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Having Vets Train Service Dogs Makes Good Sense, But It’s Not Law Yet

Pending legislation recognizes the invaluable help that service dogs can provide to veteran’s health and mental health. Having a service dog also reduces the amount of medication many vets need, and gives them back their mobility. However, this bill has been pending for a long time.

Military Times’ recent article, “Should veterans be able to train and adopt service dogs at the VA’s expense?” says the bill has 136 co-sponsors, 45 Democrats and 91 Republicans.

The grant program is devised to defray costs from veterinarian appointments, medical procedures, diagnostic tests and medications.

The legislation was introduced in September to instruct the Department of Veterans Affairs to execute a pilot program on dog-training therapy, pairing veterans diagnosed with PTSD with service dogs and encouraging them to train the dogs themselves.

When the program is concluded, the vets would be able to adopt their dogs to continue the therapy.

Representative Michael Waltz, R-Fla., another co-sponsor of the bill and an Army veteran, questioned why the VA doesn’t cover the costs of getting and training a service dog.

“This should be part of the menu of what the VA provides. […] The benefits are clear,” Waltz said. “Our veterans right now are finding [service dogs] through their own means or through wonderful veterans services.”

Nonprofit organizations associated with providing and training the dogs would be responsible for the training cost and some of the food, while the dogs are being trained.

Last summer, Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland announced that retired military working dogs are in search of families, homes and couches.

Adapting to civilian life after leaving the military continues to be a struggle for many vets. A 2019 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report found that more than 6,100 veterans died by suicide in 2017, and nearly 60% had been diagnosed with a mental health disorder or problems with substance abuse.

At a news conference about the pending bill, one Vietnam War veteran said that his service dog gave him back his life, when he was on the verge of suicide.

Reference: Military Times (November 19, 2019) “Should veterans be able to train and adopt service dogs at the VA’s expense?”

∗ For more information about this and other similar topics, please visit: www.LambrosLawLLC.com or call us at: (401) 383-9899

Why Don’t Border National Guardsmen Receive Veteran Benefits?

Two thousand National Guard troops were ordered to the U.S.-Mexico border in April 2018 to help Homeland Security, and they work alongside U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents every day.

However, Colorado Public Radio’s recent article, “Even After Years In Uniform, Some National Guardsmen Don’t Get Veterans Benefits,” reports that some of those guard troops who worked along the border in uniform may never receive veterans benefits.

To qualify for Veterans Affairs benefits, such as health care or GI Bill education benefits, individuals are required to serve 180 days continuously on active duty. That means being requested by the federal government under specific circumstances.

National Guard troops are usually under the control of a state's governor, who can call them up to help with natural disaster;. However, there are a variety of orders that can be used to mobilize Guard members. Despite the fact that President Trump called guard troops to the border and the federal government paid for the operation, in most cases, the kind of orders they were under do not qualify those troops for benefits.

Representative Mike Levin, a California Democrat, chairs a veterans subcommittee that recently held a hearing on the issue.

"We haven't followed a very basic principle," Levin said, "which is if you're expected to be doing the same sort of thing, putting your life on the line for whatever particular mission, I believe you should be able to get the same pay and benefits."

Representative Levin said Congress has been slow to respond to the changing role of the guard, which has been used more consistently since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

"The expectations and the demands placed on our national guard and reserves that perhaps weren't there previously, we have to make sure that federal policy reflects that," he said.

In 2016, Congress changed the law, so anyone who retires from the guard or reserves after 20 years has honorary veteran status, no matter the amount of time they spent in active service. However, this legislation didn’t allow them to qualify for federal benefits.

The guard troops also are not eligible for long-term mental health care in the VA health system. There were an estimated 919 suicides in 2017 among guard and reserve members. None of them qualified for care from the VA.

Reference: Colorado Public Radio (November 29, 2019) “Even After Years In Uniform, Some National Guardsmen Don’t Get Veterans Benefits”

∗ For more information about this and other similar topics, please visit: www.LambrosLawLLC.com or call us at: (401) 383-9899

What States Will Be Home for Veterans in the Near Future?

Where will the veterans who survived the Gulf War, Post-Gulf, Post-9/11 and Vietnam wars live until 2045?

Rebecca Burgess, an expert on veterans with the American Enterprise Institute, spoke at a national conference earlier this year about how geography and demographics impact perceptions from the public and politicians about veterans. However, getting data was difficult.

