The EB-5 Regional Center program will expire on September 30, 2016 unless Congress reauthorizes it, and many in Congress are concerned about fraud after the Vermont Jay Peak indictments, the largest of many which have occurred, and also about ways to measure the economic benefits of the program. EB-5 interest groups have begun pressure on Congress to extend the Regional Center provisions accepting many proposed integrity changes and even a likely increase in the investment amount perhaps to $1,200,000 or $800,000 if in a high unemployment or rural area. The EB-5 program has never had an increase in the investment threshold since the program came into existence in 1990. Efforts to extend the EB-5 Regional Center program failed last December, 2015, and Congress extended the program unchanged until this coming September.
In its July, 2016 EB-5 processing time information, USCIS reports a 16+ month adjudication time for EB-5 petitioners seeking conditional permanent resident status, and an additional 20+ months for those investors with conditional residence who file to remove conditions of their residence, which is another petition filed with USCIS about 2 years later. While these processing delays are long, they have not affected investors’ interest and participation in the EB-5 program arising out of the processing wait period.
For citizens of China, though, it is not just processing time that delays gaining lawful permanent resident status, it is having a visa number available. Unlike foreign nationals from every other country who use the EB-5 program and who have a visa number immediately available, a factor unrelated to USCIS petitioning processing time, investors from China who filed their EB-5 petitions for conditional lawful permanent resident status in February, 2014 have a visa available in August, 2016. Those Chinese investors who have filed there EB-5 petitions after February, 2014 must wait for a visa number to become available before the investor and his or her family can immigrate to the U.S. Current information is that USCIS has about 40,000 EB-5 cases filed by Chinese EB-5 investors which are awaiting to be decided, and 20,000 additional Chinese investor EB-5 cases which USCIS has approved but are awaiting visa availability. Visa availability is an issue because there is an annual quota of just 10,000 EB-5 visas available for investors world-wide, not just from China. The likelihood is that the wait for all pending and approved EB-5 Chinese investor cases will be years before all such EB-5 Chinese investor cases will have a visa number available. This multi-year visa wait will likely decrease EB-5 demand from China, prompting EB-5 Regional Centers to seek out investors other countries, especially from India and Vietnam, to benefit from the program.
Stay tuned to EB-5 Regional Center developments as they unfold.
The post EB-5 Woes first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>But now, the waiting game is almost over as VA Secretary Robert McDonald said he plans to make an announcement in the coming weeks about health care benefits for the crews who flew C-123 aircraft. Many of those planes were used during Vietnam to pray Agent Orange over the countryside, and they continued to be used after the war.
Multiple Air National Guard units used these reserve planes in various states across the U.S.
Up until January of this year, there was some uncertainty as to whether reservists had, in fact, been exposed to the herbicide. But an Institute of Medicine study released in January challenged that uncertainty.
The Institute of Medicine researchers wrote, “It is plausible that, at least in some cases … the reservists’ exposure exceeded health guidelines for workers in enclosed settings.”
Therefore, the report continues, some reservists likely experienced “non-trivial” increases in their risks for certain diseases. These findings bolster an earlier 2012 report by the Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry that these individuals’ levels of exposure to dioxin were 182 times higher than safe amounts.
However, it was four years ago when Retired Air Force Major Wesley Carter started requesting documents through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) after he and some fellow reservists were diagnosed with multiple cancers, heart disease, and other Agent Orange-associated illnesses.
Since then, the reservists have been battling the VA to receive the same benefits as those who served in Vietnam. After a few delays, it appears that will finally happen.
At Legal Help For Veterans, PLLC, we focus exclusively on veterans’ rights. If you are a veteran looking to get the benefits that you deserve, call us today at 1-800-693-4800. We handle a variety of claims, including Agent Orange and other service-connected injuries. www.LegalHelpForVeterans.com
Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC fights for veterans rights. We fight to make sure you get the benefits you deserve from the Department of Veterans Affairs. To learn more or contact a veterans lawyer, visit http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com/ or call 800.693.4800
The post VA Announcement on Agent Orange Benefits for C-124 Air Force Reservists Could Come Soon first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>
Many Michigan veterans are eligible for benefits like healthcare and pensions, but may not know this and haven’t yet applied for them.
