VA Benefits for War Time Veteran's Spouses


Recommended Posts

If you have a loved one who has been a spouse of a veteran that served during wartime and that loved one needs financial assistance because they no longer can care for themself, then you need to look into the Veteran's Aid and Attendance Pension. I became aware of this benefit EIGHT years too late. That amounts to $90,000 of benefits that my stroke survivor mother was entitled to have. However it seems to be a little known benefit that anyone knows about. I just transferred my mother from assisted living to nursing this month and this is when I found out about this benefit. The large non-profit organization that manages the four locations of assisted living and nursing facilities in our area just learned about this benefit within the last year. Good luck on finding out about this benefit by searching the VA website because it hasn't jumped out at me as of yet. Visit VeteranAid.org for more information.

Why is it that I have the feeling that the government has just spit on my father's grave. Money for Iraq but no money for Vets.

Does anyone have any insight on recovering "lost" benefits from the VA?

 

Tom

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Tom, I read that article and sent it to a couple of my buddies up there in age now. You never know if and when it could be needed and the VA sure won't tell you about it.

 

I'm still fighting for compensation for service connected disability since 1981. I'm gonna keep after them now until I'm unable to go to the VA. They are saying now I will surely get some percentage, they don't know how much and it will be back pay.

 

Tom, like the article says, you just have to keep pressing VA until you get some answers on recovering lost benefits. It's worth the time to fight for it. That's what happen in my case. I gave up after they kept turning me down.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fred:

It's so sad that you have to fight for benefits that you have a right to have. I am not a veteran but my father was. The government thinks nothing of putting people at risk to fight their wars and then fail to take care of them or jerk them around to get benefits the government promised them.

My plan is to go to the VA and then to my congressman's office, after that I will seek legal help. Of course I am on the front end of a battle that I am assuming will happen. I am anticipating a great investment in time to possibly get no where but I am going to try to fight.

I just can't believe that this benefit hasn't been publicized in magazines like the AARP magazine. Why is this benefit hidden? The WWII Vets are in need and they are being forgotten about.

Tom

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tom, I think the whole demeaner of the VA is don't pay until we are forced. Like now they swear I will get some precentage, they just don't know how much or when it will be approved.

 

SS disability is the same way, why else would you have so many lawyers on TV advertising they can help you get the benefits you are entitled to.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i like many others served in the armed forces in Aden, Oman, Borneo, Northern Ireland and with the United Nations on peacekeeping duties in what was East and West Pakistan, at no time did anyone tell me that i would be compensated if i was injured, maybe the American forces are different but i think not.

 

In the British forces serving members give one days pay to a benevolent fund to take care of ex servicemen in addition to government funds used for the purpose and whilst it could be more the system works well. What gets right up our nose is when people who were never near any trouble try and bleed the system but some people just like to moan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What gets right up our nose is when people who were never near any trouble try and bleed the system but some people just like to moan

I am by no means an expert about veteran's benefits, however in this country laws are made by the people for the people and some veteran benefits do not distinguish veterans between those who have seen combat and those who have not. Many WWII Vets had no choice in where they served but their war was a necessary war. So the bleeding the system comment is not an appropriate comment when it comes to receiving benefits in this country. Maybe if we were all a little more responible in not creating wars these benefits would not be an issue.

Tom

Link to comment
Share on other sites

.

 

 

Tom; (and Fred)

There are plenty of us who truly appreciate what you all did to give us the freedoms we enjoy, & we thank you. Too many of us remain far too quiet & and don't want to sound mushy. Well, I'm one gal who gets tears in her eyes when Old Glory goes up, & its because of the effort of 1000's like you and I don't give a rats eyelash what others think.

 

Consider this approach: contact your local newspaper & interest them in a "human interest story"; invite them to follow your step -by-step " battle" the VA may give you.

 

One more thing, your post was interesting but: REMOVE THE WORD TRY!.

 

Best of luck,

 

Marilyn (Jasco)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Marilyn:

To clarify again, I am not the Vet, my father was a WWII Vet. Being in the armed forces is not a job that I envy. All that have served have given more than they should have. My father was a fortunate Vet, he came home in one piece. My true dream is that they would be all non-combat Vets. We as patriotic citizens should strive to make our service people safe from harm and used when only neccessary.