"In fact, the more one tries to piece together a clear picture of veteran demographics, the less coherent the data seem to be," Burgess wrote in her study. "States, counties, and the federal government seem to arrive at different outcomes in terms of veteran numbers, even using the same projection model, VetPop 2016."

Military.com’s recent article, “These States Will Be the Most Popular for Veterans in the Next 25 Years,” explains that VetPop 2016, or "Veterans Population Projection Model 2016," is data from the VA that’s used by the agency and other groups, such as Congress, for policy planning and budgeting.

Burgess said she examined the VA's data and compared it to other sources, like the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. She found that the actuarial projections didn’t always agree. Burgess said that the VA's core data about veterans is nearly 20 years old and the Census Bureau stopped collecting veteran status data with the 2010 Census. However, she says, visualizing where vets will be over the next three decades will offer at least two benefits: providing the best idea of where VA resources will be most needed in the future and which congressional districts might see veteran policies soon become an electoral issue.

The VA has estimated that the overall veteran population will drop about 40% in 25 years. Burgess's research shows geographic population shifts, grouped by states and counties from 2015 to 2045.

Unlike the general shifts in the veteran population, with most veterans in the South and West, high numbers of Vietnam-era vets remain in the Northeast and Midwest—especially compared to the West. Already with the Gulf War and post–Gulf War veterans, the data shows higher numbers in the Southeast, but a good number (in the 240,000–300,000 range) who reside in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Post-9/11 vets are moving to Texas, but also going to Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia and Washington State.

Burgess wants to see better data gathering, from the Census Bureau, as well as the VA. She said that Congress should require all future Censuses to include questions about veterans, and the VA should develop an updated veteran population projection model, whether or not the Census starts collecting data.

Reference: Military.com (November 26, 2019) “These States Will Be the Most Popular for Veterans in the Next 25 Years”

∗ For more information about this and other similar topics, please visit: www.LambrosLawLLC.com or call us at: (401) 383-9899

Congress Addresses Bills for Veterans

An article from radio.com, “Congress introduces bills to increase veteran benefits, refund home loan fees, help women veterans,” provides a detailed list of new legislation recently introduced by Congress on behalf of veterans.

Cost of living adjustment (COLA). Senators Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., and Jon Tester, D-Mont., chairman and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, introduced the "Veterans Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act," which aims to increase veteran disability benefits from Veterans Affairs.

The COLA for veterans will mirror the increases to Social Security recipients and is decided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index annually.

“My top priority is to ensure that veterans and their families receive the benefits they earned while serving our country,” Isakson said. “I’m proud to introduce this legislation to increase benefits for disabled veterans in keeping with rising costs of living.”

Home loan fee refunds. Tester and Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., introduced a bill to make certain that the VA repays disabled veterans for home loan fees wrongfully charged.

An Inspector General report revealed that the VA wrongfully charged nearly 73,000 disabled veterans $286.4 million in home loan fees. The VA has been aware of the fact that it owes those veterans the money, since at least 2014.

"The (VA's) failure to uphold this responsibility has unduly burdened disabled veterans. This bill ends the VA’s practice of unlawfully charging veterans who qualify for funding fee waivers. Ensuring the VA implements a process to reimburse veterans who weren’t required to pay in the first place and prevent veterans from unfair penalties in the future must be a priority,” Boozman said.

Care for women veterans. Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-Ill., introduced the Caring for Women Veterans Act, which would create an annual VA report to make certain that women veterans receive quality healthcare from VA hospitals.

The population of women veterans will nearly double by 2043, and advocates say the VA must modernize to ensure that all VA facilities are equipped to provide comprehensive services for all veterans.

Veteran burials. Another bill from Boozman and Tester is designed to assist state cemeteries in meeting federal standards for veteran burials.

Senator Testor affirmed that as a nation, we owe it to veterans to ensure that state and tribal cemeteries are well-maintained and receive the proper care. Helping cemetery workers access the specialized training they need is another way to honor the men and women who have served our country.

