All across America and around the world. This is Veterans Radio. This is Veterans Radio.
And now your host for today's program, Dale Throneberry.
Hey, welcome to Veterans Radio. We're really glad to have you back and welcome to a new
year of Veterans Radio. This is our first benefits program of the year. And we've got all of our
regular crew here. We've got Caroline Fausson from Legal Health for Veterans. We've got David
Sings from the Washtenaw County Veterans Service Office. And we've got Brian Hayes,
the director of communications at the Charles S. Kettles VA Medical Center. So we're here.
The experts are all here. So if you have any questions about benefits, give us a call. The
number in Ann Arbor is 734-822-1600. 734-822-1600 for those of you that are listening to the
program live. We should put that in there right now. So as I mentioned, we are going to be talking
about benefits. Some of the changes that have occurred in the benefits structure, I guess you
could say. Some of the things that have changed on the health side as well, because I've got some
really nice reports that have come out, how well the VA is doing compared to public hospitals and
medical systems out there. So we're really excited to talk a little bit about that.
And as I mentioned, we're going to be talking about disability. And I guess we'd really be
remiss if I didn't mention that there is a football game this afternoon. And all of us are all
dressed up in our Honolulu blue. And we are hoping that the Lions will make the next leap forward,
take out those 49ers. And I think if that happens, this whole southeast Michigan has already had a
very exciting and successful football season with the University of Michigan National Champions
Wolverines, I should point out to everyone. And with the Lions making their run, so it's pretty
exciting. So fingers are crossed, toes are crossed. Everybody hopes that they play their best game.
And we'll see how it comes out at the end. But doesn't start for a while. We'll make sure that
just stick around here on Veterans Radio. Before we get into talking with my guests, I want to
make sure that we thank our sponsors. We can't do this program without them. And without you as
our listeners, of course. But our corporate sponsors, I guess you could say we want to start
out with legal help for veterans, legal help for veterans specializes in veterans disability
claims. Give them a call at 806-93-4800. The National Veterans Business Development Council,
better known as NVBDC is the nation's leading third party authority for certification of
veteran don't businesses. For more information, you can go to their website, that's NVBDC.org,
or give them a call at 888-237-8433. I should mention that if you are a veteran don't business,
and you want to do business with the federal government and many corporations, you need to be
certified that you are really a veteran don't business. These are the folks that can help you
do that. NVBDC.org. The Charles S. Kettles VA Medical Center here in Ann Arbor, Michigan,
one of the five star VA hospitals across the country. We're very pleased and proud of the
facility there. For more information, you can go to va.gov. We also want to thank our local
veterans organizations for their long time support. Just a reminder to everybody, this is
our actually in the middle of our 20th year now. And these folks have been there since the first
day. Number one is the Erwin Prescott and American Legion post 46 and the Charles S. Kettles Vietnam
Veterans of America Chapter 310, both of Ann Arbor, Michigan. If you would like to have your corporation
sponsor Veterans Radio, all you need to do is go to our website, that's veteransradio.org,
and click on the donate button or sponsorship button there on the front page of our website.
And all that information that you need is there and it's available for you. All right, so let's get
right into this, I guess we could say. So first of all, let's talk about the healthcare system.
And that's our expert for that is Brian Hayes. And Brian is the, let's see, he's the communications
director of the health system specialist publicly, all kinds of names after your name, Brian. But
welcome back, Brian. And just go and start filling us in a little.
Well, welcome back everybody after the holidays. It's good to get the year started off on another
Veterans Radio episode for the benefits program. Lots of really good stuff going on at the Ann Arbor
VA. We've got some great celebrations coming up. In fact, the Vietnam Veterans Day is coming up
March 29th, and we celebrate that at the Ann Arbor VA. We'll have stuff going on for that.
We're going to be doing a groundbreaking, not a big one, but because the building is already there,
but a bit of a groundbreaking for the new Findlay, Ohio, a community based outpatient clinic that
we're getting ready to build. That'll be four new clinics for the Ann Arbor healthcare system in
the last three years. So we're putting these clinics out, you know, you want to go where the
Veterans are, and that's what we're trying to do. And then of course, we've got a really big
celebration that's near and dear to our hearts, and that's the naming of the women's clinic that's
coming up at the end of May. You'll be hearing a lot more about that as things roll out and as
planning gets more into high gear. And then of course, I don't want to forget, you know, as long
as we're on and Veterans locally are listening, remember, we have our brand new clinics in
Adrian, Michigan, Canton, Michigan, and in Howell, Michigan. So if those areas are closer to where
you are, you can transfer your care to your primary care and mental health and a few other things
to those clinics so you don't have to drive so far to get to the medical center. And the parking is fabulous.
