Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

1.      Veterans Commission Representative Says One In Three Homeless Men Is A Veteran.  PolitiFact.org (1/1) evanluates a claim by a representative of the Texas Veterans Commission that one in three homeless men in the state is a veteran. Asked for documentation of the claim, the Texas agency points to a similar claim by homeless housing group HelpUSA, which cites a study published on HUD’s website. But the study is silent of methodology, and the head of the Washington-based National Coalition for the Homeless “said the latest research indicates the share of homeless men who are veterans is not 1 in 3. HUD has completed an Annual Homeless Assessment Report since 2005; its latest rendition, issued in June 2010, says veterans accounted for 11 percent of the nation’s 1.2 million sheltered homeless adults in 2009 — or about 132,000 people — down from 13 percent in 2007.” A HUD spokesman dismisses the claim on its website as based on 1996 data “not considered terribly relevant” today. It also notes that a speech last month by VA Secretary Shinseki “estimates the number of homeless veterans at 107,000 — down, he said, from 131,000 two years earlier and 250,000 a decade ago.” PolitiFact’s gives as its bottom-line asessement of the claim that “Experts outside Texas agree the claim… is based on obsolete data, though some cautioned that it’s hard to pinpoint how many homeless men are veterans and one sorting of the data appears to justify the claim. We rate the statement Barely True.”

 2.      For Many Returning Veterans, Home Is Where The Trouble Is.  According to New York Times (1/3, A20, 1.01M) editorial board member Lawrence Downes, veterans “and their advocates in Utica and elsewhere” have “good words for the Veterans Affairs Department, which they said has begun realizing that one of the best ways to help veterans…is through community-based services. The agency is steering money to local nonprofits and beginning its own efforts” to “seek out veterans at risk of homelessness,” as part of a “welcome campaign” by VA Secretary Eric Shinseki “to end…veterans’ homelessness in five years.” But Downes said Congress “must do better” in this area than it did in its lame-duck session, when a “bill to give the V.A. $50 million more to address homelessness went nowhere.”
     The Casper (WY) Tribune (1/2, O’Sullivan, 25K), meanwhile, noted, “Under VA guidelines, homeless veterans are entitled to free medical care, free dental care and other services, according” to David Allhusen, who is a social worker “for the US Department of Veterans Services in Casper.” After pointing out that Allhusen also said VA and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development have agreed to provide housing vouchers for homeless veterans, the Tribune quoted VA public affairs officer William Mitchell, who said his agency is “making sure…veterans are not forgotten.”
     VA Program To Fund Services To Vets At Risk Of Becoming Homeless. The Houston, Texas-based Montgomery County Courier (1/2) said VA’s Supportive Services for Veteran Families Program, “which seeks to help veterans and families who are on the verge of becoming homeless, has moved closer to implementation.” Shinseki “noted the program marks the first time…VA will fund services for the spouses and children of veterans at imminent risk of becoming homeless.” The Courier added, “Shinseki’s comments came as VA formally announced that it is taking applications from private nonprofit organizations and consumer cooperatives interested in providing needed services,” such as counseling and child care, to at-risk veterans and their families.

 3.      Veterans Urged to Sign Up for Direct Deposits.  USNavySeals.com (12/30) reports that the VA “is urging Veterans to sign up for electronic payment of their benefits, in response to an announcement made by the Department of Treasury regarding the scheduled phase out of paper check for federal benefits.” A new Treasury regulation says that paper benefits checks will be phased out by March 2013. Veterans who have not signed up for electronic payment of benefits by that time will receiveda preaid debit card, known as he Direct Express card, issued by Comerica Bank.

4.      Hickenlooper Appoints Agency Chiefs For Health Care, Energy, Veterans.  The Denver Post (1/1, Post, 364K) reports that Gov.-elect John Hickenlooper (D) “announced appointments Friday to head three agencies responsible for health care, energy, and military and veterans affairs.” He “announced that Maj. Gen. Michael Edwards will continue as executive director of the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. Edwards is the state’s adjutant general, overseeing Colorado’s Army and Air National Guard units.” KXRM-TV Colorado Springs, CO (12/31, 8:32 p.m. EDT) and KRDO-TV Colorado Springs, CO (1/1, 8:04 a.m. EST) also report Gen. Edwards’ re-appointment.

 5.      Michigan Governor Hopes To Name MVA Head In Next Week. WJRT-TV Flint, MI (12/30, Brown, 4:06 p.m. EST) reports that a spokeswoman for Michigan Gov.-elect Rick Snyder (R) says that he hopes to fill the two last remaining Cabinet vacancies, Military and Veterans Affairs and also the Office for the Great Lakes, in the next week.

6.      Prescott Woman Inducted Into Veterans Hall of Fame.  CNBC (12/31) reports on K. Renee Ball, inducted into Arizona’s Veterans Hall Of Fame. Looking for a way to give back to other veterans, she used her background in agriculture to create an orchard at the Bob Stump Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Prescott and later to develop a gardening therapy program for veterans in the Community Living Center.” An Air Force veteran, Ball also volunteered more than 5,000 hours at the VA Medical Center.

7.      South Gains, Northeast Loses Committee Chairmen.  CQ Weekly (1/3, Vanderbilt) reports, “Nowhere is the change in Congress wrought by the November election more starkly drawn than between two states at opposite ends of the Eastern Seaboard: New York and Florida.” New York, which is “largely dominated by Democrats,” is down to a “sole Republican committee chairman, Peter T. King of Homeland Security,” while Florida, which is “largely dominated…by Republicans,” now has three committee chairmen, including Republican US Rep. Jeff Miller at Veterans Affairs. A separate CQ (12/31) listing House committee assignments in the 112th Congress article also noted that Miller will chair the Veterans Affairs panel.

8.      Expansion of HIV Screening Cost-Effective in Reducing Spread of AIDS, Study Shows.  Science Daily (12/31) reports, “An expanded US program of HIV screening and treatment could prevent as many as 212,000 new infections over the next 20 years and prove to be very cost-effective, according to a new study by Stanford University School of Medicine researchers.” The researchers found that screening high-risk people annually and low-risk people once in their lifetimes, coupled with treatment of those infected and programs aimed at changing risky behavior, “was a worthwhile and cost-effective approach to help curtail the epidemic.” Researchers on the study, the first to use a national model of AIDS transmission to study the impact of increased screening and treatment, came from Yale, Stanford and the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System.

9.      Military Insurer Denies Coverage Of New Brain Injury Treatment.  USA Today /Military Times (1/2, Tilghman, 1.83M) reported, “Military health officials are refusing to pay” for a cognitive rehabilitation therapy, or CRT, a “costly and time-consuming” traumatic brain injury (TBI) treatment, “despite widespread support for the therapy among doctors and lawmakers.” The military, however, has “asked the National Academy of Sciences’ Institutes of Medicine to study the effectiveness of CRT in TBI cases and identify specific treatments that may have enough scientific evidence to warrant coverage by Tricare. Officials say that review will be completed by the end of 2011.”

10.    Lost Money For Veterans.  The Wall Street Journal (1/2, Glazer, 2.09M) reports on ways that veterans and their families can locate unclaimed life insurance policy proceeds, dividend checks or premium refunds, which the VA holds indefinitely. In addition to checking on the agency’s website https://insurance.va.gov/liability/ufsearch.htm unpaid VA money can be claimed on a toll-free phoneline (1-800-669-8477), or by contacting a VA regional office.