Readers of Tom Philpott’s Military Update column sound off.

Congress Balks On Having Lawyers Handle VA Claims

Can you please inform me of the status of recent bills (S 2694, HR 5549) to allow veterans to hire attorneys to deal with the Department of Veterans Affairs on disability claims? The senate bill was named the Veterans Choice of Representation Act of 2006.

Was either of the bills passed?

S. PRENTICE
Via e-mail

The bills, introduced in 2006 during the 109th Congress, never became law. They were opposed by the Department of Veterans Affairs and by large veterans’ service organizations.

Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho), then chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, introduced S 2694 after reading a commentary by a prominent Washington, D.C., attorney who argued that veterans mature enough to have defended their country should be viewed as competent enough to hire a lawyer if they want legal advice in pursuing VA benefits.

Organization like the Veterans of Foreign Wars countered that Craig's bill would create a “windfall opportunity for lawyers to earn significant fees with little effort” and that getting lawyers involved would only slow down VA claim reviews and appeals. – Tom Philpott

Easing SBP-DIC Offset

My husband died of service-related illness from a tragedy in January 2000 after serving 30 years in the Navy. I was awarded DIC payments but my SBP was denied and premiums previously paid were returned.

Do I have any way to get my SBP back again by paying back the amount sent to me? I have never remarried.

GRACE D
Jacksonville Beach, Fla.

No you don't. However, Congress has taken a first step toward easing the SBP-DIC offset. Starting Oct. 1, 2008, survivors affected by the offset will begin receiving a $50-a-month “indemnity allowance.” It will increase annually by $10 until it reaches $100 a month in 2013. – T. P.

I am a 100-percent, combat-disabled veteran and military retiree. I have paid into SBP for almost 35 year and I’m still paying.

My beef is that I was told this was like an insurance guarantee for my wife should I die. But I don’t know of any insurance plan that could get by with stealing your policy if a widow also gets money from the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Dependency and Indemnity Compensation program.

I want my damn money back – the premiums I have paid -- since my wife will not be able to draw SBP. That’s only fair for the lies I was fed for 35-plus years.

BILLY SINOR
Via e-mail

If you die before your spouse, her SBP will have to be forfeited to draw DIC. But she will have refunded to her all of your SBP premiums, but without any interest the government might have earned on the money.

Starting next October, survivors hit by the SBP-DIC offset will be eligible for a new indemnity allowance of $50 a month. – T.P.

Remember What We Did

I served in the Navy from March 1960 to January 1980 and spent many a holiday and special occasion separated from my loved ones in isolated and remote areas of the world. I was paid a salary that pales in comparison to what many civilian employees were making. And they were able to be with their families and not required to put their lives on the line.

I draw a pension from the military and had the foresight also to make a second career of the U.S. Postal Service. I am now reaping the benefits I sacrificed for. But now the Department of Defense has the nerve to say we should pay more for our promised “free” medical care.

They should remember what we did to preserve American freedoms and the benefits that we all enjoy.

CHARLES D. SWANSON
Chief Cryptologic Technician, USN-Ret.
Via e-mail

When I enlisted in the Navy in 1952, my pay was $84 a month, but I was told room, board and free medical care, a benefit promised for life, would compensate for low military pay.

Health care for life was removed by the time I retired in 1971. Various versions of care were available – CHAMPUS or doctors on base if we could get to a military health care unit and wait until all active duty personnel and their dependents were cared for. Most often this happened after normal doctors’ duty hours were over and “come back tomorrow” was the instruction so you started at the end of the line again.

Finally, after my wife and I reached 65, TRICARE for Life arrived.

I assumed the Defense Health Board, in reviewing the work of the Task Force on the Future of Military Health Care, was going to make good on the promise made at the start of my 20 years of service to country. Wrong.

It looks as if Dr. Gail Wilensky, Dr. Gregory Poland and the task force are looking to assist in the funding for this president’s war. Just one quarter’s funding for the misguided Iraq situation would cover Dr. Poland’s projected increase in military health costs. I’m assuming his figures include past and future costs for “repair” of military personnel injured since 2003.

I do not feel the government is being very responsible in handling health care dollars. The cost for Medicare Part B which we pay continues to go up. TRICARE for Life fees should not.

E. E. WHITEMAN
Chief Sonar Technician, USN-Ret.
Via e-mail

Letters may be edited for clarity or length. Write to Military Forum, P.O. Box 231111, Centreville, VA 20120-1111, send e-mail to militaryforum@aol.com or visit www.militaryupdate.com.

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