Legislation
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News Update
Cal–Diego PVA recognizes the need for people with disabilities to be actively involved in federal, state, and local legislation that impacts our vital interests. Cal-Diego PVA is proactive at all levels of government to protect the rights and benefits of our members as well as those of all citizens with disabilities. For example, Cal–Diego PVA members have been involved with the local transit, building, and planning departments of San Diego to ensure that our city and county are accessible to all disabled persons.
Housing Grant
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced a grant of $75 million to provide permanent housing for an estimated 10,000 homeless veterans nationwide. HUD's Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing Program (HUD-VASH) will provide local public housing agencies with approximately 10,000 rental assistance vouchers specifically targeted to assist homeless veterans in their area. In addition, the VA and HUD will link local public housing agencies with VA Medical Centers to provide supportive services and case management to eligible homeless veterans. New York City and the greater-Los Angeles area will receive the greatest number of vouchers.
Women Veterans Health Improvement Act
A bipartisan group of U.S. Senators introduced legislation to improve care for women veterans at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The legislation, the Women Veterans Health Improvement Act of 2008 seeks to prepare the VA for the unprecedented influx of female veterans who will access care there in the coming years. The legislation will address many of the unique needs of female veterans by authorizing programs to improve care for Military Sexual Trauma (MST), increase research on the current barriers to care, and expand women veterans staff positions at the VA.
Health Care Providers
The U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs held a hearing on making VA the workplace of choice for health care providers. Witnesses addressed current shortcomings and suggested ways to improve recruitment, retention and service quality. Locality pay for nurses, and support for education incentives were among the issues discussed. The witnesses described VA's health care personnel situation as one where VA is constantly challenged to compete with private-sector employers that provide better pay and incentives.
VA Homeless Programs
The House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, led by Chairman Bob Filner (D-CA), held a hearing recently to examine the effectiveness of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) homeless programs. The hearing focused on the need to improve direct service programs that helps veterans with self-sufficiency and prevention programs that identify vulnerable veterans and servicemembers. According to the VA, the number of veterans homeless on a typical night has declined 21 percent in the past year.
Proposed GI Bill Changes
Republican senators proposed a package of new educational benefits for service members and veterans. The GOP bill would include a $400 per month increase, to $1,500, in educational benefits payable to active duty troops. Those who stay in the military for 12 years or more could draw up to $2,000 per month in college aid. The legislation also would allow veterans to apply up to $6,000 per year of aid received through the existing Montgomery GI Bill to pay off student loans and would permit veterans to transfer at least part of their GI Bill benefits to their spouses or children.
The Bush administration has endorsed a House bill that would improve the Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB) education benefits in several ways including with a 31 percent jump in monthly benefits and a new $500-a-month stipend to help cover college living expenses. The aim is not only to improve veterans' benefits in wartime but to derail a far more costly GI Bill reform package proposed by Democrats.
VA Health Care FY 2009 Budget
Congress has begun to hold hearings on the budget for 2009 and the outlook for veteran programs is not certain. Cal-Diego is responding in a number of ways to the President's fiscal year (FY) 2009 budget proposal, which falls short of meeting the needs of our veterans.
The Independent Budget (IB) AMVETS, Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA), and the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) has issued the 2009 Independent Budget report that highlights the $3 billion difference between what the President has recommended for the VA and what is actually needed. Under the President’s budget, there is not enough money for veterans’ health care, which could result in fewer services to deal with the surge of traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, visual and hearing impairment, and spinal cord injury/dysfunction. We will be working with Congress to correct funding shortfalls in critical areas such as health care, as well as work to reform the budget process to ensure that veterans’ health care funding is sufficient, timely, and predictable in the future.
The Administration has submitted its budget request to Congress for FY 2009. Although the Administration recommended a few slight increases in funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), including VA health care, the funding levels fall short of the resources necessary to provide adequate health care and benefits for veterans.
Disappointingly the Administration chose to once again recommend an increase in prescription drug co-payments from $8 to $15 and an indexed enrollment fee based on veterans’ incomes. Although the VA does not overtly explain the impact of these proposals, similar proposals in the past have estimated that nearly 200,000 veterans will leave the system and more than 1,000,000 veterans will choose not to enroll. Congress has soundly rejected these proposals in the past and we anticipate that they will do so again.
The Administration’s budget does not provide resources necessary to reopen the health-care system to Priority 8 veterans who were locked out of the health- care system beginning in January 2003. The IB estimates that the total overall cost to allow Priority 8 veterans into the system is approximately $1.4 billion. Cal-Diego believes strongly that the VA has a responsibility to include these veterans in the health-care system.
The Administration’s budget provides inadequate funding for both major construction and minor construction.
A new, improved funding mechanism has been proposed for VA health care. This proposal is being developed by the Partnership for Veterans Health Care Budget Reform as a result of the lack of interest in properly addressing mandatory funding in the Congress. The proposal would change VA’s medical care appropriation to an advance appropriation which would provide approval one year in advance, thereby guaranteeing its timeliness and predictability. Furthermore, it would add transparency to VA’s health care enrollee projection model, focusing the debate on the most actuarially-sound projection of veterans’ health care costs to ensure sufficiency. Under this proposal, Congress would retain its discretion to approve appropriations; retain all of its oversight authority; and most importantly, there would be no PAYGO problems.
Cost-of-Living Legislation Introduced
U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI), Chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, introduced legislation to increase veterans' compensation through a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). A bipartisan group of Veterans' Affairs Committee Members signed on as original cosponsors of this legislation. The Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2008 would increase as of Dec. 1, 2008 the rates of:
(1) veterans' disability compensation,
(2) dependency and indemnity compensation for surviving spouses and children, and,
(3) additional related benefits. The COLA increase for veterans would match the annual increase provided to Social Security recipients.
Secretary Vows to Reduce Wait Times
Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary James Peake pledged to reduce the time it takes veterans to receive medical care and disability claims payments. At a recent hearing of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, the Secretary said he would work to reduce wait times for VA medical care from about 180 days to 145 days by 2009. According to Peake, VA will hire 3,100 new employees by 2009 and will work to gain greater online access to Pentagon medical information, which will allow staff to process claims faster and move toward an electronic claims filing system.