Dear Sgt. Shaft,

My mom died on May 24 by multiple organ failure. She had gone through dialysis sessions three times a week since both her kidneys malfunctioned in 2004. She had pacemaker surgery in May 2004 because her heart suddenly stopped beating. After the four years that she carried her illness, her body gave up.

I just want to ask if she can get any death benefits or lump sum from TRICARE since TRICARE paid all her hospital expenses since she became ill.

My mom was married to a retired U.S. Navy veteran in 1990 here in the Philippines. My stepdad died in 1996 and my mom never tried to go to the U.S. for citizenship, so she was still a Filipino citizen.

I hope you can answer my question about it because my mom died without any life insurance. So we just owed all the burial expenses to my auntie. And we don't know where to get money to repay her.

Thank you and God bless.

- Maryjoy from Philippines

Dear Maryjoy:

Those in the know at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) tell me that TRICARE is a managed health care program for members of the uniformed services, their families and survivors. However, it does not provide death or burial benefits. The VA offers burial allowances as partial reimbursements of an eligible veteran's burial and funeral costs.

The primary factor in determining basic eligibility to VA benefits is veteran status. Entitlement to death benefits are based on the claimant's status as the spouse, parent or child of a deceased veteran. The surviving spouse of an entitled veteran is eligible for interment in a national cemetery but only veterans are entitled to a monetary burial benefit.

Shaft notes:

The House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, led by Rep. Bob Filner, California Democrat, recently held a hearing to examine progress in implementing the wounded warrior provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2008 (NDAA) and to explore what else the Department of Defense and the VA need to do to enhance the care given to wounded service members and veterans.

"No matter where we stand on the war in Iraq, we all stand together in our desire to make sure that our returning service members get the seamless health care they need, and the benefits they have earned," Mr. Filner said. On March 28, 2007, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1538, the Dignified Treatment of Wounded Warriors Act, to address the problems facing wounded service members and improve their transition from the military to the VA.

This language was inserted into the NDAA which was signed by President Bush on Jan. 28. Among the key provisions to improve care for veterans and their families, the NDAA:

• Provides an additional three years of access to free VA health care for returning service members from Iraq and Afghanistan.
• Improves and expands VA's ability to care for veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with traumatic brain injury.
• Requires a comprehensive policy to address mental health conditions, including post-traumatic stress disorder.

Kudos to the VA for the results contained in a new "hospital report card" that gives the Department's health care system high marks, with VA facilities often outscoring private-sector health plans in standards commonly accepted by the health care industry.

Among the report's findings:

• Ninety-eight percent of veterans were seen within 30 days at primary care facilities, 97 percent at specialty clinics.(Veterans requiring emergency care are seen immediately.)
• Each of the VA's 153 medical centers is accredited by the independent Joint Commission, which accredits all U.S. health care facilities.
• The quality scores for older veterans are similar to those for younger veterans.

Although screening for breast and cervical cancer for women in VA facilities exceeds screening in private-sector facilities, female veterans lag behind their male counterparts in some quality measurements, the report noted.

The VA already has launched an aggressive program to ensure female veterans receive an equally high quality of care, including placement of female advocates in every outpatient clinic and medical center. Health care was a major topic at the VA's recent National Summit on Women Veterans Issues in Washington.

The report also found minority veterans are generally less satisfied with inpatient and outpatient care than white veterans. That disparity will be the focus of an in-depth study, based upon input from veterans, which will be completed this summer.

"Disparities in treatment and satisfaction based on gender or ethnic background are unacceptable," Veterans Affairs Secretary James B. Peake said. "VA has a robust program to look at disparities and to deal with the underlying causes."

Send letters to Sgt. Shaft, c/o John Fales, P.O. Box 65900, Washington, DC 20035-5900; fax 301/622-3330; call 202/257-5446; or e-mail sgtshaft@bavf.org.