A little bit easier to get around. Before we went on the air, I was talking with Brian and
the clinics are not just around the Ann Arbor healthcare system. There are many VA health
programs around the country that are opening up these clinics. Oh, sure. Yeah, it's about getting
smaller clinics to where veterans don't have to go so far to get to the big medical centers
to get their health care. Because oftentimes you don't need to go to the hospital for a quick
doctor checkup, right? You don't need to go to the medical center for that. You can just do that at
your local clinic. And that's really what we're trying to do is make things a lot easier, a lot
more convenient for veterans. I think that's awesome that you're able to do that. We also
mentioned, if on an article that we were talking about the quality of care at the VA medical centers,
and sometimes we hear some people out there making comments that are,
you know, they're not necessarily satisfied, but it seems like the numbers are really high as far as
satisfaction with what kind of care we do get at the VA's. Yeah, the numbers are very high. Of
course, you know, we always regret if there's someone that's not having a positive experience
at the VA. And, you know, we complete over 700,000 appointments a year. And unfortunately, some of
those aren't going to go as expected. And so, you know, we do the best we can. But overall,
Ann Arbor receiving a five star rating from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services,
known as CMS. And these are the folks that go out and rate hospitals all over the country,
including VA's and civilian hospitals as well. And when, you know, they rate them sort of,
they don't rate them against each other, but they rate them based on 10 measures of quality. And we
at our hospital outperformed non VA hospitals on all 10 core patient satisfaction metrics, all 10.
And that put us at a five star, which is even above the medical centers that are around us,
you know, such as U of M and Chelsea and all, you know, a lot of other hospitals.
So we're very proud of that. And, you know, want to get that word out too.
Well, I, you know, there's not much we can say about what is occurring. There's so many positive
things that are going on at the Ann Arbor VA, especially, but I think at various centers across
the country. And so I just encourage people out there. And this is again, what we always encourage.
All of you veterans that are listening to don't go to your VA. We really encourage you to go and
at least register and sign up because it's free. You know, I got to charge you to register for
anything. And, you know, the specialists, you know, many of the VA centers are near major medical
centers, as you know, as ours is in Ann Arbor. And I know that there are other ones around the
country that are associated with, you know, big universities and so forth medical schools. In fact,
I don't know. I think I don't think I've had an appointment at the VA hospital in a long time
where the person wasn't, I don't know what they call it, jointly appointed at the U of M hospital.
Co-appointed. Yeah, they're usually faculty at the U of M. Yeah.
So, you know, the opportunity for great care is there. And please, you know, I can't tell you
enough about this because I've had, I've run in the last six months, I've run into three report
people, older veterans, even beyond the Vietnam generation, who have never been inside a VA
hospital. And they've got conditions that were accelerated, I think. Yeah. That were accelerated
by their exposures to all kinds of things. Yeah. And they're just leaving money on the table,
not only benefits, but the money that they're spending on private health care. And, you know,
they could be getting that done at the VA. Yes, I know we've got a caller on the line for disability,
but I'm going to ask Brian to be patient for a second here. Sure. No, that, there's a Brian
on the line as well. Well, you're a really popular name. I bet you didn't know that. There's a lot
of us out there, especially ones born in the mid-60s, something about that name. There you go.
Yeah. There you go. You know, one other thing that's, it's really awesome on the health care side
that we don't think about. And if this is new for business, I'm sure Brian, or Brian Hayes knows
this, but on the health care side, the VA is number one across the board for research. And
one of the new areas is in the ALS. And down in the Houston area, they are at the Michael DeBakey
Center, they are doing all the new research for ALS. And so that's another important thing
for our listeners and our clients, because we represent at Legal Health for Veterans nationwide,
when we're aware of the research that's going on in different parts of the country,
we encourage our clients to ask their primary teams how they could get involved and should
they be involved in research. So I think that's really important when you've got these special
conditions that you might be able to enter into some of these outstanding research projects,
because as Brian knows, we're right. We combined our services at Ann Arbor with the University
of Michigan. And what a great platform to be looking at some of these interesting diseases
that are out there to be doing research. And that's how you find out some of the
cures for the different cancers, and maybe ALS future down the road.
It's easy to kind of forget about the involvement that VA has in research, and how, gosh, I don't
know what the word is, but just how gigantic the contributions of VA have been to health research
overall for many, many, many decades. VA invented the nicotine patch, right? A lot of people forget
that. We did the first heart transplant. Even technologically, VA invented the electronic
health record. So no matter where you go for your healthcare, when your doctor is sitting there
typing everything into the electronic health record, VA invented the first one back in the 80s.
So I mean, and that's just some of it. We've got great research going on at Ann Arbor into PTSD
and ketamine, and all kinds of PTSD research going on at Ann Arbor. So including therapy dogs
and service dogs. Gosh, my brain right now is just flooded with all the research that's going on,
but Ann Arbor is one of the key sources of research in the VA.
One thing that you were saying about ALS, if you are a veteran and you are diagnosed with ALS,
it doesn't matter if you're where you were, when you were in the military, that is a presumptive
condition for the military. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Space Force, if you come down with ALS
and you were in the military, it's presumed it was because of the military. So just remember that.
I think that goes along with some of the other things that are presumptive that we don't even
think about. Correct. So if anybody out there that has a question on disability, just check in.
Find out what's going on. You never know if the condition that you are, you've been living with
for years and years and years is something that you might have contracted or was exacerbated
by your time in the service. I don't want to lose Brian on the phone, not the Brian on the phone.
So let me bring him in. He's from Ann Arbor and Brian, welcome to Veteran Radio. You had a question
about disability? Yes, thank you. I could never get a straight answer on this. I'm 100% disabled.
Someone had told me if I'm 100% after 10 years, my spouse would get my disability
that I currently have. Is that true? That's a good question. I have heard that myself. So if I'm 100%,
this is, I'm considering, this is 100% permanent, whatever the term is. If I die after the 10 years,
my wife continues to get that amount. Is General David, which one of you would like to address
that issue? So after 10 years, you can, how I always put it is, before 10 years, you have to pass
away of one of your service-connected disabilities. After 10 years, you can pass of anything,
and they don't get your disability amount. They get what is called dependency, indemnity, and
compensation. So currently, it's around 16 something, some change per month, tax-free,
and they still get, in Michigan, you still get your property tax waiver,
but you don't get the same amount that you're receiving. Yes. And David, exactly correct,
but Brian on the phone, it doesn't happen automatically for your widow, your spouse.
They have to apply for DIC, and they have to take your paperwork, prove that they were married,
to say the tax adjuster to your county, or, and you have to apply with a VSO,
Legal Help for Veterans, go to the county, and do the DIC. Nothing happens automatically
just because the veteran passes. Does that help a little bit?
Is that in writing anywhere? Yes. It's in the 38 CFR. Yes. Whatever, what is the 38 CFR?
That's all the laws. Go ahead, Jim. Well, it's the regulations. The other thing that I think David
alluded to that I think is critical, just because you're 10 years in paperwork, you want to be
total and permanent. And if you're total and permanent, the other big factor is, if somebody
calls you up, like somebody from the regional office, or somebody and says, hey, you need to come in
and do an exam. We just had this happen recently. You need to get to your VSO, county counselor,
your claims developer, Legal Help for Veterans, and say, hey, I got this call. They're pulling me
in for an exam. No, if you're total and permanent, you're total and permanent. You don't have to go
back in for any more exams. If I should die from a service-connected disability, is that the same
amount? That's correct. Yep. So if you're 100%, that's what is that? That's a little over 3,000
a month now, disability? Well, the spouse is around probably 3,900. Oh, okay. I forgot the
raises and things that Colas. So in planning, you'd have to be allowed for her, the survivor,
to end up at around 1,600. Yeah, it's 1,612.75 right now. Right. And the other critical thing,
Dale, because we see this happen, once you're greater than 30% disability, make sure our listening
audience knows to tell that once again, your VSO, your county counselor, or somebody at Legal
Health for Veterans, that you have a spouse or you have children, a dependent, so that they get
added at 30%. We just recently found somebody that was sitting at 80% for a long period of time,
had a spouse, and they were never added. They came to us and they wanted to continue on.
