Personal Injury and Social Security Disability Blog

Link of the Day - Texas Veterans Commision

Yesterday was Veterans Day, but because it fell on a Sunday this year, government offices and some businesses will recognize it today. In addition to pausing to thank all the veterans who have served to protect us, we should also think about the great difficulties veterans face when trying to receive the benefits they have earned. A recent study showed the 25% of the homeless in America are veterans. That's just shameful.

One source for veterans attempting to learn of their rights is the Texas Veterans Commission. From their Web site:

Our Mission

To guarantee that Texas Veterans and their families receive all the rights and entitlements provided for veterans by law.

Our Philosophy

To be the very best veterans advocacy agency we can by providing claims counseling, development and representation; by training Veterans County Service Officers (IAW Chapter 434, Government Code) and by marketing our services to veterans and their families.

Link of the Day - Help Support Our Troops And Their Families

Regardless of your position on the war in Iraq, I know we all want to offer support and comfort to the brave men and women who have been sent there to fight and to suffer. One local organization that provides for the troops is DFW Marine Corps Families. Here is information from their Web site:

DFW Marine Corps Families, a non-profit organization, was formed for the purpose of providing friendship, support, and encouragement to families of those serving in the United States Marine Corps. Very often, our friends, co-workers and even our own extended family members do not understand or relate to the unique circumstances of military families. We recognize the great need to associate with others in our community who share the same pride, worries, and concerns. In addition, it is our firm belief that the single most important thing we can do to support Marine families is to support their Marines.

This group will also undertake charitable activities which benefit the Marine directly, such as sending care packages when deployed, providing financial support in times of need, bringing public awareness to the needs of our military, and assisting USMC affiliated organizations in their endeavors. It is especially important that Americans make a concerted effort to support our men and women in uniform as they continue a global fight in the war against terrorism. They are fighting and sacrificing on our behalf, protecting our country and securing the treasured gift of freedom for others - our only duty is to show them our appreciation.

DFW MCF sponsors many activities in which we encourage the community to participate. In addition to monthly group meetings for our members, we often invite the public to participate in some of our group sponsored events. As a non-profit organization, we greatly appreciate the support we've received from local businesses, churches, and individual donors. Without your help, we would not be able to continue this vital support of our military men and women.

Link of the Day - Veterans Adminitration

The starting point for a question about veterans' benefits or any other aspect of our government's treatment of veterans is the Web site of the Veterans Administration.

The stated goal of the Veterans Administration, which seems somewhat laughable in light of recent news reports is this:

Our goal is to provide excellence in patient care, veterans' benefits and customer satisfaction. We have reformed our department internally and are striving for high quality, prompt and seamless service to veterans. Our department's employees continue to offer their dedication and commitment to help veterans get the services they have earned. Our nation's veterans deserve no less.

Should Wounded Vets Have The Right To Hire Lawyers?

Please read this important story about the possible denial of the right of wounded veterans to have attorney representation. The story is posted on VA Watchdog. Here are a few excerpts from the article:

Last year, Congress passed "Attorneys for Veterans" legislation that would have allowed vets to hire an attorney to represent them in the VA claims process after the VA issued an initial denial of claim.

But, there was a backroom deal to have that repealed as soon as the 110th Congress convened.  That deal is still in the works, although repealer legislation has not been introduced as of yet.

This is still a hot issue on Capitol Hill.  Opposing the right of a veteran to choose an attorney, if they wish, is the DAV.  In testimony earlier this week the DAV said:  "...an agreement was entered into that the then Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee and others would introduce legislation to repeal the attorney fee provision. We look to those Senators to honor their agreement and repeal this ill-advised provision."

On the other side of this argument in Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID), Ranking Minority Member of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs.  In a press release issued today Craig said:  "This law would simply provide veterans with the option of hiring lawyers, if they so choose. If quality, free representation is available from a veterans service organization, such as the DAV, I fully expect most veterans would decide that is a better option than paying a lawyer."

It's all about choice...and the DAV doesn't want to give vets a choice.

One of those who favors choice for vets is Frank Q. Nebeker, former Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans' Claims.

More recently, Nebeker wrote a letter to Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs.  In that letter, Nebeker said:  "In our society today, everyone but veterans with claims is free to have lawyer representation, and they are wise to seek it given our system of rights and duties. Even a convicted felon is entitled to counsel, as is a Social Security claimant. Why should veterans be deprived of the right everyone else has? Veterans are no longer deemed wards of the state requiring protection from historically perceived predators possessed only of self interest. They should be entitled to representation of their choice."

Let's keep hounding our elected representatives to make sure this legislation in not repealed and veterans truly have a choice of representation.

Refer to S. 3421, Public Law 109-461 and ask that it NOT be repealed.

Valor And Squalor

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman has an excellent article in today's paper about the mistreatment of our wounded veterans as they try to get the health care they deserve. Here are excerpts from the column:

When Salon, the online magazine, reported on mistreatment of veterans at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center two years ago, officials simply denied that there were any problems. And they initially tried to brush off last month’s exposé in The Washington Post.

But this time, with President Bush’s approval at 29 percent, Democrats in control of Congress, and Donald Rumsfeld no longer defense secretary — Robert Gates, his successor, appears genuinely distressed at the situation — the whitewash didn’t stick.

Yet even now it’s not clear whether the public will be told the full story, which is that the horrors of Walter Reed’s outpatient unit are no aberration. For all its cries of “support the troops,” the Bush administration has treated veterans’ medical care the same way it treats everything else: nickel-and-diming the needy, protecting the incompetent and privatizing everything it can.

