Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

From the VA:

Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

1.      Advocate Concerned About VA Plan To Go Paperless With Disability Claims. The “What’s Brewin'” blog for NextGov (8/6, Brewin) reports the Veterans Affairs Department “issued a press release on Thursday that said the department will test a new system in its Providence, R.I., regional office in November for paperless processing of veterans disability claims.” According to Brewin, in the release, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki “said the Providence test ‘marks a major milestone in VA’s move to paperless processing.” Brewin also noted, however, that during a recent “House VA Committee hearing,” Joseph Violante, “national legislative director for Disabled American Veterans, told the House hearing…he was concerned VA did not plan to add rules-based processing used by the insurance industry to speed processing until years after the deployment of the Veterans Benefit Management System.”
     The Providence (RI) Business News (8/6), which also takes note of VA’s press release, reports, “The benefits management system is one of more than 36 VA initiatives to ‘break the back'” of the agency’s claims backlog. According to the Business News, a “goal set by Shinseki would have VA process all claims within 125 days with 98 percent accuracy by 2015, compared with a current completion rate of 163 days at 83 percent accuracy on average.”

 2.      VA Official Defends Absence Of Cabinet Members At Life Insurance Council Meeting. According to continuing coverage by Bloomberg News (8/5, Capaccio, Evans), Veterans for Common Sense Executive Director Paul Sullivan “said in an e-mail” that his organization is “disappointed so many administration officials appear to have been asleep at the wheel while Prudential,” which, according to Bloomberg, is the “sole provider of life insurance for 6 million US military personnel” and veterans, “stole hundreds of millions of dollars in secret profits from grieving families.” Sullivan’s comment referred to the fact that in November 2009, when the Advisory Council on Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance last met, none of the “half-dozen members of President Barack Obama’s Cabinet” sitting on the council attended. Bloomberg went on to note that John Gingrich, chief of staff for US Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, said that it is customary for department heads to send expert representatives to Federal government advisory council meetings and that “VA — all of us — remain committed to having the most knowledgeable people serving” on the Advisory Council on Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance. The Washington Post (8/5) posted the same story on its website.
     Bloomberg News (8/6, Capaccio, O’Connor) reports, “‘The advisory council gets briefed on what’s going on, how much money is going out, how many death benefits,’ says…Gingrich.” Bloomberg adds, that while Shinseki “and other Cabinet members have joined a growing number of lawmakers calling for an overhaul of insurer practice,” Prudential has “defended retained-asset accounts as helpful to survivors, especially the loved ones of soldiers. ‘For some families, the account is the difference between earning interest on a large amount of money and letting it sit idle,’ company spokesman Bob DeFillippo told Bloomberg.”
     During an appearance on Fox News’ Fox And Friends (8/5, 8:23 a.m. ET), Fox News legal analyst Peter Johnson, Jr., said that while “Missouri and Kansas and other state insurance regulators” are looking at the practice of companies retaining death benefits, there is no Federal regulation against it. Johnson argued that VA needs to “look at this issue immediately.”
     Beneficiary Protection Bill Would Serve As Model For Introduction Into State Legislatures. Bloomberg News (8/6, Frye) says that on Wednesday, the “National Conference of Insurance Legislators called for a ‘beneficiaries bill of rights’ to protect consumers against abuse by carriers that, for decades, have earned income by retaining death benefits.” The group “plans to develop a model bill that lawmakers can introduce in state legislatures to protect customers.” Defense Secretary Robert Gates, meanwhile, “has pledged to help the US Department of Veterans Affairs investigate the practice” of companies retaining death benefits, a practice that has been criticized by US Sens. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and John McCain (R-AZ), as well as US Rep. Debbie Halvorson (D-IL), who “introduced legislation last week requiring profit disclosure.”

3.      VA Ordered To Publish New Agent Orange Implementation Regulation Within 30 Days. The syndicated “Military Update” column, appearing in the Newport News (VA) Daily Press (8/6, Philpott), reports, “An estimated 200,000 Vietnam veterans suffering from three diseases newly associated with exposure to Agent Orange are closer to receiving disability compensation following an appeals court order Aug. 2 directing the Department of Veterans Affairs to publish a final implementing regulation within 30 days. In response to a lawsuit brought by a coalition of veterans’ service organizations,” the US Court of Appeals “instructed…VA to issue by Sept. 1 a final regulation authorizing payment of claims for ischemic heart disease, Parkinson’s disease or B-cell leukemia for any veteran who stepped foot in Vietnam during the war, or their survivors.” According to the column, the court rejected VA’s argument that it could not publish the regulation until it was reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget.
     Vets’ Agent In Massachusetts Concerned About Potential Restrictions. The Canton (MA) Citizen (8/5, Pickette) said, “Anticipating a potential congressional squabble over the US Department of Veterans Affairs’ proposal to expand the number of ailments (and therefore disability claims) associated with Agent Orange,” Tony Andreotti, Canton’s veterans’ agent argued in favor of the proposal in a “spirited letter” sent to several lawmakers and VA Secretary Eric Shinseki. According to the Citizen, Andreotti believes the proposal will go through, but he is “concerned that there will be too many restrictions placed upon” the newly added diseases.