In a state that ranks in the bottom five in the U.S. for federal spending per veteran, there are hundreds of thousands of Michigan vets who qualify for military benefits, like healthcare and pensions. Surprisingly, many don’t know they qualify, and others simply haven’t filed for the benefits due them.
Aside from the traditional health-and-pension benefits, other Michigan Veterans Benefits include home loans as well as educational subsidies via the GI-bill; also, vets may qualify for disability claims and life insurance. What’s more, Michigan vets can tap the Michigan Veterans Trust Fund Agency (MVTFA) to receive vocational training at the state and local levels.
Vietnam vets among those who may have chosen not to receive their benefits…
Indeed, Michigan vets, particularly those who fought in the Vietnam war, may have chosen not to receive the benefits due them after their military discharge simply because they received excellent health care benefits and pensions from their employer after they came home.
Back then, that usually meant Michigan jobs in the automotive sector, or other industries, that provided them with a full suite of benefits.
Moreover, as reported in the Detroit News, some of those vets never thought of even applying for their military benefits because they didn’t think they qualified. One vet said he thought he needed to be disabled from war injuries to qualify. Later, though, he learned he could qualify for treatment of his post-traumatic stress disorder.
Small-percentage are using their benefits…
Overall, a mere 22 percent of the state’s 660,800 veterans are using what’s coming to them from the coffers of the U.S. Veterans Administration, according to 2013 figures—about 13 percent do receive a disability check.
For Michigan vets, their rights to these benefits are a head-scratcher and begs the question as to ‘How can this be?” “Who’s looking out after those who gave so much for their country?”
Michigan was on the bottom for average fed spending per vet…
Five years ago, before Gov. Rick Snyder established the MVAA, the state was on the bottom rung among all the states in terms of dollars spent per vet: less than $3,000. Now, as of 2013, that has increased to an average of $5,001 per vet.
In an effort to make things right, the state offers a 24-hour hotline at (800) MICH-VET along with its website (michiganveterans.com) as a center for information on emergency housing to “veteran-friendly colleges in Michigan,” for example.
Rural counties may be out of luck for veteran counseling offices…
Rural counties, unlike metro areas, often lack the services of a veterans counselor who can offer vets information about federal, state and local benefits. Unfortunately, counties once lucky enough to have a veterans office are not only facing staffing shortages and funding cuts
Part of the frustration among vets in the past is simply trying to unravel the complexity of the system, notes The Detroit News columnist, Melissa Burke:
“Vets often have difficulty navigating the process on their own…Certified counselors and veterans service officers often help vets (receive) compensation quicker.”
Community action teams’ help veterans.
As such, and before 2013, about 93 percent of the disability claims submitted by Michigan veterans required more paperwork than was submitted in order to meet eligibility requirements.
But thanks to the state’s renewed focus on educating its vets on how to navigate the system that number has dropped to 59 percent just last fall, according to a spokesperson from the Detroit Regional Office of Veterans Benefit Administration.
A major reason for this success has to do with “regional ‘community action teams’” set up by the MTVFA to open up lines of communication with regional services directly serving its veterans.
Over the past five years, the number veterans in the state have declined, but Metro Detroit remains home to one-third of Michigan’s veteran population.
If you are a veteran and would like to discuss your benefits status, please contact us. We offer experienced counsel in this area as well as in elder law and estate planning.
The post Michigan Veterans Benefits Bolstered appeared first on Estate Planning Lawyers | Elder Law Attorneys | Brighton | Novi | Livonia Elder Law Attorneys.
The post Michigan Veterans Benefits Bolstered first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>First, HR 969 (the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act) was introduced in February of this year and it has considerable bi-partisan support. The bill would include as part of the Republic of Vietnam its “territorial seas” for purposes of the presumption of service-connection for diseases associated with exposure by veterans to certain herbicide agents while in Vietnam.
As the bill’s sponsor, Representative Christopher Gibson (R-NY) said, this legislation, “places Navy Personnel on the same playing field as those who served on Vietnamese territory during the war – it’s the right thing to do.” We couldn’t agree more!