Tom

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just a note regarding the aid and assistance program. My husband, who is a 100% disabled Vietnam vet - in addition to everything else receives a publication called "Agent Orange Review". We received the October 2005 issue in April, and I read about this program in that issue. I will quote from that publication, "A veteran who is in need of regular aid and attendance of another person, or who is permanently housebound may be entitled to additional benefits. VA must make the determination before the veteran can get these benefits." I can only assume, since this paragraph follows a paragraph detailing disability ratings that the aid and attendance relates to those with service-connected disabilities. Type 2 diabetes is a "health condition presumptively recognized" by VA as service connected to those vets who served in Vietnam between 1/9/62 and 5/7/75. Any questions regarding Agent Orange and presumptive health conditions may be found at http://www.VA.gov/agentorange.

 

I looked at the site VeteranAid.org and was surprised to find this aid available to other vets. Of course, any financial assistance is going to require application, but for all of us who qualify this assistance may mean the difference between allowing our loved one to stay home in our care.

 

Thank God for this site and the information we find here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Marilyn:

To clarify again, I am not the Vet, my father was a WWII Vet. Being in the armed forces is not a job that I envy. All that have served have given more than they should have. My father was a fortunate Vet, he came home in one piece. My true dream is that they would be all non-combat Vets. We as patriotic citizens should strive to make our service people safe from harm and used when only neccessary.

Tom

 

Tom:

 

One thing I forgot to mention, you may have to remind the folks at the VA about WWll, remember? "The big war"? the one that we Americans, your Dad for one, came to the rescue of people all over the world; some who could not protect themselves from an invader ex. Hitler, because they were duped into giving up their right to bear arms?

Americans stood behind the servicemen, the homefolks pitched in & saved & good heavens, you had to do without that new car, imagine,how awful & it wouldn't have mattered if gas was $20 a gal ; YOU COULDN'T BUY IT, it was rationed!

A yellow capsule was added to some white greasy stuff & that replaced butter, and shoes?? you wore what you had! We all cut labels off of the tin cans flattened them for the tin can drive same with the newspapers. now lets see: What is the general public doing for todays war effort? Is anyone going without shoes or hose or butter or sugar? Tires??? Wow! When you were lucky to get new ones they better last because who know when the next set would come along.

If you have the cash, you can buy 10 cars if you want., I don't see Americans going without anything. It was refreshing to see the movie "Patton" on tv lastnight. Can you imagine one of our generals saying "NUTS" to the enemy today? We've allowed ourselves to become so basterdized & globalized we aren't the Americans we used to be. I could say more, but I've said enough to irritate some already.

 

Good luck on your VA project. My WWll vet came home safely, there aren't many of that era left, and I'm blessed to have him.

 

 

Marilyn

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...
Guest braz54

I want to Thank you for posting this.

 

My husband is 100% disabled, now for a few years due to a SC injury ,has diabetics and had a stroke almost 1 year ago. Due to a brain Tumor. He is P& T unemployable. I lost my income due to his illness It will be a year Aug.30th. He is doing well, but still needs help at home. I can't even get VA Homecare here to help.. So I have yet gone back to work.

 

Winter will be hard for us, so I will look into this.

 

gail

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is an update on this post from our perspective.

 

In February 2006 I applied for "Aid and Assistance" for Bill since the care for additional help is increasing. By April all documentation regarding his health condition had been filed for his condition to that date. Since then additional documentation has been filed. We have received 2 letters indicating his file is "in process". It has been increasingly difficult to be paitient - but the VA has its own calendar. (Of course I've heard 6-9 months for a decision and we've just passed the 6 month mark.)

 

It was suggested to us that we contact the county Veteran's Affairs office for assistance in communicating with the VA office since those two offices speak the same language. We did so and filed a power of attorney - specific to the military - so that they might communicate on our behalf. We haven't heard anything yet.

 

Bill had a dental appointment at the VA Hospital in Durham Thursday and while there I spoke with a nurse involved in a new program. The program is a Nurse Care Management program, and for any DAVs this is a great program available to you where a nurse contacts you frequently to check on your medical and emotional well-being. Anyway, Bill's VA PCP is located in Salisbury so she is going to contact the head of the effort there. I explained to her the wait and she told me the Nurse in Salisbury would be able to contact the benefits department to assist in moving things along. Her comment to me was "sometimes a squeaky wheel helps in these cases and the nurse care manager can be that wheel".

 

Somebody else here had mentioned that these things take forever and they are right. When you apply it does no good to contact the benefits people either since a civilian (even a disabled vet) can't get through to anybody who can do anything. I've been told by the Veteran's Affairs rep that the people answering the phones have a computer screen in front of them and that's all the information they have regarding any case. That means no more information that I have as an applicant.

 

Also, in addition to the web-site the government has a paperback volume devoted to VA benefits. The Book is called Federal Benefits for Veterans and Dependents. The 2006 edition is available. Th VA pamphlet # is 80-06-01 P94663. If you can't find it anyplace else it can be ordered from the US Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC 20420. All veterans benefits are discussed in this book. If you or a loved one has served in the military - especially in active war - this is must-reading for you.

 

God Bless our Vets,

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gail,

 

No, we are in North Carolina. I don't think it much matters where we are as far as VA is concerned! Although I guess some states are better equipped to handle vet's medical needs than others. I'm originally from Michigan and I think there is only one VA hospital there - in Detroit - a 4+ hour drive from where I lived. Now in NC we have 3 facilities within an hour's drive.

 

I've had to learn alot since Bill's strokes. He's been a DAV since the Vietnam war, but he took care of everything regarding his care himself.

 

We've been married just under three years so I am really very new to the whole VA process. Nothing like being baptized by fire - the one thing I've learned is to be assertive. A major irritant is his VA PCP's attitude - if his medical/psychiatric condition isn't confirmed by a VA doctor, it's very difficult to have it acknowledged. Bill is aloted a 15 minute appointment with his VA PCP - hardly time to even review his medications, let alone any kind of examination or dialogue. He spends the time on the computer reviewing his medications and ordering prescriptions. We've been told at the last two appointments how sorry the doc is, but he just didn't have anymore time for us......and yet he, even though I had documentation from Bill's outside PCP regarding his condition, decided he needed to "refer" him to three other departments in order to confirm his condition.

 

Oh well, with the cost of medication, and Bill's need for 17 different meds each day the hassle is worth it. We have to get 3 meds using our other health insurance so we are very blessed - and we know it! When Bill gets irritated by the appointments I just say, "well, we don't have anything else more pressing to do with our days!."

 

Ann

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...
Guest Carolinka

When my mother had to go to live in an assisted living facility after her stroke, I learned about the widow's pension benefit from the facility's social worker. I got conflicting information from the VA on whether she qualified however since she had remarried after my father's death. The VA case processor said no she did not quality. A VA regional office director said she did as long as her second husband was deceased since the benefit would then revert back to the original war time veteran. So I decided to apply and five months later a VA letter arrived saying she did not qualify for the benefit.

 

To this day, I don't know if the disqualification was correct or not. Sometimes it is hard to know who to trust and how to find out the actual rules and regulations to each VA benefit.

 

Has anyone else experienced this situation?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is my experience in dealing with the VA. Almost always any application is denied. I don't know why, but it is. I have heard repeatedly that I need to reapply and reapply and will finally the application will be approved.

 

It doesn't seem possible that first posted about this issue in 2006 and still have not received any satisfaction on gaining aid and attendance for my husband. We have been denied because his strokes did not happen while he was in the service. However, he is not able to care for his service connected 100% disability. Go figure.

 

He has been denied the Agent Orange disability because his discharge papers show he was stationed in Thailand not Vietnam. Of course, he worked for the ASA (sort of like the CIA) and his missions were all top secret. We were told we have to provide proof he was in Vietnam. Of course that isn't ever going to happen. Forty years past, 3 strokes and he is supposed to be able to provide names and dates......

 

You can read about whether your mother is eligible or not be going to http://www.VA.gov. It seems as though she is eligible, but I'm not sure. You can also go to the county Veterans Affairs office for assistance.

 

Wishing you the best of luck with your journey!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Both of my grandmothers started receiving their spousal benefits in the 1970's, and kept them until their deaths. The info is sent out when the surviving spouse sends a death certificate to the VA. Here is the info to apply: http://www.vba.va.gov/bln/dependents/Spouse.htm

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest lwisman

I had an uncle who was lost in action in the Korean War. When his widow remarried some years later she lost her benefits. But, she divorced her second husband a few years later. She was able to get her benefits back from her first husband and kept them until her death in 1994. Her son who was born six weeks before his Dad went missing received benefits until he became an adult. I am not sure of the age, but I think it was 18.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.