Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

From the VA:

Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

1.      VA Eases Benefits Path For Vets From Gulf War, Iraq And Afghanistan. The American Forces Press Service (9/30, Miles) reports, “Veterans of the first Gulf War as well as…Iraq and Afghanistan now have a smoother path toward receiving health-care benefits and disability compensation for nine diseases associated with their military service,” VA Secretary Eric Shinseki announced Wednesday. A “final regulation published” in the “Federal Register relieves veterans of the burden of proving these diseases are service-related: Brucellosis, Campylobacter jejuni, Coxiella Burnetii (Q fever), Malaria, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Nontyphoid Salmonella, Shigella, Visceral leishmaniasis and West Nile virus.” Shinseki “added the new presumptions after reviewing a 2006 National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine report on the long-term health effects of certain diseases suffered among…veterans.” Federal News Radio (9/30) publishes a similar story.

 2.      Arkansas Breaks Ground On Vets Cemetery. KARK-TV Little Rock, AR (9/29, 6:18 p.m. CT) broadcast that on Wednesday, the “state of Arkansas broke ground on its fourth state veterans cemetery,” which will be located in Birdeye. The “state will be reimbursed for the initial $7.1 million in construction costs by the US Department of Veterans Affairs. The cemetery is expected to be completed sometime next fall.”

 3.      Panel Concerned About Louisiana Medal Ceremonies. In continuing coverage, the Opelousas (LA) Daily World (9/29, Hasten, 14K) reported, “Louisiana’s veterans should be able to receive medals promised in legislation without having to attend ceremonies so Gov. Bobby Jindal can personally hand them out, state lawmakers say.” On Monday, members “of a joint legislative Veterans Affairs panel…criticized the way Jindal and Lane Carson, his secretary of veterans affairs, have been restricting distribution to only those who attend the ceremonies that some said are political events promoting the governor more than veterans.” According to the World, however, Carson “said veterans who attend the ceremonies enjoy them and appreciate the attention.”

4.      VA Opposing Bill To Require That Medical Quality Assurance Records Be Posted Online. The Marine Corps Times (9/30, Maze, 32K) reports, “A bill that would require the Veterans Affairs Department to post medical quality assurance records online has drawn opposition from VA, which worries about the confidentiality of patients and whether posting the records would have a ‘chilling effect’ on the willingness of health care workers to report mistakes.” The bill, known as the Transparency for America’s Heroes Act, “calls for the quality assurance records to be posted on VA’s website after patients’ identifying information is removed.” The bill’s sponsor, US Rep Joe Sestak (D-PA), “testifying Wednesday before the House Veterans Affairs Committee’s health panel, said the bill is his response to ‘revelations of substandard care’ in the past two years that include well-publicized problems with the sterilization of medical equipment, and less publicized issues, like a veteran whose open wound was filled with maggots.”

 5.      House Approves New Death Benefit Disclosure Rules. Bloomberg News (9/30, Lerer) notes that on Wednesday, the US House of Representatives “passed legislation that would set new disclosure rules for life-insurance companies” providing death benefits to veterans. According to Bloomberg, “Prudential Financial Inc., which provides life insurance for the military under a contract with the Department of Veterans Affairs, pays death benefits for fallen soldiers by opening accounts that their families can draw against.” After noting that the legislation passed by the House “would require insurers to tell beneficiaries how” their death benefit “money will be invested and provide additional financial counseling,” Bloomberg points out that Prudential and VA “say they already are providing counseling.” CQ (9/30, Dumain), which publishes a similar story, says the bill passed Wednesday “would require…VA to submit annual reports to Congress related to the new transparency efforts.”
     Bloomberg News (9/30, Evans) reports, “VA says it is taking steps to better help survivors. ‘The VA is working to ensure that all aspects of the Alliance Account,'” a collective death benefit account run by Prudential “‘and all choices to the beneficiary are made absolutely clear and that all facts concerning the administration of the accounts continue to be fully transparent and disclosed,’ says Thomas Lastowka, the VA director for insurance.”

 6.      Bill Passed In House Would Classify Some Guard, Reserve Retirees As Vets. The Army Times (9/30, Maze, 104K) reports, “On Tuesday, the House of Representatives approved by voice vote a bill, HR 3787, that gives Guard and Reserve retirees the privilege of being called veterans – an honor currently denied them because the legal definition of ‘veteran’ applies only to those who served on active duty.” The “one limitation” in the bill is that “without active service, a Guard or Reserve member would be considered a veteran only if he completed 20 years or more of service and is retirement eligible or receiving military retired pay.” After noting that the bill “now goes to the Senate, where its fate is unclear,” the Times adds, “There is no controversy about the measure, but senators may feel no pressing need to act because this is a largely symbolic measure, Senate aides said.”

 7.      Vet’s Son Satisfied With Obama’s Comments On VA Care. In continuing coverage, the NPR (9/29, Horsley) program, “All Things Considered,” notes that this week, President Obama has been campaigning in “intimate settings, talking with just a few dozen people gathered in a neighbor’s yard,” as he did on Tuesday, when he spoke in New Mexico and heard from Andrew Cavalier, who “grew emotional as he described the trouble his retired Marine father faces, trying to get adequate care from the Department of Veterans Affairs.” Obama “briefly embraced the young man, before going on to talk about the big increase in VA funding he has pushed through,”.

8.      Study: Cost Of Caring For Iraq, Afghanistan Vets Could Exceed $900 Billion. The AP (9/30, Jelinek) says a new study by “Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz of Columbia University and Linda Bilmes” of Harvard University “estimates that health costs for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars could top $900 billion, leading one congressman to call for setting up a veterans’ trust fund.” On Wednesday, US Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA) “told reporters Wednesday that treatment for veterans should be budgeted as part of the cost of war, comparing the program to Medicare and Social Security.” The AP notes that that the study conducted by Stiglitz and Bilmes “said some 600,000 of the more than 2.1 million men and women who’ve been deployed already have received treatment by the Veterans Affairs Department.”
     Filner To Unveil Plan For Veterans’ Care Trust Fund. The Washington Times (9/30, Waterman, 77K) reports, “The expense of caring for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars is an unfunded budget liability for US taxpayers that in years to come will rival the cost of entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare, lawmakers will be told Thursday,” when the House Veterans Affairs Committee hears from economists Stiglitz and Bilmes about “new estimates of the cost of lifetime medical care and benefits for returning troops disabled by their service.” Also on Thursday, Filner, the committee’s chairman, “will unveil a plan to establish a trust fund to build up cash reserves to help meet the future costs of veterans’ care.”
     According to the Air Force Times (9/30, Maze), Filner is “vowing to press next year to create a veterans’ trust fund by offering an amendment to ‘every veterans or defense bill.'” Filner “discussed the trust fund idea last week with major veterans service organizations but so far only” the Veterans of Modern Warfare have “embraced the proposal. Other groups appear to be waiting for more details about how a trust fund might work before signing on.” KTIV-TV Sioux City, IA (9/29, 10:25 p.m. CT), KIMT-TV Rochester, MN (9/29, 10:08 p.m. CT), and KPSP-TV Palm Springs, CA (9/29, 6:33 p.m. PT) also aired reports on Filner’s response to the veterans’ care study.

 9.      US Army Commanders Alarmed By Rash Of Suicides At Fort Hood. The New York Times (9/30, A23, McKinley, 1.01M) reports, “Four veterans of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan died this week from what appeared to be self-inflicted gunshot wounds at Fort Hood in central Texas, raising the toll of soldiers who died here at their own hands to a record level and alarming Army commanders.” The “largest base in the United States, Fort Hood and the surrounding communities have suffered high rates of crime, domestic violence, suicide and various mental illnesses as wave after wave of soldiers have been deployed abroad over nine years of continual warfare, often serving more than one tour.” The Times notes that “advocates for soldiers who have suffered mental breakdowns said” Army suicide-prevention programs are not effective.
     Analysis Suggests Vets’ Mental Health Problems Are Growing. The Fayetteville (NC) Observer (9/30, Calhoun, 56K) reports that after it “spent months examining the handling of mental health issues created by nine years of war,” its “reporting shows that the Army, Fort Bragg, the veterans health system and the civilian community are doing more than ever before to address the problems that soldiers and their families face. But the problem is growing; more soldiers are suffering” from post-traumatic stress-disorder (PTSD). According to the Observer, “evidence suggests that addressing PTSD in a military community requires a broad approach that includes” a “stronger commitment from the military to fight the stigma attached to seeking mental health treatment.”
     Illinois VA, Marion VAMC Expanding Mental Health Services. The WSIL-TV Carterville, IL (9/30, Stensland) website, which also takes note of the recent Fort Hood suicides, reports, “The Illinois Department of Veterans” Affairs has created three” programs – “Vet Healthcare, Illinois Warrior Assistance Program (IWAP), and Reintegration Seminars” – that specifically target “troops who show signs of combat stress.” Hospitals run by the US VA are “also expanding their mental health services. The Marion VA Medical Center is building an addition to its mental health center” and has “stepped up the amount of help veterans can get at VA field offices across the region.”
     Dorn VA Hospital Hosts Suicide Awareness Program. The WLTX-TV Columbia, SC (9/29, Sharp, Eleazer) website noted that on Tuesday, the “Dorn Veterans Administration Hospital hosted a program to bring awareness” to the problem of suicide among US veterans. Meanwhile, veteran Gary Anderson is “volunteering with the hospital to make ‘bottles of hope’, small containers filled with a solution to blow bubbles. The bottles will be sent to military personnel serving in Iraq to let them know someone cares here at home.”
     Gates Cautions About Growing Disconnect Between Military And Country As A Whole. The AP (9/30, Flaherty) reports that in a Wednesday speech at Duke University, “Defense Secretary Robert Gates said…that most Americans have grown too detached from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and see military service as ‘something for other people to do.'” The Secretary “said this disconnect has imposed a heavy burden on a small segment of society and wildly driven up the costs of maintaining an all-volunteer force.”
     AFP (9/30, De Luce) notes that Gates “said most Americans were untouched by the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and few had relatives or friends in the armed forces, as less than one percent of the population was serving in uniform.” AFP adds that “although Gates lauded the all-volunteer force, launched in the 1970s, as a ‘remarkable success,’ he said there was a potential gap emerging between the military and civilian society.”
     The New York Times (9/30, A28, Bumiller, 1.01M) reports, “Gates said that although veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan were embraced when they came home, ‘for most Americans the wars remain an abstraction – a distant and unpleasant series of news items that do not affect them personally.'” Gates “called for the return of R.O.T.C. to elite campuses across the country…and for the academically gifted to consider military service.”

 10.    VA Hospital, Two Others Demonstrate Health Benefits Of Copper Bed Rails. The Charleston (SC) Post And Courier (9/29, Dudley) reported, “Using two hospitals in Charleston and one in New York, researchers now have data to prove the metal” copper “cuts down harmful bacteria in patient rooms.” The Ralph H. Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical Center “and the Medical University of South Carolina joined Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in a $5 million study funded by the Department of Defense that showed copper hospital bed rails, IV poles and tray tables harbored significantly fewer harmful bacteria than standard ones. Their next step is to determine whether patients who stayed in rooms with copper equipment suffered fewer costly, and sometimes deadly, hospital-acquired infections.”