VA accelerates plan to help disabled veterans caregivers

[Posted by alaurie_97@yahoo.com]

VA Accelerates Plan To Help Disabled Veterans' Caregivers

KIMBERLY HEFLING 03/ 2/11 02:02 PM AP



WASHINGTON — The Veterans Affairs Department said Wednesday that help
is on its way as early as this summer for family members of Iraq and
Afghanistan veterans who have been waiting for a long-delayed program
to help care for severely wounded veterans.

But the announcement didn't satisfy senators unhappy about how many
families will be helped.

President Barack Obama on May 5 signed a law instructing the VA to
provide a monthly stipend, health insurance, mental health help and
other aid directly to caregivers to help keep the veterans out of
nursing homes. But the VA missed a Jan. 31 deadline for
implementation. And The Associated Press reported last month that when
the VA did announce its plans to help these caregivers soon after, it
helped fewer families than had been intended by Congress.

Even Sarah Wade, who along with her veteran husband, Ted, joined Obama
when he signed the law was among those whose families were unlikely to
be included in the benefit. Ted Wade, 33, lost his right arm and
sustained a traumatic brain injury in a roadside bombing in Iraq in
2004 while serving with the 82nd Airborne Division. Sarah Wade now
takes care of him. It's unclear whether his injuries are severe enough
to qualify for the caregiver aid.

Veterans' groups and members of Congress said the effort helped too
few families and lacked a timeline for implementation.

The VA submitted paperwork this week saying it is putting into place a
temporary plan to help the caregivers while it continues with the
government's rule-making process.

"We believe that with this accelerated procedure, these unprecedented
new direct-to-caregiver benefits can be fully in place as early as
this summer," VA officials say in a factsheet.

But Sens. Patty Murray, chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs
Committee, and Richard Burr, the committee's ranking Republican, said
during a hearing Wednesday they were far from satisfied with the VA's
efforts on how many families will likely be helped.

"We wrote it in a way that was pretty clear," said Burr, of North
Carolina. He later added, "If you insist on moving this as currently
written, it will be one hell of a fight."

Using the example of the Wades, Burr said it seems Ted Wade, of Chapel
Hill, N.C., is being punished because he has a wife to take care of
him to keep him out of an institution. He said this is the type of
family the law was intended to help.

In response, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki told committee members the
rollout of the caregivers plan has taken longer than he anticipated,
and he wasn't happy about that. But, he said the VA is open to taking
suggestions from Congress and veterans about how to draw the line
about who qualifies. Because it's the first time the VA has provided
such benefits directly to a veteran's family member, he said the VA
has had to work through the complexities of it and has an obligation
to correctly handle it.

"That means meeting the requirements of the law and also making sure
those VA employees on the frontlines caring for our veterans have a
clear and consistent set of guidelines," Shinseki said. "It's been a
challenging exercise."

After the hearing, Murray, from Washington state, said she wasn't
satisfied with the VA accelerating the plan because it should not have
been late in the first place. She will be watching to see what
Shinseki does for caregivers.

"I will not be satisfied until they meet the requirements of the
legislation," Murray said. "I'm going to hold his feet to the fire. He
said he would work with us on this, and that's exactly what we expect
them to do."

A VA spokeswoman has said caregivers for about 10 percent of the
critically wounded from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars would be
eligible, an estimated 850 veterans. But Murray has said previously in
a statement that the way Congress had written the law, about 3,500
veterans should have a family member who is eligible.

While the enhanced benefits are for the caregivers of the severely
disabled veterans from the recent conflicts, the VA has said it is
improving other existing programs for caregivers of veterans from all
eras.

Veterans' service organizations had pushed for more support for all
caregivers of veterans, but Congress was not able to come up with
enough money to do so. Under the law, the VA must report to Congress
within two years about the possibility of providing the enhanced
benefits to all caregivers.