Rep. Gibson also noted that the bill would reduce the tremendous backlog of VA claims for veterans suffering from diseases the government links to Agent Orange.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced S-681 just last week in the Senate. That legislation is the Senate companion to the House bill and it would further clarify the service-connection presumption for Blue Water Navy veterans.
You can check out the Blue Water Navy Awareness Blog here: http://bluewaternavyawarenss.blogspot.com/
And we join the group in their call for you and your neighbors to contact your representatives and senators and urge them to support this legislation. It is very encouraging that these bills have bi-partisan sponsors and support, but similar legislation in the past has fallen victim to the dreadfully slow legislative process and died while in committee – where these two bills currently remain.
At Legal Help For Veterans, PLLC, we focus exclusively on veterans’ rights. If you are a veteran looking to get the benefits that you deserve, call us today at 1-800-693-4800. We handle a variety of claims, including Agent Orange and other service-connected injuries. www.LegalHelpForVeterans.com
Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC fights for veterans rights. We fight to make sure you get the benefits you deserve from the Department of Veterans Affairs. To learn more or contact a veterans attorney, visit http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com/ or call 800.693.4800
The post New Bills Would Give Blue Water Navy Vets Service-Connection for Agent Orange Diseases first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>This initiative follows a recent directive to the Army’s Review Board Agency (ARBA) to help those veterans whose discharges were under “other than honorable” conditions, and who assert that they suffered from PTSD or related conditions that might have facilitated the misconduct that led to their discharge.
While this directive is focused on those veterans who served before PTSD was a recognized as a debilitating medical condition, it applies to all veterans (who have “other than honorable” discharges). This comes as welcome news for the thousands of Vietnam-era veterans who may have been given punitive discharges as a result of their conduct caused by PTSD.
The ARBA is the Army’s highest level of administrative review for actions taken by lower level organizations, and it includes several boards that hear claims of soldiers and veterans who appeal unfavorable information in their personnel records – which include discharge statuses for veterans.
Upgrading one’s discharge can be crucial for veterans seeking benefits offered by Veterans Affairs. Less than honorable and other than honorable discharges are very often a disqualifying factor from benefits.
Veterans’ organizations, like the Vietnam Veterans of America, estimate that one third of the 250,000 other than honorable discharges issued to Vietnam-era veterans may have been PTSD-related. Three veterans organizations, along with five Vietnam-era combat veterans, recently filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking relief for those tens of thousands of veterans who fall into that category.
Under the new directive, veterans who were previously denied upgrades can re-apply and the ARBA will consider the case on a blank slate. However, this only applies to veterans with other than honorable discharges, and not those who were discharged under “less than honorable” conditions due to serious infractions.
While we do not work on discharge upgrades, if you have a VA disability claim you can contact attorney Kristina Derro at (800) 693-4800.
Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC fights for veterans rights. We fight to make sure you get the benefits you deserve from the Department of Veterans Affairs. To learn more or contact an attorney about your Post Traumatic Stress, Traumatic Brain Injury, Mental Health, Sexual Assault, Hearing Loss and Tinnitus, Total Disability Based on Individual Unemployability, Medical Malpractice, or Aid and Attendance claim, visit http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com/ or call 800.693.4800
The post Veterans Can Find Help Applying to Upgrade Discharge for PTSD at New Website first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>What makes the study particularly comprehensive is the fact that it followed service members through their adult lives, and it has served to buttress many of the arguments that were made in the wake of the VA’s first analysis on the subject of the mental injuries as a result of war, which was released in 1992. That landmark study surveyed 2,348 Vietnam veterans and ushered in the acceptance of PTSD as a potential consequence of the traumatic experience of military service during a war. (2)
The government’s acknowledgment of PTSD as a plausible downside of experiencing the traumas of war is, perhaps surprisingly, a relatively recent development. While Washington’s acceptance of the condition has legitimized PTSD-linked disability claims, there remain many veterans suffering from PTSD who have yet to avail themselves of the benefits they have earned and could use to help them cope with the disorder.