The problem starts with money. The administration uses carefully cooked numbers to pretend that it has been generous to veterans, but the historical data contained in its own budget for fiscal 2008 tell the true story. The quagmire in Iraq has vastly increased the demands on the Veterans Administration, yet since 2001 federal outlays for veterans’ medical care have actually lagged behind overall national health spending.

So when you hear stories of veterans who spend months or years fighting to get the care they deserve, trying to prove that their injuries are service-related, remember this: all this red tape was created not by the inherent inefficiency of government bureaucracy, but by the Bush administration’s penny-pinching.

Service Dogs For Vets Who Served

The Dallas Morning News ran a story this week about a very worthwhile program run by a local group. They offer service dogs to wounded vets who need help getting around. The program is only one year old, and is provided by Patriot Paws. Excerpts from the article:

"We need to help the guys who offer their life to this country," said Lori Stevens, founder and training director of the Rockwall nonprofit Patriot Paws. "This is something I can do to give something back."

"We're looking for more veterans," said Ms. Stevens, a Royse City resident who has been training service dogs for 15 years.

The dogs can help with life's basics – dressing, shopping and preparing food, and even standing up or moving about. Training typically takes at least a year, Ms. Stevens said, at a cost of $12,000 to $20,000 including food, veterinary bills and trainers' time.

The Patriot Paws program charges veterans $1,500. Profits from Ms. Stevens' dog-training business in Rockwall pay the bills for now. The Petco Foundation helps with food costs.

But ideally, fundraisers and donations will support the operation, said Bill Perkins, chairman of the organization's board. A fundraiser last fall netted about $4,000.

The agency doesn't provide the animals but allows training at its facilities and tries to help needy veterans find a dog, said Susan Poff, a VA spokeswoman.

Soldiers Face Neglect, Frustration At Army's Top Medical Facility

The Washington Post had a long, disturbing article this week about our nation's veterans being mistreated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The opening paragraphs of the story should encourage you to read the rest of the article.

Behind the door of Army Spec. Jeremy Duncan's room, part of the wall is torn and hangs in the air, weighted down with black mold. When the wounded combat engineer stands in his shower and looks up, he can see the bathtub on the floor above through a rotted hole. The entire building, constructed between the world wars, often smells like greasy carry-out. Signs of neglect are everywhere: mouse droppings, belly-up cockroaches, stained carpets, cheap mattresses.

This is the world of Building 18, not the kind of place where Duncan expected to recover when he was evacuated to Walter Reed Army Medical Center from Iraq last February with a broken neck and a shredded left ear, nearly dead from blood loss. But the old lodge, just outside the gates of the hospital and five miles up the road from the White House, has housed hundreds of maimed soldiers recuperating from injuries suffered in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The common perception of Walter Reed is of a surgical hospital that shines as the crown jewel of military medicine. But 5 1/2 years of sustained combat have transformed the venerable 113-acre institution into something else entirely -- a holding ground for physically and psychologically damaged outpatients. Almost 700 of them -- the majority soldiers, with some Marines -- have been released from hospital beds but still need treatment or are awaiting bureaucratic decisions before being discharged or returned to active duty.

They suffer from brain injuries, severed arms and legs, organ and back damage, and various degrees of post-traumatic stress. Their legions have grown so exponentially -- they outnumber hospital patients at Walter Reed 17 to 1 -- that they take up every available bed on post and spill into dozens of nearby hotels and apartments leased by the Army. The average stay is 10 months, but some have been stuck there for as long as two years.

President Bush To Cut Veterans' Health Care Budget

CNN is reporting that President Bush's new budget is planning for large cuts in health care benefits to military veterans, just at a time when medical care needs for vets is skyrocketing due to injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan. Here are excerpts from the article:

Bush is using the cuts, critics say, to help fulfill his pledge to balance the budget by 2012. But even administration allies say the numbers are not real and are being used to make the overall budget picture look better.

After an increase sought for next year, the Bush budget would turn current trends on their head. Even though the cost of providing medical care to veterans has been growing rapidly -- by more than 10 percent in many years -- White House budget documents assume consecutive cutbacks in 2009 and 2010 and a freeze thereafter.

The proposed cuts are unrealistic in light of recent VA budget trends -- its medical care budget has risen every year for two decades and 83 percent in the six years since Bush took office -- sowing suspicion that the White House is simply making them up to make its long-term deficit figures look better.

"Either the administration is willingly proposing massive cuts in VA health care," said Rep. Chet Edwards of Texas, chairman of the panel overseeing the VA's budget. "Or its promise of a balanced budget by 2012 is based on completely unrealistic assumptions."

Edwards said that a more realistic estimate of veterans costs is $16 billion higher than the Bush estimate for 2012.

In fact, even the White House doesn't seem serious about the numbers. It says the long-term budget numbers don't represent actual administration policies. Similar cuts assumed in earlier budgets have been reversed.

The veterans cuts, said White House budget office spokesman Sean Kevelighan, "don't reflect any policy decisions. We'll revisit them when we do the (future) budgets."

The number of veterans coming into the VA health care system has been rising by about 5 percent a year as the number of people returning from Iraq with illnesses or injuries keep rising. Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans represent almost 5 percent of the VA's patient caseload, and many are returning from battle with grievous injuries requiring costly care, such as traumatic brain injuries.

All told, the VA expects to treat about 5.8 million patients next year, including 263,000 veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The cuts come even as the number of veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars is expected to increase 26 percent next year.