|
Washington, DC – Today, local Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand, a Member of the House Armed Services Committee, announced that she introduced a bill titled, Providing Real Outreach to Vets or PRO-VETS to require the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs to notify separating servicemembers of their eligibility for their earned veterans benefits. Currently, many veterans do not receive benefits that they have earned and qualified for due to the complex benefits system. Under the existing law, veterans must pro-actively go to the VA office to learn what they are eligible to receive and apply. This bill flips the responsibility to the VA to tell vets what they are eligible to receive and requires the VA to send the application materials to the veteran in the mail or electronically.
"Servicemen and women have served our country valiantly and should not have to hunt for the benefits they have earned," said Gillibrand. "We have vets that have suffered severe brain injuries and others that are too busy putting their lives back together to try and navigate the complex benefits system. By mandating that the VA tell vets what they are eligible to receive, I hope that fewer people will fall through the cracks and will get the medical assistance they need.’
This legislation requires the DoD to transfer electronic medical information to the VA when members are identified for separation. Further, it requires that the military service connected diagnosis be tied to a veterans benefit. Once the VA receives the information they provide the list of eligible benefits to the veteran. This will help ensure the veteran is receiving all of the benefits for which they have a service connected disability.
"Our office hears from veterans in need of help every day," said Gillibrand. "The system is confusing, time consuming and difficult to navigate for our veterans who often end up not receiving the benefits they need and have earned. While this bill is not a cure all for the transitional issues our veterans face between DoD and the VA, it is a start," said Gillibrand.
In addition, this legislation requires the VA to incorporate current veterans into the system over a five year period thereby identifying benefits for which they may be eligible.
This legislation compliments Gillibrands’ earlier legislation, H.R. 5831, Separating Servicemember Handbook Development Act, which provides separating servicemembers with a benefits handbook describing in detail their Military and VA benefits. The legislation also directs the information be placed on a publicly accessible website. Local and state benefits will also be placed on the website.
The legislation was introduced with bipartisan support with Republican Representatives Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA) who also serves on the Armed Services Committee and Ginny Brown-Waite (FL) who serves on the Veterans Committee.
Background:
Providing Real Outreach to Vets (PRO-VETS)
Since the Global War on Terror was declared, 32,481 servicemembers have been wounded in action. While not all have required immediate transition between Department of Defense (DoD) and the Veterans Administration (VA), each will be eligible for some type of service connected benefit with the VA.
The current veterans benefit system is a passive one. Benefits are only received if someone applies. If a veteran is unaware of a benefit, they do not know to apply for it. Many veterans may be missing out on a benefit for which they are entitled.
As the DoD and VA transition in to a common electronic medical record, service connected diagnosis (injury or disease) should be coded to allow the VA to be able to offer veterans benefits based on those diagnosis.
If passed, this bill requires benefits to be offered at the time of separation. In the cases of infrequent or recurring benefits, they should be offered at the time of next eligibility period. All eligible benefits and their frequency should be identified to the veteran at each notification.
The legislation requires the VA to make all reasonable attempts to notify the member of their benefits through established public and private records (email, last known/current address, known phone numbers etc). As a minimum, mail delivery will be initiated 2 times and forwarding addresses utilized to the best extent possible.
Vets that are eligible will still need to go through the application process but the process should be more streamlined because the service connected diagnosis will already be linked with the benefit. Required forms will be web based, on a secure server and known information such as the veteran’s personal information and service connected disability will be already filled in. For individuals not having web access, forms will also be made available through the mail.
New York’s 20th Congressional District has approximately 60,791 veterans – the largest in the state of New York which has approximately 1,065,749 veterans total.
|