According to the VA study, a vast majority of veterans with PTSD do learn to cope with the disorder, but most of those who do not — accounting for 11 percent of all Vietnam vets who were surveyed — would have to endure the deleterious effects of PTSD for the rest of their lives. Unfortunately, the study also found that the lives of more than 18 percent of veterans afflicted with PTSD are cut short by retirement age, a percentage that is about double that of those vets not suffering the disorder. (3) The VA’s study has shed more light on how many veterans have been impacted by PTSD and, in the case of many of them, for a long time. More research on understanding what could be the causes of long-term affliction with PTSD is welcome, but in the meantime there is an immediate need for all vets with PTSD to seek the benefits they are entitled to, regardless of when they served in the armed forces.
www.TampaVeteransLawyer.com
David W. Magann, P.A.
813-657-9175
Source: (1), (2), (3) The New York Times 2014
The post PTSD, "Post" Means After And At Any Time first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Service Connected Disability Compensation
Tax-free payments, based on a sliding scale of disabilities, are available to veterans whose injury or disease results from military service. This includes related conditions which may not have produced symptoms prior to discharge. Higher rates of compensation are awarded for specific categories, such as loss of a limb, the effects of Agent Orange or supports needed for “activities of daily living,” such as bathing, dressing and dispensing of medication. Compensation for daily living supports is also available for parents and spouses.
Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC)
Tax-free payments are provided to surviving spouses, children and parents of military personnel who have died during active duty, in training or as the result of a service-connected disability. Income limits apply in the case of parents.
Non-Service-Connected Pension with Aid and Attendance
Veterans with non-service-related disabilities, who completed at least one day of active duty service during a war-time period (World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam or the Gulf War) and served for a minimum of 90 days, may be eligible for non-taxable “Aid and Attendance.” It does not matter that they may have been stationed stateside or outside a combat zone.
Veterans who may have too much income to qualify for the base low-income pension may qualify for Pension with Aid and Attendance if they have high medical care expenses. Aid and Attendance may pay for the cost of caregivers who assist individuals with two or more activities of daily living (ADLs). Such services can be provided in the home, in a personal care or assisted living facility, or nursing home. Spouses are also eligible.
This benefit has stringent income and asset requirements. A veteran who has a high income, however, may still be eligible after the deduction of recurring, unreimbursed medical expenses, including prescriptions, insurance premiums and caregiver costs. Although there is currently no penalty for “spending down” assets before applying, pending federal legislation is likely to penalize individuals who dispose of assets at less than their fair market value within three years of filing.
While the value of an individual’s primary residence is not considered in the asset calculations, if the home is subsequently sold to help pay for a greater level of care, those funds could interrupt Aid and Attendance payments and require reapplication once the money has been spent. For this reason, it’s important to analyze long-term needs and options before submitting a claim.
Jim Fausone, Esq.
Veteran Disability Lawyer
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a widely accepted disability today and I have been writing on the topic frequently. It was not always so. Now the condition is at the center of a lawsuit against the US Military. The lawsuit, which seeks class action status, could ultimately affect tens of thousands of veterans.
Five Vietnam War veterans sued the U.S.military on Monday, March 3, saying they were denied some veterans services after receiving other-than-honorable discharges for actions that resulted from PTSD.
The lawsuit called on the military to upgrade the discharges of veterans of the conflict who suffer from PTSD. Veterans need an honorable discharge status to receive benefits and services. However, the military did not recognize PTSD in the 1960s and 70s at the time of Vietnam.
According to the lawsuit, “The military gave these service members other than honorable discharges based on poor conduct such as unauthorized absence without leave, shirking, using drugs, or lashing out at comrades or superior officers. These behaviors, however, are typical of those who have recently experienced trauma and were symptoms of the veterans’ underlying, undiagnosed PTSD.”
The lawsuit further notes that theUSarmed forces now have procedures in place to diagnose PTSD and will offer honorable discharges to soldiers, sailors and airmen who suffer from the condition, but have not retroactively applied those benefits to Vietnam veterans.
The men involved in the lawsuit were 17-20 years old when they enlisted in 1967-70, and all are in their 60s today. One was the victim of a poison gas attack on his first day inVietnam, and another’s duties included sorting through body parts of soldiers killed in combat.
Law students working in Yale’s Veterans Legal Services Clinic prepared the suit on behalf of the five veterans.
After repeatedly running into cases of veterans with PTSD who were effectively being denied benefits because of their condition, the law clinic decided to file suit. We applaud this effort and we recognize the problem is real and the court solution maybe a long shot.
At Legal Help For Veterans, our experienced staff can also help with PTSD claims. You can learn more about our PTSD veterans’ services at our website, http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com/practice-areas/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd/.
To read more about this lawsuit, see the Reuters report at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/03/us-usa-veterans-ptsd-idUSBREA2225S20140303
Also check out LHFV’s past blog on changing the stigma behind PTSD for veterans:
http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com/2014/03/a-new-way-to-erase-the-ptsd-stigma-for-vets/
The post Vietnam Vets file lawsuit against US military for discharge upgrades first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>John Johnson is a Vietnam combat veteran who served in the Army from 1970 to 1971. In 2007, Johnson was admitted to Edward Hines Jr. Veterans Administration Hospital in Hines, Illinois for oral surgery. After he was put under anesthesia, Johnson went into cardiac arrest, which resulted in brain damage. Johnson filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the hospital.
According to the lawsuit, doctors did not prepare adequately for the surgery and failed to properly monitor Johnson’s heart condition after he received anesthesia.
Johnson’s attorney said that the $12 million settlement will be used to cover Johnson’s medical and living expenses, and that his family is looking for a house that will accommodate his daily care needs. Johnson’s attorney said that this was one of the largest malpractice settlements paid out by the U.S. government.
The Hines V.A. Hospital is a 471-bed facility, located on 147 acres 12 miles west of downtown Chicago. The hospital also operates six community-based outpatient clinics in the Chicago area. In fiscal year 2010, the hospital served more than 600,000 patients with a budget of more than $510 million.
Paul Greenberg is a medical malpractice lawyer in Chicago and malpractice attorney with Briskman Briskman & Greenberg. To learn more call 1.877.595.4878 or visit http://www.briskmanandbriskman.com/.
The post Vietnam veteran wins twelve million dollars in medical malpractice settlement first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Last week Al Qaeda militants took over the key Iraqi city of Fallujah – a city that American soldiers fought valiantly to liberate just nine years ago. Unfortunately, many Americans may not remember or understand the sacrifice of the veterans who fought to free the city in the first place. The sobering news reminded me of recent comments made by General David Petraeus thanking our veterans and noting the lack of national sacrifice in the recent War on Terror.
Since the tragedy of 9/11, just 0.45% of the US population has served in the War on Terror. This is a lackluster statistic compared to the 11.2% who served four years during WW II and the 4.3% who served twelve years during the Vietnam War.
While the dangers to our country have intensified and grown more pervasive, a greater burden to protect our freedom has been shouldered by fewer and fewer Americans. Perhaps this trend has led to the unfortunate disconnect between the public and veterans – today’s War on Terror seems distant in the minds of Americans. This fact is unfortunate, yet unsurprising as less than one percent answer the call to serve.
During WW II and Vietnam, if your family members didn’t answer the call to serve, then your neighbors and friends did. The sacrifice of the country was readily visible. Today, that patriotic sacrifice made by military men, women, and families is less apparent and less understood. However, the bravery of our service men and women should not be any less appreciated.
These short comments from General Petraeus are eye-opening and worth a read:
http://cibassoc.com/media/letters-from-the-front-lines/
Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC fights for veterans rights. We fight to make sure you get the benefits you deserve from the Department of Veterans Affairs. To learn more or contact a veterans lawyer, visit http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com/ or call 800.693.4800
The post Decline in Service first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Immigrants have become increasingly visible in the fabric of Texas society, with U.S. Census Bureau figures pegging the state as experiencing the second biggest jump—
44.9 percent—of foreign-born residents from 2000 to 2011 within the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Not surprisingly, immigrants from Latin America constituted 74.2 percent of foreign-born residents in Texas in 2011, with 59.6 percent from the leading source, Mexico, and 4.3 percent from El Salvador, the second leading country of origin of the foreign-born in Texas.
Asia ranks second as a continental source of foreign-born residents in Texas, accounting for 18.5 percent of all immigrants. India is the largest single point of origin, and a growing one at that, for these immigrants. Indeed, the surge in immigration from this subcontinent to Texas between 2000 and 2011 has set India ahead of erstwhile second-ranking Vietnam. India advanced ahead of Vietnam to assume the third rank among countries of origin in 2011—from 2.9 percent to 3.9 percent—after Mexico and El Salvador.
On a national level, the most recent figures on the foreign-born population from India are only available from Census 2000, but even those numbers place Texas high on the list of destinations for immigrants from India. While California, New Jersey, New York and Illinois were the four states with the largest foreign-born populations from India in 2000, Texas ranked fifth, with 78,388 immigrants from the subcontinent (or 7.7 percent of all Indian-born immigrants in the United States).
A. Banerjee is a Houston immigration attorney in Texas. Before selecting an lawyer, contact the Law Offices of Annie Banerjee by visiting their website at http://www.visatous.com.
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Almost one out of every five suicides in the U.S. is a veteran, though veterans only make up about 10 percent of the U.S. population.
The latest numbers indicate that there may be as many as 22 veterans committing suicide each day, or one suicide every 65 minutes. Former defense secretary Leon Panetta says the service member suicide rate is “an epidemic.”
A report by the Department of Veterans Affairs released in February 2013 looked at data reported from 21 states between 1999 and the end of 2011. But the numbers may be even higher, as many vets are missing from the official reports of vet suicides. There is no uniform reporting system of which veteran deaths were suicide-related in the U.S. A coroner or funeral director typically enters the veteran status of the deceased and that the manner of death was suicide on the death certificate. If a veteran dies in a manner that may nor may not be suicide, the incident may go under accidental death. Additionally, when a homeless person commits suicide, his or her veterans status might not be known in that community, and the stigma of suicide in some families and some communities may mean that the manner of death is not divulged or the coroner may be pressured to not list the cause of death as suicide. Veteran status is not verified or followed up by the VA or the Defense Department. Capturing accurate information is an ongoing issue.
A report released by a journalism student program, News21, states that the suicide rate for veterans annually is approximately 30 per 100,000, more than twice the rate of the civilian population (14 per 100,000), and it was also increasing at an accelerated rate compared to civilian suicides. From the 48 states they studied, they found that the suicide rate for vets was increasing an average of 2.6 percent each year, from 2005 to 2011, twice the rate of civilian suicide increase.
Though veteran suicides are happening among men and women, older vets and those who have just returned from Iraq and Afghanistan, almost 70 percent of vet suicides are being committed by those who were 50 and older. Vet mental health advocates currently think that the high levels for that cohort is a combination of Vietnam vets with ongoing combat stress who did not receive adequate support when they returned home, and men who have raised their children to adulthood.
Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC fights for veterans rights. We fight to make sure you get the benefits you deserve from the Department of Veterans Affairs. To learn more or contact an attorney about your Post Traumatic Stress, Traumatic Brain Injury, Mental Health, Sexual Assault, Hearing Loss and Tinnitus, Total Disability Based on Individual Unemployability, Medical Malpractice, or Aid and Attendance claim, visit http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com/ or call 800.693.4800
The post Veterans Committing Suicide At Accelerating Rate first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>A memorial ceremony has been held for 25 military veterans whose cremains were left unclaimed by family members. The cremains will be recognized in a ceremony inNew Jerseyand then the ashes will be laid to rest inWashington, in a military cemetery there.
The unclaimed cremains include those from seven veterans born in the 1830s or ’40s, and may be from the Civil War, There are also cremains from 12 veterans of World War I and as many as ten others from more recent conflicts.
Francis Carrasco is the chairman of New Jersey Mission of Honor, an organization working to reunite unclaimed ashes of veterans with family members or, barring that, a formal burial. Carrasco said that, as a Vietnam vet, he feels he knows what it is like to be disrespected and pushed aside. The unclaimed veterans deserve better.
Most of the 25 military veterans recently interred were left at Garden State Crematorium inNorth Bergen,New Jersey; the veterans were all fromBergenandHudsoncounties. New Jersey Mission of Honor worked with the parent company to locate the families of the vets prior to interment.
New Jersey Mission of Honor, started in 2009, aims to coordinate with state veterans’ organizations to find, properly identify and properly inter any unclaimedU.S.veteran cremains. To date, New Jersey Mission of Honor has located the cremains of almost 200 veterans with surviving family members and has formally buried 105 more. The oldest cremains located so far date from a vet who fought in the Mexican Border War between 1915 and 1918. New Jersey Mission of Honor also looks for unclaimed veteran cremains left behind at hospitals, crematoriums, veterans’ homes, prisons and senior homes.