Nobody ever told them about adding the spouse. And that's, that was a loss of benefits for
many, many years. So you find out all these things, depending as you go along. And so we were able to
help them put the spouse on, but we can't go back all those years and get that money or that benefit
for that spouse. Okay. Brian on the phone, hopefully that helps you answer your question. And if you
have any additional questions, are you from the Ann Arbor area? Yes. Well, I would suggest then either
giving legal help for Veterans a call or give David a call with the Washtenaw County Veterans
Service Office, and they could probably go into greater detail with you to make sure everything's
in all in order. And that CFR, if you Google 38 CFR 3.22, that is what covers the DIC benefits.
Could you repeat that, David? Sure. 38 CFR 322.
Yeah, Google that'll come up and you can read the law, the regulation.
Okay. So hopefully Brian, that's helped out. Okay. Yep. Thank you. All right. Thank you very
much for giving us a call. Again, that number here, thanks for Brian for calling in. This is
what we're here for, folks, every month. The last Sunday of the month is to answer any questions
that you might have because the VA system gets a little complicated sometimes, you know, not only
with the disability, but also with the healthcare too. So, you know, these are the people that
could answer your questions or at least point you in the right direction for that. So again,
in continuing on with the disability claim, are there any, I'm talking to David right now,
because I'm doing David, you have to leave a little bit earlier. Are there any particular
changes in the disability side of the VA that we need to be aware of?
I know you sent me an article on what they were covering were a bit of the PACDAC, but also the
these, I think it was 3.2 increase on the, is it 3.2 or 3.4?
The COLA increase? Yeah, the COLA. Yeah, I thought it was 3.4, David.
Yeah, 3.4. So, they were talking about that, that increase. And they do have one
that I was turned on to a law that was just passed through, it's called the Veterans
Restitution and Justice Act. And it would change the effective date of a veteran's claim to allow
veterans who experience sexual trauma during their service to receive retroactive disability
benefits starting from the date after their discharge from service rather than the date of
claim. So that's huge. Oh, I got you. Okay. Yeah. So, and that's a tough one. MST claims are tough,
you know, because they've been living with that a lot of their life. And then they finally
come into a VSO or legal help for veterans and get it off their chest. And then you file that claim.
And they, the VA looks for those certain markers in service. And they even have a dedicated person
at each one of the ROs that goes through the service treatment records and the personnel
file and checks for those markers. And they put special effort, you know, work on that
for the MSTs because they don't want to come out and say, yes, you know, something happened in
service or they'll get the retribution that they're going to get kicked out of the military.
And so they just live with it. And so I think that's huge for our veterans.
David, you know, the interesting thing is this past week, I talked to two individuals,
two women who found out, kind of searched me out, believe it or not. And two different stories.
One very sad that this occurred during training and reported it and was told nothing would ever
happen. Barely got through training and then attempted to get a discharge, did get an honorable
discharge. But, you know, with training, you don't go very far. And so went through that.
And then recently, what prompted her to search me out is the VA, and I don't want to give it away,
it's not our state, called her and said, we understand you searched us, you came into us to try to get
service and help several years ago. And we said there was nothing that could be done.
You know, they reached out to her to have her come back in and go to the women's clinic and to see
what they could do to help her now. Now, there's no disability benefits she could apply for,
but maybe she could get some health through the VA. And so I think the healthcare side,
that one is really good. It might be able to give her some recourse and counseling because it never
happened on active duty. And the second one, as you just described, she did file for a disability.
She got a denial, but they are going to go back and look at it. So I, you know, two different
scenarios, but I'm hoping some good will come out of both. And general, I think you should look at
that first scenario because I had one same, same, same problem that something happened during basic
training in the Marines. And she had twins because of it. And I got a service connected.
Excellent. Excellent. This is what happens, folks out there, don't ignore your claims. If
something happened to you, especially through the side of sexual assault or anything along those
lines, or anything, you just never know what is going to be covered, what is not going to be covered.
And, you know, you don't want to regret 10, 15 years down the road that you were, you know,
that you didn't take advantage of the benefits that you're entitled to. Because, you know,
it's a cliche, but all of you are willing to give up your lives for this country. And this is what
all we can do in the standpoint of the VA's system. I obviously am not connected, but
this is all that they can do to help you and pay you for that service.
No, you never would have been exposed to half of the things that, you know,
many of us come down with if we had just stayed out of the service.
You know, and I'll make this statement too. And we see it not as much, but males could be
sexually assaulted. It doesn't occur as much that I've seen in my career as much as females,
but it has occurred. Well, I am sure that, you know, there are plenty of examples of bullying.
Let's put it that way. I mean, many of us who went through basic training, there always seemed to be
one person that wanted to take on everybody for whatever reason that was there. And then I can
think of a guy in basic training I went through. He was a National Guard from Massachusetts. And I
was, we were in Louisiana, and he was not in the best condition. Let's put it that way. And they
just drove him out. And he ended up disappearing one day. And, you know, the word was that he was
sent to the motivational platoon. So, you know, and I'm sure that that traumatized him for the
last 50 years. But things like that are out there. And it's really, you know, this is what these
folks do. So you're a veteran and you've had a bad experience somewhere in the service that has
affected your life forever. It's not a bad idea to go and talk to these. I mean, even go to, you
know, go to the VA and just talk to a counselor. There's always, there are excellent social workers
available. All of these things, you know, don't keep it all bottled up inside of you folks.
That's, I guess, that's where I'm trying to go with this because it's just going to eat away at you.
And you don't want to take that opportunity away from yourself. So we need to take a break. David,
I know that you need to head off and oh, you gave me a little bit more time. Okay. All right. Well,
we're going to still going to take a break. We're going to do our Medal of Honor segment and then
we will come back and hopefully if you have a question, we will answer it. Otherwise, we're
going to go to our experts and let's see what's going on in the healthcare side and on the
disability side. The number is 734-822-1600. You're listening to Veterans Radio. We'll be right back.
The Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor in combat given a member of the Armed
Forces of the United States. There have been over 3,400 recipients of the nation's highest award.
This is one of them. Sergeant First Class Nelson Britain killed 20 enemy soldiers and
destroyed four automatic weapons. Details after this. If you have a VA claim denied by the Board
of Veterans Appeals, contact Legal Help for Veterans at 1-800-693-4800. They're experts
in handling cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. Their number again, 1-800-693-4800.
Britain, a member of Company I, volunteered to lead his squad up a hill with big recovery against
murderous fire. He ordered his squad to give him support and in the face of withering fire and
bursting shells, tossed a grenade at the nearest enemy position. On returning to his squad, he was
knocked down or wounded by an enemy grenade. Refusing medical attention, he replenished his
supply of grenades and returned, hurling grenades into hostile positions and shooting the enemy as
they fled. When his weapon jammed, he leaped without hesitation into a foxhole and killed the
occupants with his bayonet and the butt of his rifle. He continued to wipe out foxholes and
noting that his squad had been pinned down, rushed to the rear of a machine gun position, threw a
grenade into the nest and ran around to its front where he killed all three occupants with his rifle.
Less than 100 yards up the hill, his squad again came under vicious fire from another
camouflaged, sandbagged machine gun nest well flanked by supporting riflemen.
Britain again charged this new position in an aggressive endeavor to silence this remaining
obstacle and ran direct into a burst of automatic fire that killed him instantly.
The Metal of Otter series is a production of Veterans Radio.
Military veterans touch everyone's life. I'm guessing right now you're thinking of a veteran,
a close friend, relative, maybe it's you. Even the toughest among us sometimes need help,
but don't know where to turn for support. You don't need special training to help a veteran
in your life. If you know a veteran in crisis, don't wait, reach out. Call the Veterans Crisis
Line at 988, then press one 988, press one, a message from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
And we're back here on Veterans Radio and we're going to let Brian Hayes go. He's on from the
healthcare side unless you have a question right away out there. Anybody. Brian, thanks very much.
I know you'll be back next month and we'll fill everybody in and what's happening in the healthcare
end of the business. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me. All right, go Lions.
It's everybody I know. I want to get closer to the game as it goes along.
That Metal of Honor that we just paid, I was listening to it. When we recorded it,
we never told you what war it was. It was a Korean war. Nelson, Britain,
received his Medal of Honor for his actions during the Korean War. So I just wanted to
get caught up on that. So we are talking now with David Sames from the Washtenaw County Veteran
Service Office and retired General Caroline Fausson from Legal Help for Veterans. Is there
anything else that we, any new things that either one of you have come across recently that our
audience would be really interested in finding out about? I don't know about so much new. I know
I have presented it on the Veterans Radio before and I can't stress enough about with the VA adding
all these new presumptive conditions. And if the Veterans Service member dies and they have a wife
and they die of that condition, well there's benefits like we just talked about DIC for them.
And that could be now again with the PACT Act, not only did they add a lot of things for Afghanistan,
well Southwest Asia, they also expanded Agent Orange benefits to the Royal Thai Air Force bases.
So it used to be if you were an MP on the line they said okay yeah you're eligible for that but
now it's the whole base. So if that Veteran died of one of those presumptive conditions,
even if it was 10, 15 years ago we can apply for DIC and I've had two spouses that
they went back to the date of the Veterans death. One was in 09 and another one was in 11.
And that was you know that changed their lives a lot right. So there is if you know of somebody
that was married to a Veteran and they didn't get remarried or if they got remarried after
age I think it's 56 and a half now then they can apply for that and I just want to stress that.
Well I think that is so important that's something that none of us would even think about
in most cases you know. I'm just thinking I have a friend, how far back do they go I better put
this way. I have a very good friend who passed away from leukemia which was not the right one at the time.
Well I don't know it's been 2012 and I don't think his spouse has gotten anything from the VA.
Now if it's not the right one you would have to fight right. Yeah. It is AML that is it is a cancer
that is right before they can call it leukemia but they can't call it leukemia because of
chromosome change but I've had two or well I'm hitting my third one that I've got them service
connected for that death. I mean you have to go to the Board of Veteran Appeals but it is
it should be on the presumptive list and yeah we have to fight it right but it's always good
to get a second look and a second opinion just like those two spouses did they got denied and
one was in Thailand and the other one was in Guam so it's it's huge for their to the dependence.
The other thing is to be really honest if their Agent Orange as David was just talking and it
might be you know the wrong and general general just they probably have other other diseases
other things along with other presumptives and other things going along with that
with their service and there is no time limit to this. I think David hit a big one on this one
it's not like when you get a denial and you've got to react within a year the DIC with death
there's no time limit to this so they are spouses the widows really need to take advantage of this.
I'm gonna gotta figure out how I can go I can help her out and get her to do this because I know
she says no we weren't entitled you know and one of those things well no and then you know
that isn't gonna follow up on it so I'm gonna have to talk to the kid the children.
Yeah to have somebody you know call either David depending on where she lives in a VSO
county counselor somebody though that is extremely knowledgeable that could help and that's really
important too and I am not being cynical about that but sometimes having somebody that could
spout out and you know help the person and say yes this is what you're eligible for and convince
them and put trust in them and help them with the paperwork not say hey you fill out this paperwork
and I'll you know I'll pass it through but no walk them through and literally hold their hand
and do it for them then I think that makes them feel a lot more comfortable. I would agree because
I can't imagine you know there are so many so many veterans out there that are so stoic they
you know they're fine you know I'm fine and uh no somebody else needs it more than I do and
you know you've heard all the stories but I think it's up to us here at Veterans Radio is to continue
to get the word out that it's never too late it's you know and it's something that that you have
earned it's something you're entitled to and it's there you know that was one of the the
agreements that they made with you that if anything happened to you they promised to take care of you
and from the health care side and from the disability side so that's why we always encourage
our our listeners to contact you know the local VA wherever wherever they live across the country
and to contact their local VSO or to contact you know carillon with legal health or veterans
they're nationwide and there are there are many great organizations out there that are more than
willing to help and the other thing to remember is that they don't charge you a dime to help you
with your claims you know correct with that I I totally agree with that and you know the interesting
thing is and I hope he's still listening I really want to give a shout out to Brian who called in
today with his question because um you know when we get veterans who say I don't deserve it you know
I I don't want it for me no but think about your spouse and that's what he was doing he asked the
questions about his spouse what happens after I die because then that the spouse and if they have
