When a Veteran is seriously injured in combat, family members sometimes have no choice but to give up their careers to provide care full-time. To assist, VA is now offering new programs for the families of eligible post-9/11 Veterans. To provide details on what these new programs are and how families can apply, VA’s Chief Consultant for Care Management and Social Work Service, Deborah Amdur, has explained in a VAntage Point guest piece today. Take a look and let us know what you think.
Spring is Home Buying Season
15 May 2013
Communications specialist with the Veterans Benefits Administration
It’s finally spring – a time for spring cleaning, dusting off those softball cleats and for some, looking for a new place to call home.
Celebrating One Year of VRAP
15 May 2013
VA Deputy Undersecretary for Economic Opportunity
One year ago today, the Veterans Retraining Assistance Program, a program that offers a renewed opportunity for education/training and job assistance to unemployed Veterans, started accepting applications.
Every Body, Every Day: How to Get Fit
9 May 2013
Dietetic Intern at the Memphis VA Medical Center
How many times in one week do we hear about exercising? Eating right? Losing weight? Keeping our heart healthy?
Separate System Ensures Wounded Troops Receive Disability Benefits Quickly
9 May 2013
Director of the Office of Corporate Communications at the Veterans Benefits Administration
The backlog of disability claims for Veterans is getting a lot of media coverage, and everyone throughout the Department of Veterans Affairs, from the Secretary on down, has acknowledged that this is an urgent problem they are working to fix.
Updating Your Insurance Beneficiary Can Bring Peace of Mind
7 May 2013
Chief, VA’s insurance claims division
Life insurance should give you and your loved ones peace of mind that they will have funds available if anything happens to you. Here’s how to update it.
MyPlate: Healthy Eating Made Easy
2 May 2013
Dietetic Intern at the VA Medical Center in Memphis
MyPlate is the nutrition guide that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) publishes as a recommendation for Americans. As seen in the picture below, it depicts a plate with all four food groups—fruits, vegetables, grains, and protein—with a cup of dairy on the side.
VA’s New Hotline Dedicated to Serving Women Veterans
23 Apr 2013
Chief Consultant for Women’s Health Services for the Department of Veterans Affairs
As part of VA’s goal to implement improvements to its health care for women Veterans, we recently launched our new Women Veterans hotline.
VA Expediting Claims Decisions for Veterans Waiting a Year or More
19 Apr 2013
Under Secretary for Benefits; Air Force Veteran
Effective today, every regional office will begin implementing an initiative to ensure that those who have been waiting a year or more for their compensation claim receive a decision quickly.
It amazes me that articles/blogs such as this one is even published, given the VA (on their own admittance)’lost’ my wounded warrior in the process, let his claim fall through the cracks, did not provide him the follow up care he needed, and now (because of their screw up) our ‘expediated’ claim that was supposed to be completed 4 months ago, is now supposedly another 4-6 months delayed. The VA process has been nothing but an incredibly inadequate and mismanaged system that does more harm to our veterans than it does good. It creates financial hardship for its veterans, like it did us and continues to do to us. I can completely understand why so many veterans end up homeless, suffer from major medical issues that are not properly treated, and even end up taking their lives due to the lack of care and services they receive. I am my husband’s fulltime caregiver and had to resign from my career years ago to provide his care. We cant even get the VA compensation he is entitled to let alone any caregiver assistance.
Kristy,
I had to also quite my career to stay home full time with my husband. Still am. I love him and are not going anywhere no matter how difficult the VA can be. Sometimes I swear they just want us caregivers to stick our vets in nursing homes so that it’s easier on the VA, that way they don’t even have to deal with benefits for us caregivers or our vets! I would love to hear your story and to see if your doing better! Theofficialonrhea@live.com 
Were you ever able to get VA Compensation?!? It took me 6months to get SSDI for my husband (during which we had NO income or state assistance!) and then another YEAR on top of that to get his VA Comp! Lots and lots of paperwork and interviews, doc apts and traveling!
Your headline is a lie. It should say, Some Family Caregivers to Get More VA Support. Once again, the Vietnam vet and GWI vet is left with nothing.
Kristy and Dan are correct, but there is more. The VA caregiver act was signed into law ONE YEAR ago today, on May 5, 2010, and it appears that Veteran families and caregivers STILL can not even apply for this benefit yet, until at least May 9, 2011. Part of the problem is that VASEC wanted fewer people to receive this benefit than was intended by congress. This “standoff” between VASEC and Congress needs to be resolved, as, once again, Veterans and their families are its victims. It amounts to a breakdown in leadership at the very highest levels of our government. If the president had a backbone, he would have fired VASEC for his defiance of Congress on this matter, as well as his failure to reduce the 1,000,000 Veterans waiting on benefits, which appears to be the highest backlog in history. At least a portion of this increased backlog rests squarely on the shoulders of the president because of his failure to appoint several needed judges to the CAVC, so that the backlog of appeals could be reduced. I guess the president is too busy patting himself on the back for Bin Laden’s killing, when the credit for that belongs to the Navy Seals and our honored troops, not the president.
I wonder if those applying for these benefits will face the same 1 year + wait to get their claim processed as those of us whose veteran served prior to 9/11? Or will these claims take priority pushing those of us already waiting back even further?
And why are these benefits being restricted to post 9/11 vets? Is their need for A&A any different than the needs prior vets face?