military members with issues that get them nothing in return—except the likelihood of finding new customers and getting access to your accounts.
• The process, bureaucracy and time involved in helping members with VA programs is substantial so these organizations (the financial service firms at their root) are doing this out of the goodness of their hearts?
• They are ‘helping’ in an area that is not their core business.
• I can’t get a satisfactory answer about how they make their money.
• It just so happens that helping with some of these VA programs provides access to a military member’s complete financial information.

If you need help learning about VA programs or with a VA application process, I highly recommend you work with an approved VSO. It’s their job to help you at no cost. To find a VSO check here.  You can also check with your state VA department and your state’s network of county veteran service officers.  Find your county office here.

 If someone approaches you to help with a VA application, claim, or appeal, check to see if they are a VSO.  Chances are they won’t be because VSOs don’t solicit for your business, you have to find them.  It’s a too-good-to-believe story if there ever was one.

In August, three widows won their court case against the Feds to have both their SBP and DIC paid in full. Before you start to celebrate, you need to hear the rest of the story…

This case specifically related to the law that allows widows who remarry after age 57 to keep their DIC benefits. Their case argued that the wording of the law that allows continued DIC after age 57 and remarriage also mandates full payment of both SBP and DIC. This specific provision of the law bars offsets from any “veterans’ benefits.” While the Feds argued that SBP is not a “veterans’ benefit” because SBP is paid by DOD and not the VA, the courts didn’t buy it.

So the bottom line is that if you are eligible for both SBP and DIC and you remarried after age 57, you will receive both survivor payments without offset.

If you meet these criteria, the DOD is in the process of identifying you. Once identified, you will receive full payment of both SBP and DIC retroactive back to 2004 or the date of your remarriage, whichever is later. Payments will be reduced by any SBP premium refunds or Special Survivor Indemnity Allowance (SSIA) you have received.

As for the rest of you, you will continue with an offset of your SBP. On the bright side, this ruling, along with the SSIA legislation, provides a compelling reason for the elimination of the SBP-DIC offset. How can the Feds think one group of survivors should have offsets while another group doesn’t?

News from the VA on the latest illnesses attributed to Agent Orange.
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If you have questions or need help working with the VA on your claim, I recommend you contact your county Veteran Service Officer who works for your state government VA Department. To find your nearest county service officer refer to this VA web site for state VA Departments.  I find the state VSOs to be helpful because they can counsel on both state and federal programs.

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VA Extends “Agent Orange” Benefits to More Veterans

Parkinson’s Disease, Two Other Illnesses Recognized

WASHINGTON (Oct. 13, 2009) – Relying on an independent study by the Institute of Medicine, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki decided to establish a service-connection for Vietnam Veterans with three specific illnesses based on the latest evidence of an association with the herbicides referred to Agent Orange.

The illnesses affected by the recent decision are B cell leukemias, such as hairy cell leukemia; Parkinson’s disease; and ischemic heart disease.

Used in Vietnam to defoliate trees and remove concealment for the enemy, Agent Orange left a legacy of suffering and disability that continues to the present.  Between January 1965 and April 1970, an estimated 2.6 million military personnel who served in Vietnam were potentially exposed to sprayed Agent Orange.

In practical terms, Veterans who served in Vietnam during the war and who have a “presumed” illness don’t have to prove an association between their illnesses and their military service.  This “presumption” simplifies and speeds up the application process for benefits.

The Secretary’s decision brings to 15 the number of presumed illnesses recognized by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). 

“We must do better reviews of illnesses that may be connected to service, and we will,” Shinseki added. “Veterans who endure health problems deserve timely decisions based on solid evidence.”

Other illnesses previously recognized under VA’s “presumption” rule as being caused by exposure to herbicides during the Vietnam War are:

·                              Acute and Subacute Transient Peripheral Neuropathy

·                              AL Amyloidosis

·                              Chloracne

·                              Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

·                              Diabetes Mellitus (Type 2)

·                              Hodgkin’s Disease

·                              Multiple Myeloma

·                              Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma

·                              Porphyria Cutanea Tarda

·                              Prostate Cancer

·                              Respiratory Cancers, and

·                              Soft Tissue Sarcoma (other than Osteosarcoma, Chondrosarcoma, Kaposi’s sarcoma, or Mesothelioma)

Additional information about Agent Orange and VA’s services and programs for Veterans exposed to the chemical are available at www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange.