American Legion Post 162
Lofley Hinson820 Se 8th AveDeerfield Beach, FL 33441Copyright 2008. Lofley Hinson Post 162. All rights reserved. legionpost162@yahoo.com
Historian
Al Dutton
UPDATES FROM THE RAO BULLETIN MAY 15, 2009
MEMORIAL DAY REMEMBRANCE Update 01: Tens of thousands of people are expected to attend Memorial Day observances at more than 100 VA national cemeteries between 23 & 30 MAY 09. These commemorative events held over Memorial Day weekend or on the traditional Memorial Day (May 30) will honor the nearly one million American men and women who have died wearing the uniforms of the U.S. Armed Forces. Special activities include color guards, bands, choirs, moving oratory, historic displays, the display of the “Avenue of Flags” or the placement of individual gravesite flags. Most events are sponsored by community, patriotic and civic groups in cooperation with national cemetery staff. For a listing of these ceremonies refer to www.cem.va.gov/cems/2009MemDay.asp <http://www.cem.va.gov/cems/2009MemDay.asp> . This listing is in alphabetic order by state. Select the name of the state in which the cemetery is located. Note that there is not a VA national cemetery in every state. For a listing of the locations of national cemeteries refer to www.cem.va.gov/cems_nmc.asp <http://www.cem.va.gov/cems_nmc.asp> . If in doubt as to where a loved one or family member is buried you might be able to locate him/her on the nationwide grave locator index http://gravelocator.cem.va.gov/j2ee/servlet/NGL_v1.
VA HEALTH CARE FUNDING Update 20: Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki’s testimony on 13 MAY before a key congressional panel included a buzzkill for the top priority of veterans service groups — advanced funding for veterans health care programs. Advanced funding is a mechanism, endorsed by President Barack Obama, under which Congress would approve veterans health care budgets one year in advance to avoid any lapse in funding if an annual appropriations bill isn’t approved on time, as often happens. All major veterans service organizations approve the idea, and have put it at the top of their combined legislative agenda for the year. Excitement has surrounded the issue recently because the chairmen of the House and Senate veterans’ affairs committees also have backed the initiative, and the 2010 budget spending guideline approved by Congress includes the waivers of budgetary procedures that are necessary for it to be approved. But as Shinseki appeared before the House appropriations subcommittee responsible for veterans funding to discuss the 2010 budget, Rep. Zach Wamp of Tennessee, the panel’s ranking Republican, rained on the advanced appropriations parade. Wamp said he does not support the idea because he believes it would reduce congressional oversight and make the powerful appropriators who dole out federal funding irrelevant. And in a little dig at Shinseki, Wamp said he was well aware the Obama administration also has had doubts. Shinseki himself told Congress that he preferred timely annual budgets over advance appropriations, a statement made in February before Obama held an 9 APR news conference to announce he was siding with veterans groups on the issue. Wamp’s views that advanced funding reduces appropriations committee members’ power — shared by other members — is one reason why the initiative still faces an uphill fight. It could only succeed if the House and Senate appropriations committees approve a two-year budget, one for 2010 and another for 2011, and there is no indication they plan to do so. [Source: AirForceTimes Rick Maze article 13 May 09 ++]
MOBILIZED RESERVE 12 MAY 09: The Department of Defense announced the current number of reservists on active duty as of 12 MAY 09. The net collective result is 6,727 more reservists mobilized than last reported in the Bulletin for 1 MAY 09. At any given time, services may mobilize some units and individuals while demobilizing others, making it possible for these figures to either increase or decrease. The total number currently on active duty in support of the partial mobilization of the Army National Guard and Army Reserve is 109,485; Navy Reserve, 6,538; Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, 15,129; Marine Corps Reserve, 8,449; and the Coast Guard Reserve, 749. This brings the total National Guard and Reserve personnel who have been activated to 140,350, including both units and individual augmentees. A cumulative roster of all National Guard and Reserve personnel who are currently activated can be found at http://www.defenselink.mil/news/May2009/d20090512ngr.pdf . [Source: DoD News Release No. 327-09 13 May 09 ++]
LONG TERM CARE FLTCIP Update 04: As many as 155,000 civilian and military employees and retirees enrolled in the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program (FLTCIP) can expect their premiums to increase by as much as 25% later this year or early next year. The increases will affect most of those who are enrolled in the program’s “automatic compound inflation protection” option. Under this option, enrollees’ benefit payments increase 5% annually, but premiums do not regularly increase. Under the new policy, however, a range of premium increases will go into effect, depending on the age at which an enrollee first signed up for coverage:
· Enrollees who first purchased coverage at age 65 or younger face a premium increase of 25%.