4.      Local Official Investigating Possible Cancer Cluster Near Fort Detrick. In her Washington Post (8/6) column, Petula Dvorak says Barbara Brookmyer, the health officer for Frederick County, Maryland, is “investigating whether there is a cancer cluster near Fort Detrick.” After noting that a “community forum will be held Thursday to hear residents’ stories,” Dvorak points out that Randy White, “whose 30-year-old daughter died of brain tumors in 2008,” is “considering a class-action lawsuit against the Army.”

     The Frederick (MD) News-Post (8/5, Eckstein) reported, “White has spent $220,000 of his own money to hire a team of researchers and lawyers to investigate contamination at Fort Detrick’s Area B, as well as the Army post’s history of testing Agent Orange.” Last week, Fort Detrick officials “said Agent Orange was tested in small batches in the 1950s and 1960s, but little else was known about the extent of its research.” The WTOP-FM Washington, DC (8/5) website ran the same story. A separate story on the WTOP (8/5, Basch) website said, “White’s ex-wife was diagnosed with Stage 4 renal cell carcinoma.”

 5.      VA: Post-9/11 GI Bill Has Provided Education Benefits To More Than 300,000 Vets. The N8-TV Austin, TX (8/5, Porter) website reported, “On August 1, 2009, the Post 9/11 GI Bill took effect. A year later, representatives” with the US Department of Veterans Affairs “say the bill has provided education benefits to more than 300,000 veterans.” The website also noted, however, that since the “bill took effect, a backlog in claims created headaches for college employees and students.”
     Senators Ask Shinseki, Gates For Detailed Tuition Assistance Data. In a story mainly focused on a Wednesday hearing of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which was examining the “‘student recruitment experience’ at for-profit colleges,” the Inside Higher Ed (8/5) website noted, “Also on Wednesday,” US Sens. Jim Webb (D-VA) and Richard Durbin (D-IL) “sent letters to Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki asking for detailed data on how tuition assistance money for members of the military and for veterans is being spent. ‘[W]e have heard reports that some for-profit institutions may be aggressively targeting service members and veterans, signing them up for educational programs that may bring little benefit to future employment opportunities, low graduation rates and high default rates,’ they said,” adding that with the passage of the Post-9/11 GI Bill, “we have heard concerns about excessive tuition being charged at some of these institutions.”

6.      VA Removes Signature Requirement For Online Form Application. The Muskogee (OK) Phoenix (8/5) said that as “part of Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki’s effort to streamline access to benefits,” VA has “removed the signature requirement for veterans who electronically submit an online 10-10EZ ‘Applications for Health Benefits.'”

7.      Editorial Accuses VA Of Punishing Whistle Blowers. In an editorial, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (8/6), which says the “Department of Veterans Affairs continues to fail taxpayers” and veterans has now added “insult to injury” by “punishing staffers who blow the whistle on such failings.” According to the Tribune-Review, a “VA inspector general’s report found that $6.3 million intended for research and treatment of traumatic brain injuries was spent without treating any veterans.” After noting that “soon after the director of the agency’s brain imaging lab in Texas questioned how $2 million of that was spent, he was removed from his job,” the Tribune-Review adds, “‘It appears that the VA diverted the money … and punished one of its doctors for pointing out this abuse of taxpayers’ funds,’ says a letter in which Richard Burr, ranking Republican on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, and Brad Miller, Democrat chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee’s Investigations Subcommittee, demand answers from VA Secretary Eric Shinseki,” who will hopefully, said the paper, “also explain the dismissal of a Veterans Affairs radiologist in Pittsburgh who questioned spending and treatment practices” and “why…VA places punishing whistle-blowers ahead of fulfilling its sacred duty to veterans.”

 8.      Texas Vets Commission Honors Legal Program. The KRGV-TV Harlingen, TX (8/5) website said the “State Bar of Texas…recently” honored Texas Lawyers for Texas Veterans, a “program that develops and assists pro bono legal clinics for veterans across the state.” The “Texas Veterans Commission presented the Commission’s Excellence Award to State Bar of Texas President Terry Tottenham in recognition of the program.”

9.      Louisiana Governor Honors Veterans. The Bossier (LA) Press-Tribune (8/6, Crane) notes that at the Bossier Civic Center on Wednesday, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal “awarded the Louisiana Veterans’ Honor Medal to approximately 400…veterans.” While speaking at the event, Jindal “reflected on his experience with homecoming ceremonies for returning service men and women and the impact it has made on his life. ‘My favorite part of this job serving as governor is going to these ceremonies and thanking the incredibly great men and women as they return home,'” said Jindal, who added, “I’ve met some of the most amazing heroes.”

10.    VA-Affiliated Doctor To Lead Part Of Study On Aspirin’s Benefits For Elderly Patients. According to the San Antonio (TX) Express-News (8/6, Finley), as “many as 1,100 older San Antonio-area residents will take part in a study that could answer whether a daily aspirin tablet not only will prevent heart attacks and strokes in healthy older people, but even slow their physical and mental decline.” After noting that the “federally funded ASPREE study, or Aspirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly, will follow almost 20,000 patients in the United States and Australia for five years,” the Express-News says Dr. Michael Parchman, who is “leading the San Antonio portion” of the study, “heads a research network of community physicians through” the Audie Murphy Veterans Affairs Hospital.