AP Newsbreak: War vet widows wrongly denied help

AP Newsbreak: War vet widows wrongly denied help

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WASHINGTON - Widows of war veterans have been wrongfully denied up to millions of dollars in government benefits over the past 12 years due to computer glitches that often resulted in money being seized from the elderly survivors' bank accounts.

The Veterans Affairs Department said Saturday it wasn't fully aware of the problem. It pledged to work quickly to give back the pension and disability checks - ranging from $100 to more than $2,500 - that hundreds of thousands of widows should have re

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Related News Links:
www.nchv.org

There are so many things to say about this.

It has always gotten me upset when this administration has said "Support our Troops" to everyone - due to the fact they have wanted their war supported and implied if you didn't support the war - then you were not supporting our troops.

Yet, the fact that the all those troops are individual people with individual lives and those lives have not been honored on the most basic principles by the govt. The list is long in my opinion - on how the troops have been seen as being expendable to this adminstration. They also have not been taken care of when they have returned from the war with injuries etc. Perfect case - without a long disentation is "Walter Reed Hospital" - which came to light a couple of years ago, in how the vets were having to live in deplorable conditions while being treated there.

Now, regarding this article - with families already hurting and mourning in their loved one dying in war - they then have had to deal with the VA by taking money out of their bank accounts? That is just pure sicking!

There are so many outrages that the govt. does that shows they do not truely support our troops.

Look at the amount of vets who have come back and are now homeless.

link to additional article:
www.nchv.org...

Who are homeless veterans?

The U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) says the nation's homeless veterans are mostly males (4 % are females). The vast majority are single, most come from poor, disadvantaged communities, 45% suffer from mental illness, and half have substance abuse problems. America’s homeless veterans have served in World War II, Korean War, Cold War, Vietnam War, Grenada, Panama, Lebanon, Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan), Operation Iraqi Freedom, or the military’s anti-drug cultivation efforts in South America. Forty-seven percent of homeless veterans served during the Vietnam Era. More than 67% served our country for at least three years and 33% were stationed in a war zone. veterans account for 23% of all homeless people in America.

I could also get into the new bill that came up earlier this year and introduced by Sen. Jim Webb from Va., which is finally going to give vets more respect and have make it easier for them to get out of the military and go to college (though many in the govt. were against it).

More light needs to be shined on how our veterans have been and are treated by the govt.!

I am sure many can add to this discussion that have had direct experience with the Veterans Affairs.

Another thing about the original article - how come whenever we hear about "computer glitches" on the govt's end - it is always for the govt. by taking more money than should be and not giving the money that people are suppose to get?
I never hear about govt."computer glitches" that has given people extra money they aren't suppose to get for years.

This "computer glitch" that has not given widows their rightful money and taking money out of their accounts - has been going on since 1996! So for 12 years veteran's spouses have had to deal with this outrage of money possibly being taken out of their accounts - and I would bet - that money was sorely needed at the time too.

Congress passed a law in 1996 giving veterans' spouses the right to keep their partners' final month of benefits. It instructed the VA to make changes as needed to comply with the law, which took effect for spouses of veterans who died after Dec. 31, 1996.

But the VA never updated its automated computer systems, which send out checks and notification letters. As a result, widows were either denied the final month of payment or asked to send the checks back. In many cases, if the checks were already deposited or spent, the U.S. Treasury moved to seize the money directly from the widow's account.

This flawed practice has caused serious hardship for many widows," Akaka said Saturday. "Now that this problem has been brought to light, I trust that surviving spouses will receive the benefits they are due."

The VA has yet to identify the exact number of widows affected, but acknowledged Saturday it could be "sizable." Akaka's committee estimates that 50,000 widows each year since 1996 could be affected, based on VA numbers indicating more than 100,000 veterans die each year - some of whom may have been single or divorced - while receiving VA benefits.

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[edit on 14-12-2008 by questioningall]

As a veteran of this war, it makes me sick everyday to see how they treat us slaves. I was treated poorly and have had re occuring staph infections from catching a little frag over there. I made myself after getting out, that war time blood money only exists now in a Tv and an egagement ring that en ex has.

Why are you blaming the administration?

The underfunding of the VA is a problem for the CONGRESS, since only the CONGRESS can appropriate funding for anything.

I would remind you that the particular article cited had nothing to do with homeless vets, it had to do with widows. But ALL OF THE PROBLEMS WITH THE VA CAN BE LAID RIGHT AT THE FEET OF THE CONGRESS.

Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Regan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush have all requested much less money than was required to provide all of the necessary services for veterans.

Not once has the Congress appropriated enough money to meet the needs, since 1951. Not one time. They have occasionally appropriated more than the administration asked for, but never enough.

A quadruple amputee, confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life is granted a pension of approximately $2,400 a mionth. That isn't very much for the damage done to his body. Once again, the CONGRESS has consistently refused to appropriate adequate funds to properly compensate those vets.

Almost all service connected disabled veterans have to get their care at VA facilities. Even if those facilities are hours away from their home, they either go to the VA or they get no care.

The VA has an insurance program, called CHAMP-VA. They do not want to extend that insurance to all disabled veterans that are entitlesd to care for any condition (those rated at 50% or higher), because way too many of those vets would opt for care in their home communities.

That would cost the VA personnel, etc., and they can't have that.

I say, give each disabled vet the choice, either receive all your care at the VA, or be given a CHAMP-VA card, and allow them to receive their care locally. But that would take a real groundswell from the public to get such a thing through.

You all want to bitch at the VA. Well, I have used their services for over 30 years now, and I don't have any complaints, except for the fact that I have to drive 75 miles each way to get those services. I would much rather have a CHAMP-VA card, and get my medical care locally.

You want to fight for our VETS? Get behind adequate funding, provisions of CHAMP-VA, and opening military PX - Commissaries to Service Connected Disabled Vets (those rated at 100% service connected can get Champ-VA and PX-Commissary). It would be cheaper for the government to provide Champ-VA, and the PX-Commissary access would cost NOTHING at all.

Instead of crying crocodile tears about the poor vets (and their widows), get out there and actually do something.