Reference: radio.com (July 15, 2019) “Congress introduces bills to increase veteran benefits, refund home loan fees, help women veterans”

∗ For more information about this and other similar topics, please visit: www.LambrosLawLLC.com or call us at: (401) 383-9899

No Need for Veterans to Pay for Help in Applying for Benefits

With some 800,000 veterans in Pennsylvania, the issue of military vets being charged for help with applying for benefits has become a problem in the state. According to The Tribune-Review’s article, “Veterans don’t need to pay for help to apply for benefits in Pa,” there are people who attempt to monetize the application process.

Veterans should never have to pay to apply.

In January, an Allegheny County company was fined $10,000 after an employee fraudulently represented that he was an accredited veteran service officer. Some of the claims handled by the Allison Park firm were from Westmoreland County.

Veterans should ask for assistance only from an accredited veteran service officer, an attorney accredited by the VA, or an accredited claims agent. These agents provide veterans and their dependents free assistance to identify, determine eligibility for and apply for a wide range of benefits on the local, state and federal levels. That benefits include the following:

• Burial allowances;
• Grave markers and headstones properly requested and placed;
• The Disabled Veterans Real Estate Tax Exemption Program;
• Veterans Emergency Assistance;
• Pensions for blind and paralyzed veterans;
• The Education Gratuity Program;
• Service connected disability and non-service connected disability pensions;
• Federal health care benefits; and
• Survivor benefits.

For a comprehensive summary of benefits, visit the Veterans Affairs website’s dedicated page about benefits: https://benefits.va.gov/BENEFITS/benefits-summary/SummaryofVABenefitsFlyer.pdf.

Who is eligible for VA benefits? Any uniformed service member, veteran or spouse, child or parent of a deceased or disabled service member or veteran are eligible.

Reference: (The Tarentum, PA) Tribune-Review (May 17, 2019) “Veterans don’t need to pay for help to apply for benefits in Pa”

∗ For more information about this and other similar topics, please visit: www.LambrosLawLLC.com or call us at: (401) 383-9899

A Thorough Approach to Estate Planning is Especially Important for Military Families

Special challenges facing military families make it especially important for them to have an estate plan in place that includes insurance, legal documents and updated beneficiary information.

Special benefits and resources are available to families of military servicemen and women, designed for the challenges that families face—especially when one or sometimes two parents are on active duty. Kiplinger's May 27, 2016 article, "Estate Planning for Military Families," outlines these benefits:

Sign up for low-cost life insurance. This is critical if you have financial dependents—even more so if you're heading into combat. Active-duty members of the military can purchase low-cost term life insurance, called Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (SGLI). It costs just 7 cents per $1,000 of coverage per month—or $336 a year for the maximum $400,000—regardless of your age, health, or likelihood of being deployed. In addition, service members can also purchase $100,000 in coverage for their spouse for $60 a year if the spouse is under age 35. The coverage will cost more for older spouses.

Have your legal documents organized. You should create the legal documents such as a will (in which you'll designate a guardian for your minor children), a power of attorney, and a health-care proxy. The power of attorney can be used while you're deployed. It gives your spouse or another person you choose the authority to handle your affairs while you're on duty or out of the country.

Update beneficiary information. The beneficiary designations for your pension, life insurance, IRAs, and thrift savings plan take precedence over your will. Remember, if you designated a beneficiary when you first joined the service and haven't changed it since you got married, that original beneficiary could inherit your account. Update those designation with your spouse and review them when you have life changes like marriage, divorce, or the birth or adoption of a child.

Make survivor decisions for your military pension. If you qualify for a military pension, you'll need to think about whether to have your military retirement pay continue for your beneficiary after you pass away. You typically will pay 6.5% of the portion of the monthly pension payout you want your beneficiary to receive, which is deducted pretax from your retirement pay. If you're looking at this cost compared to the price of buying life insurance for your spouse, the policy would need to be permanent rather than term to be certain it would still be in effect when you die.

Look into other benefits for survivors. There are special rules in place regarding Roth IRAs available only to surviving spouses. The surviving spouse is permitted to roll over a military death gratuity and SGLI death benefits into a Roth IRA, even if the amount exceeds the $5,500 annual limit. There are restrictions, but this is one of many lesser-known benefits available to help military families.

If you'd like to learn more about Estate Planning, please visit my website at www.lambroslawllc.com

Reference: Kiplinger's (May 27, 2016) "Estate Planning for Military Families"

∗ For more information about this and other similar topics, please visit: www.LambrosLawLLC.com or call us at: (401) 383-9899 .