children they will benefit the children can't literally apply for it but the wife you know and
then there's always with being a hundred percent you know then that is huge with your tax abatement
and so I think that's really critical to know what some of these benefits are right I I agree it's
really it's really important and there's so many little nuances in the rules and the laws and
everything and I and I think it's you know the idea of having the advantage of talking to somebody
who's experienced like both you and David are is is really helpful um because you know and and you
know because we is that's the clients in this case you know we don't know all the questions they ask
and you know maybe um wasn't I have a friend who's um is has been asked by the VA to pay back some money
and uh she's she's going what what you know her husband passed away as a result of
of his exposure to Agent R and so forth and now she's supposed to go to the regional office to
talk to somebody about this amount of money that they want to take back and you know imagine facing
that on your own so you don't want to do that it's you can file a debt waiver and it could be where
you know it was the month of death check and maybe she's eligible for DIC now yes and then
she's eligible for that month of death check but they have to take it away and then give it back to
her in her name yes if she's eligible for DIC so yeah you might what was the second word you use
a monthly it's the month of death check month of death check okay yep is that like social security
if you don't you know if you don't if you die by a certain date you have to return the
of social security check or portions of it yes but but we also saw just recently getting
David brought that up they finally decided on a veteran's disability claim
poor veteran died he got the check in the mail after his death okay that check has to be returned
so the the wife now the spouse calls us and says do I have to return this check yes so that we
turn the check but then we filed and she got it back and then we applied for DIC because they
are truly entitled to that we did what was called an immediate substitution that means any outstanding
claims goes to the spouse as the VA continues to adjudicate any open claims for that veteran
because the old rumor when the veteran dies all the claims dies false if you contact us right away
but that's a time limited issue it has to be filed the substitution within one year of death
then the spouse the widow could get the money but in this case we had to return that apply for
substitution and then she got that money that the veteran would have deposited but he passed away
yeah I can imagine I mean I think the other thing is to encourage all of our veterans who
are on disability have that file available somewhere you know with your DD 214 in it and you know the
marriage license and and so on and so forth so that if something happened to me for instance my
wife could just you know where the file is but you know grab the file call you one of you guys
right there and say okay now what right okay David want to thank David uh same's from the
washington alcani veteran service officer stopping by today appreciate it very much thank you very
much and as you say go lions go lions they'll be back okay um all right carol anise just you and I
right now and so what have you been working on lately I know the woman's clinic is very important
to you at our at our local VA and in fact my my primary care uh doctor now works at the women's
clinic three days a week oh it's so awesome and uh well as Brian sort of alluded to it that there
will be a date coming up hopefully soon but I'll tell you that women's center um helping our women
and the privacy there and not only addressing the mst but a lot of the um issues that women go through
that are totally unique cardiology and the physical um therapy and pelvic training and just
just a ton of different physicians that are operating out of that women's center
in all of the facilities around the country um you need women out there listening you need to go
in and see and talk to the woman coordinator um and we're very lucky with our woman coordinator
at the an arbor VA and so uh that's that's another benefit you know we talk about that
now that's on the VHA side um and you know predominantly day by day I deal with the VBA side
but I help our men and women get connected on the VHA side to get their benefits and to get in
and I and I and I want to talk about this because we've been seeing more and more of this so
so through the VBA side the benefit side they will arrange say at a regional office
they will arrange for your appointment um whether it's through the contract service to go in
and get an appointment for whichever um disability claim we've submitted for you so
whether it's hearing or stomach issues or heart issues and you'll go in for your exam if that
exam we've been noticing that our veterans have been getting a call or not getting a call this has
been happening a little lately that they haven't been notified that they're scheduled for an exam
and then they get a call Dale why didn't you show up for your appointment I never was notified
well if that happens you need to communicate with either the VSO the county counselor
call us so that it doesn't get registered you are a no show that's really critical we've been
seeing that happen if the contracted service calls you and you can't make the appointment oh can you
make an appointment on February 2 no I can't tell them that you can't and try to work with that
contracted company um because that's predominantly what the VA's been doing right now right now
outsourcing and uh try to work with them to get a scheduled appointment that is good for you to go