The cremains of veterans that are unclaimed can remain in the basements of funeral homes for decades. Determining the next of kin for relocated cremains can take months or even years. New Jersey Mission of Honor is also working with cremains of an additional 75 vets, looking for their next of kin. Each veteran is buried within a mahogany urn and with an American flag.
New Jersey Mission of Honor is entirely funded by private donations and is comprised entirely of volunteers from non-profit groups and veteran organizations.
Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC fights for veterans rights. We fight to make sure you get the benefits you deserve from the Department of Veterans Affairs. To learn more or contact an attorney about your Post Traumatic Stress, Traumatic Brain Injury, Mental Health, Sexual Assault, Hearing Loss and Tinnitus, Total Disability Based on Individual Unemployability, Medical Malpractice, or Aid and Attendance claim, visit http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com/ or call 800.693.4800
The post Forgotten Military Veterans Given Proper Memorial Services in New Jersey first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>In an address to disabled veterans, President Obama announced that the backlog of disability claims was shrinking. At the Disabled American Veterans annual meeting earlier this year, Obama stated that the backlog of disability benefits claims had shrink by as much as 20 percent in the past five months. But, he conceded, a new wave of claims was coming in to the Veterans Administration. Some of those claims are from service members who served in Vietnam and are looking for care for ailments they believe stem from their decades-past exposure to Agent Orange, as well as veterans most recently returned fromIraq andAfghanistan with traumatic brain injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder and physical injuries.
“Any efforts to decrease the extensive backlog of disability claims are greatly needed and appreciated,” commented James Fausone, a veterans disability attorney. “Many of the service members who have filed disability claims have been waiting for a shockingly long time just to get their claims processed, much less disbursed.”
The White House is committed to boosting the amount of spending available for vet services to attend to their education and job prospects as well as the physical and mental health and homeless issues so many vets face, Obama said. There is also a push to better support additional hiring of vets at the Department of Veterans Affairs, and increase overtime pay to clear up the backlog of claims.
According to the VA, 64 percent of claims still pending are supplemental claims filed by vets asking for additional benefits. Though the sequestration cuts took effect in March 2013, veteran spending was exempted, allowing funding to go to decreasing the countless disability benefits currently backlogged at the VA. Obama stated that Congress needed to work together to reduce the deficit and to keep the promises of support ad benefits to veterans.
Though World War I’s lastU.S.veteran died more than two years ago, Obama said to the 34,000 attendees, survivor benefits are still going to the descendants of the men who fought then, and in the Spanish-American War. Benefits are even going to a Civil War veteran’s daughter. Benefits will also be going to the descendants of this wave of service people.
Source
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/11/us/obama-assures-disabled-veterans-they-will-get-aid.html?_r=0
Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC fights for veterans rights. We fight to make sure you get the benefits you deserve from the Department of Veterans Affairs. To learn more or contact a veterans lawyer, visit http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com/ or call 800.693.4800
The post Veterans Disability Attorney Comments on Shrinking Disability Benefits Backlog first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Veteran Disabilty Lawyer
Those veterans who flew on C-123 airplanes dropped more than 10 million gallons of Agent Orange to destroy enemy cover and crops during the Vietnam War. After the war between 1972 and 1982, about 1,500 men and women served aboard 34 C-123s that were previously deployed in Operation Ranch Hand, a large-scale defoliation mission in Vietnam and other countries in Southeast Asia. VA does not recognize AO exposure onboard the C-123s during or after the Vietnam war. If the veteran can prove boots on the ground during the war he can establish AO exposure. However, those who were exposed outside the country or after the war by residuals from the C-123s are not as fortunate. Spreading the word among scientists, veterans and politicians and posting evidence publicly at c123kcancer.blogspot.com is one way to keep this in the public eye even as veterans pass away.
Just as the Navy and VA have shame for how they treat Blue Water Navy vets, the USAF has shame for its treatment of C-123 crews.
Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC fights for veterans rights. We fight to make sure you get the benefits you deserve from the Department of Veterans Affairs. To learn more or contact a veterans attorney, visit http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com/ or call 800.693.4800
The post USAF AO Shame first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Principi argued that current eligibility requirements are far more liberal than, as President Lincoln once charged, “To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan.” He said that the 50,000 veterans wounded inIraqandAfghanistanwho have filed for disability claims are not the reason the system is clogged, but that the system was already overwhelmed by veterans who were filing claims from long-ago service.
“While every benefits system may face the occasional questionable filing, the focus of the VA disability benefits system needs to support the servicemen and servicewomen who need those benefits to which they are entitled,” commented veterans disability attorneyJames Fausone.
Principi called for the restoration of the “integrity” of the Veterans Administration claims system in a keynote address this June at forum on the VA. The forum, co-hosted by Concerned Veterans for America The Weekly Standard magazine, featured Principi’s keynote, where he stated that Congress, vet service organizations and the VA must address the expansion of disability pay eligibility. Principi has called for a “rebalancing” of priorities or the VA system will be at risk, he said. His remarks were in sharp contrast to other speakers, who urged the VA to work more efficiently and faster on the backlog of disability claims still pending.
More than one million claims are filed each year; an estimated 80 percent of these are filed from veterans who served prior to 2001, Principi said. A vet who served a single day inVietnamcan file for medical conditions typically seen in aging men, Principi said, such as prostate cancer, lung cancer, Parkinson’s disease, and Type II diabetes.
It has been 40 years since the end of the Vietnam War, and 37 percent of VA claims have been filed byVietnamvets, twice as many as those filed by recently discharged vet, according to Principi. And, says Principi, as much as 11 percent of claims, 100,000 or more, have been filed by veterans who never saw conflict. Vietnam-era vet claims increased, posited Principi, due to assumptions that “ailments of aging” such as some heart diseases and Type II diabetes, were added to the list the VA accepted as caused by exposure to Agent Orange.
The VA paid out $26.6 billion in 2005 in disability compensation. By the end of 2013, it will pay out more than $60 billion.
Source
Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC fights for veterans rights. We fight to make sure you get the benefits you deserve from the Department of Veterans Affairs. To learn more or contact a veterans lawyer, visit http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com/ or call 800.693.4800
The post Former VA Secretary Calls for VA Disability Benefits Reform first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Veterans Disability Lawyer
The largest group of veterans with claims pending are from the Vietnam era. It has been 40 years since the war ended and the tale of that war, which shows in disability claims, is still lengthening. We can expect that the Iraq/Afghanistan tale to also be 40 years in the making with claims increasing until 2054.
VA officials recently blogged:
“In fact, about 60% of the 845,000 pending disability claims are from Veterans for whom VA has already completed at least one claim. About 78% of those Veterans are already receiving monetary compensation at some level—and about half of those are rated with at least a 50% disability, receiving $1000 or more monthly. The other 40% of the total inventory are from Veterans filing for the first time. This 60/40 percent split is roughly the same proportion for claims that have been pending more than 125 days—i.e. the backlog. Also, many people—including reporters covering the story—attribute the growing number of claims to the wind-down of current conflicts.
In reality, only one in five claims in the inventory come from Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans. The largest portion is actually from Vietnam-era Veterans. “
So veteran advocates, like the VA, have no shortage of work.
Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC fights for veterans rights. We fight to make sure you get the benefits you deserve from the Department of Veterans Affairs. To learn more or contact a veterans lawyer, visit http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com/ or call 800.693.4800
The post 40 Year Tale first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Veteran Disability Attorney
Ok, you have heard about the backlog of claims at VA. But who is in that clog? Vietnam era veterans account for the largest share of the 865,000 veterans stuck in the clog. They are 37% of the clog according to VA statistics. The post 9-11 wars inAfghanistan andIraq account for 20%. The remainder,43%, are from the 1991 Gulf War,Korea, World War II and times of peace. Some reasons are obvious – aging population and resulting increasing health issues and some reasons are subtle – changing attitudes. This LA Times article discusses the clog and the reasons.
Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC fights for veterans rights. We fight to make sure you get the benefits you deserve from the Department of Veterans Affairs. To learn more or contact a veterans lawyer, visit http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com/ or call 800.693.4800
The post Who is in the Backlog? first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>