· Those who purchased coverage between the ages of 65 and 70 face smaller increases.
· Those who purchased at age 70 or older face no increase.
· There will be no premium increase for 69,000 employees and retirees who enrolled in the “future purchase” option, in which benefits and premiums increase every two years.
The size of the increase varies based on the enrollee’s age. Enrollees will have time before rates increase to decide whether to stay with the current benefit structure at a potentially higher premium, cut their benefits to keep their premiums at current rates, or switch to the new benefit structure and its higher premiums without underwriting. The FLTCIP is optional for federal civilian employees and retirees, military members and retirees, and qualified relatives. The insurance covers care at home, adult day care, assisted living facilities, hospices and nursing homes. The Office of Personnel Management, which oversees the benefit, said the increase is needed to cover the program’s costs. “The announced premium increase is necessary due to changes to certain key components underlying pricing, particularly the expected return on program investments and ... the number of people expected to keep the coverage until they claim benefits,” OPM said in a statement to Federal Times.
Some are worried and disappointed by the premium increase. Mike Miles, a Washington-area financial planner who writes the Federal Times Money Matters column said, “So much for OPM’s ability to keep a premium down. The idea was supposed to be that [the government’s] buying power and leverage would allow [it] to force insurance carriers to keep the premiums low and level.” The National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association plans to meet with OPM this week to discuss the hike. “There’s a lot of questions we have,” said assistant legislative director Dan Adcock. The hike is included as part of a new seven-year contract that OPM awarded to John Hancock Life and Health Insurance Co. to administer the long-term care benefit. OPM started the long-term care program in 2002. Until now, the benefit was managed by a partnership between John Hancock and MetLife. Under the new contract, which OPM announced 1 MAY, MetLife will play no role. OPM would not comment on why it did not choose MetLife. MetLife issued a statement that said it thought it submitted a strong proposal when it bid on the contract. The new contract also includes new options in benefits:
· Higher home health care reimbursement. The program currently reimburses 75 percent of the daily benefit amount for care provided by a nurse, therapist, informal caregiver, health aide or other authorized provider at home, but the new contract will reimburse 100 percent of the daily benefit amount.
· Higher caps on benefits that can be paid out in a single day. Enrollees can now choose daily benefit caps of $50 to $300, but the new limits will range from $100 to $450.
· Higher caps on payments for family members, friends and other unlicensed caregivers who provide informal care. The program currently covers up to 365 days of informal care in an enrollee’s lifetime, but the new contract will provide up to 500 days of coverage.
· A new option for a two-year benefit period. The benefit period is the length of time that the policy can be expected to pay benefits. The program already lets employees choose options of either three years, five years or a lifetime.
[Source: Search FederalTimes.com Stepehen Losey article 11 May 09 ++]
DOD DISABILITY SEVERANCE Update 01: A few hard-nosed choices by the Bush administration in implementing laws to help disabled service members are being rolled back under congressional pressure and a new team of Pentagon policymakers. One regulation change soon to take effect will allow more disability severance pay recipients to keep those lump sum payments without worry that those dollars will be deducted from their VA disability compensation. The 2008 National Defense Authorization Act made several enhancements to disability severance paid to service members found medically unfit due to conditions rated 0, 10 or 20 percent disabling. Two of these enhancements soon will affect more members separated on or after 28 JAN 08, the date the bill was signed.
The first deals with years of service used in calculating disability severance pay. Instead of actual years served, the 2008 law sets a minimum number of years to apply to the severance pay formula. At least six years will be used to calculate severance -- if injury occurred in the line of duty in a combat zone or in performance of duty in combat-related operations. A minimum of three years is being used to calculate severance for other members.
· The second enhancement deals with deduction of disability severance pay from VA disability compensation. Under the 2008 law, no deduction is required if the disability is incurred in the line of duty in a combat zone, or in performance of duty in combat-related operations.
The Bush administration drew the ire of veterans' service organizations by narrowly interpreting "combat-related" injuries to those incurred in a combat zone or in armed conflict. What Congress intended, lawmakers have made clear, was a broader definition of combat-related injuries, used to establish eligibility for Combat-Related Special Compensation. That includes injuries during training or resulting from an "instrumentality of war," which can mean falls aboard ship or even a stateside traffic accident involving a military vehicle. William J. Lynn III, the new deputy secretary of defense, promised during his Senate confirmation hearing to reconsider the department's more narrow definition of combat-related injuries for severance pay. A revised regulation now is under final review in the Pentagon. When signed, it will apply the broader definition of combat-related injuries but only prospectively, to disability separations after the revised regulation takes effect. [Source: Montgomery Advertiser Tom Philpott article 10 Oct 09 ++]VA HEARING AIDS/EYEGLASSES Update 02: The Department of Veterans Affairs must provide audiology and eye care services and hearing aids and glasses to military veterans with any compensable service-connected disability. Public Law 104-262, the Veterans Health Care Eligibility Reform Act of 1996, changed eligibility laws to allow VHA to furnish prosthetic appliances to veterans. However, that law further provided that VHA could not furnish sensori-neural aids (hearing aids and eyeglasses) except in accordance with guidelines that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) prescribes. Subsequently, the Department published regulations (Title 38 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), §17.149) in the Federal Register establishing such guidelines. In 2002, VHA issued Directive 2002-039 to establish uniform policy for the provision of hearing aids and eyeglasses. It is now VHA policy that all enrolled veterans and those veterans exempt from enrollment are eligible for medical services that include diagnostic audiology and diagnostic and preventive eye care services, and that the prescription and provision of hearing aids and eyeglasses must be furnished to all eligible veterans in accordance with the parameters and criteria defined in VHA DIRECTIVE 2008-070 dtd 28 OCT 08. Full details of the directive can be viewed at http://www1.va.gov/vhapublications/ViewPublication.asp?pub_ID=1789. It identifies eligible’s to include:
Those with any compensable service-connected disability.
Those who are former Prisoners of War (POWs).
Those who were awarded a Purple Heart.
Those in receipt of benefits under Title 38 United States Code (U.S.C.) 1151. Those in receipt of an increased pension based on being permanently housebound and in need of regular aid and attendance.
· Those with vision or hearing impairment resulting from diseases or the existence of another medical condition for which the veteran is receiving care or services from VHA, or which resulted from treatment of that medical condition, e.g., stroke, polytrauma, traumatic brain injury, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, vascular disease, geriatric chronic illnesses, toxicity from drugs, ocular photosensitivity from drugs, cataract surgery, and/or other surgeries performed on the eye, ear, or brain resulting in vision or hearing impairment.
Those with significant functional or cognitive impairment evidenced by deficiencies in the ability to perform activities of daily living.
Those who have vision and/or hearing impairment severe enough that it interferes with their ability to participate actively in their own medical treatment and to reduce the impact of dual sensory impairment (combined hearing and vision loss). NOTE: The term “severe” is to be interpreted as a vision and/or hearing loss that interferes with or restricts access to, involvement in, or active participation in health care services (e.g., communication or reading medication labels). The term is not to be interpreted to mean that a severe hearing or vision loss must exist to be eligible for hearing aids or eyeglasses.
Those veterans who have service-connected vision disabilities rated zero percent or service-connected hearing disabilities rated zero percent if there is organic conductive, mixed, or sensory hearing impairment, and loss of pure tone hearing sensitivity in the low, mid, or high-frequency range or a combination of frequency ranges which contribute to a loss of communication ability; however, hearing aids are to be provided only as needed for the service-connected hearing disability.Following are the Directive’s Criteria for replacing hearing aids and eyeglasses in accordance with VHA Handbooks 1173.7 and 1173.12:
Hearing aids or eyeglasses are to be replaced when the device proves to be ineffective, irreparable, or the veteran’s medical condition has changed and a different device is needed. Hearing aids or eyeglasses are to be replaced if the device was destroyed or lost due to circumstances beyond the control of the veteran.Hearing aids or eyeglasses are not to be replaced because of availability of newer technology, unless there is evidence that the replacement will significantly benefit the veteran.For hearing aids, replacement may be based on age of the device, whether they are beyond economical repair, technical performance is reduced, parts or accessories are unavailable, or the device is no longer sufficient for the veteran’s communication needs.Replacement hearing aids can be prescribed at any time that change of amplification characteristics are required to maintain or improve communication function. Hearing aids have an expected life span of 3 to 4 years depending on the model of the instrument, daily hours of use, wear and tear, frequency of repair and maintenance, ear conditions, and user lifestyle. For eyeglasses, replacement of corrective eyeglasses necessitated by fair wear and tear, loss, or breakage due to circumstances beyond the control of the veteran, or due to required change of prescription, may be made at any time. Hearing aids or eyeglasses are not to be replaced solely for cosmetic purposes.[Source: VA Directive 2008-070 Oct 08 ++]
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