to um and then please um keep those appointments if something comes up communicate with either the VSO
I hate to be a poly parrot legal huffer veterans the county if something comes up and you can't go
because then it'll you'll be listed as a no show and that's not good because you'll most likely get
a denial on your claim and then it's like we're starting all over again right yeah the other
thing I wanted to let our audience know is that you know once you have settled on your whoever
is going to help you the VSO veteran service officer whether it's whether it's a it's a county
officer or an american legion that's a legal health for veterans type of organization then you've got a
representative I mean it's like having a lawyer and you know if you have to go to some meeting many
of these organizations will send somebody with you so you you know you're not going into this room
where they you know it's sort of like you're sitting there in front of this all these judges and
they're asking you to throw in all these questions at you you've got somebody that can represent you
and I think that that is really important and I wanted to make sure that our our audience is
aware of these things you are not alone no and if you get a letter you need to call that representative
you need to let us know because they're supposed to send us a letter or your representative whoever
it is sometimes the system doesn't work that way you get the notice before we do or sometimes
we find out your results before you do it could be favorable or if you have a bad exam we've had
veterans to call us and say oh I've just had a horrible exam they asked me a question or I got
in the room and they asked me for something I didn't even apply for or they thought I was somebody else
you know so I think those are really important reasons to communicate and I love the way you
just said that Dale communicate with your representative I you know obviously I mean I
have been working with folks at legal help and I've worked with folks at the at the county level
for my own into my own issues let's put it that way and some of the exams went really well and
some of them had me drive you know they wanted me to drive 50 miles to get my blood pressure checked
and you know what you know by the time I got there my blood pressure was through the roof
and it's just you know you need you know not everybody out there is a good you know
can make a good case for themselves and that's that's why we encourage you every month to you
know to talk to these these experts out there you know whether you're a member of a veteran's
organization or you know you just need help excuse me that you you know utilize these professionals
this is what they do I can't even express how much training that they all have to go through
and especially once you get somebody that has experience you know and then that's that's really
great for your your to your advantage to have the experience levels there
you know and I think the great thing is the panel that you've constructed over all the years
Dale we utilize one another I mean you know I'm going to call David and see how he got his young
lady you know for MST benefits and see how I could wiggle and help the other young lady
you know after her 20 years the fact that the VA called her back that that's really huge um
you know and I think that's the beautiful thing to know your resources to make calls to be able
to know that somebody's out there willing to help you and don't give up hope I keep saying that don't
give up hope there's there's so many of us out there we want to help you if somebody tells you
no there's nothing you can do don't believe that reach out to somebody else I think that's
and that's very true there is no real final no out there until you're gone and even then
your spouse can keep on keeps a fight going absolutely and that's that was really important
issue I thought that that was brought up today was the idea that you know that you know the spouse
who's ever you know whoever's left is entitled to some sort of compensation out there and who's
you know don't just put it aside and say oh you know the veteran has died and that's the end of it
you know utilize what's available to you and never you know I think never give up never surrender
like this thing all right we've got to wrap it up here we're coming up to the end of the program
so I want to make sure that we thank general carol and for so in the air force retired nurse
that's why we have her on the program every month it's why we're so grateful to legal
health for veterans for their support of our program over the almost 20 years and tire up
the whole thing and so thank you very much thank you and go lions go lions go blue we're
so excited national champions there you go yeah but we're not prejudiced about that here thank you
very much thank you folks we are going to be coming up here to the end of the program and that
as we've been doing the last couple of weeks we play a song we're playing god bless america and
this song this week is by the brothers of the heart from the grand old opera 2022 so until next week
this is dale thrombur and all of us here at veterans radio you are dismissed
god bless america
land that i love stand beside her and god
her through the night with the light from above from the mountains to the prairie to the ocean
and white with god bless america my home sweet home god bless america my home sweet home
all beautiful or spacious
purple mountains
above the fruited plain.
America, America,
God shed His grace on thee,
and crown thy good with brotherhood
from sea to shining sea,
and crown thy good with brotherhood
from sea to shining sea.
From the mountains to the prairies,
to the oceans,
white with all.
God bless America,
my home sea.
Oh, God bless America,
my home sea.
Oh, God bless America,
my home sea.