Apply ASAP for caregiver benefits, VA says - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Apply ASAP for caregiver benefits, VA says

The Veterans Affairs Department has begun accepting applications for a new, landmark benefits program for the caregivers of severely disabled Iraq- and Afghanistan-era veterans.

Full benefits, which will include living stipends, won’t be paid until July, but there is a good reason for caregivers to apply as soon as possible: Benefits will be retroactive to the date of application.

Applying for benefits is the first of many steps that will require working with caregiver coordinators at VA hospitals, getting the extent of the veteran’s disability assessed by VA doctors, and receiving rudimentary medical training in order to be certified as a caregiver. But for those who qualify, the program promises to improve the quality of life for both the disabled veterans, who will be able to stay at home rather than in a hospital or nursing home, and for caregivers, who often feel overburdened and unprepared to provide lifetime care.

“This really is a step in the right direction,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee chairwoman who helped create the program and who fought with the Veterans Affairs Department to make certain benefits were widely available.

“There are very good things in this package,” Murray said.

Comprehensive caregiver benefits — which include health care benefits and the promise of having someone step in for them and provide care so they can get a break — are limited to veterans who sustained serious injury in the line of duty since Sept. 10, 2001, and who need personal care services because they are unable to perform activities of daily life, including eating, bathing and dressing, without supervision. Serious injuries include physical injuries and mental or psychological injuries.

“I know many veterans and their family caregivers have been waiting anxiously for this day, and I urge them to get their applications in as soon as possible so they can receive the additional support they have earned,” said Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki.

How the program should work

VA is making some ambitious promises that Murray said will be great, if kept.

Once someone applies for benefits, by phone or email, VA is promising a caregiver coordinator will contact the family within three days to coordinate arrangements for a full application, and a VA clinician will determine what assistance a veteran needs. “I am very happy that doctors are responsible for the evaluation,” she said.

If a veteran is eligible, the family caregiver will receive training and a home visit from a VA clinician will be arranged before a monthly living stipend and health care benefits are made available to a caregiver. The living stipend will be based on the level of dependence of the veteran, and health care benefits will be available if the caregiver does not have existing health insurance.

The stipend and health insurance benefits will be retroactive to the date of application, which is why Murray and Shinseki both advise families to apply right away.

VA officials said a few veterans’ families have been pre-selected, based on their eligibility for benefits, to begin caregiver training as early as next week. A private contractor, not identified by VA officials, will be responsible for the training.

If veterans are found to be ineligible for full caregiver benefits, VA has other programs that will apply to veterans of all eras. That includes a promise of respite care, adult daycare and pre-discharge training in how to care for a veteran being released from a hospital who has a severe disability or injury.

The caregiver program application is available at www.caregiver.va.gov. Additionally, caregiver support coordinators are available at each VA medical center, and by calling a toll-free number, 1-877-222 VETS (8387). Coordinators can help with the application process, VA officials said.

The fight over eligibility

The May 3 announcement appears to bring an end to a standoff between Congress and VA. The caregiver benefits program was supposed to begin Jan. 30 but has been delayed because of disagreements about eligibility and congressional intent.

Earlier this year, VA proposed beginning the program with strict eligibility rules that would have made only about 850 families eligible for care. One of the big restrictions was that eligibility would have been provided only in cases where a veteran would be institutionalized without a full-time caregiver.

That restrict has been dropped, and VA now estimates more than 3,500 families will be eligible for a program that will cost $777 million over 10 years.

Murray, who in February appealed directly to President Obama to stop VA from implementing the more restricted program, said she is generally satisfied with the changes but still has some concerns. For example, she worried that some veterans with mental health issues like traumatic brain injury or post-traumatic stress may not fit the VA’s definition of needing a caregiver. “This is something I’m going to watch,” she said, expressing willingness to bring the matter to Obama again if that is what it takes.

“This is an important turnaround for family members of severely wounded veterans who have dropped everything to care for their loved ones,” Murray said. “The administration realized their mistake in limiting and delaying this benefit and is taking steps to fix it, and to fix it quickly.”

Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., the House Veterans Affairs Committee chairman, said the changes made by VA respond to complaints from caregivers. “I pledged to them we would get this right, and we are headed in that direction,” he said. “Although we are still reviewing the full regulations surrounding the implementation, we are cautiously optimistic,” Miller said. “It’s been a long road for many of these families and this step signifies their sacrifice is recognized by the American people.”