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All across America and around the world. This is Veterans Radio. This is Veterans Radio.

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And now your host for today's program, Dale Throneberry.

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Hey, welcome to Veterans Radio. We're really glad to have you back and welcome to a new

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year of Veterans Radio. This is our first benefits program of the year. And we've got all of our

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regular crew here. We've got Caroline Fausson from Legal Health for Veterans. We've got David

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Sings from the Washtenaw County Veterans Service Office. And we've got Brian Hayes,

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the director of communications at the Charles S. Kettles VA Medical Center. So we're here.

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The experts are all here. So if you have any questions about benefits, give us a call. The

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number in Ann Arbor is 734-822-1600. 734-822-1600 for those of you that are listening to the

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program live. We should put that in there right now. So as I mentioned, we are going to be talking

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about benefits. Some of the changes that have occurred in the benefits structure, I guess you

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could say. Some of the things that have changed on the health side as well, because I've got some

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really nice reports that have come out, how well the VA is doing compared to public hospitals and

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medical systems out there. So we're really excited to talk a little bit about that.

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And as I mentioned, we're going to be talking about disability. And I guess we'd really be

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remiss if I didn't mention that there is a football game this afternoon. And all of us are all

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dressed up in our Honolulu blue. And we are hoping that the Lions will make the next leap forward,

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take out those 49ers. And I think if that happens, this whole southeast Michigan has already had a

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very exciting and successful football season with the University of Michigan National Champions

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Wolverines, I should point out to everyone. And with the Lions making their run, so it's pretty

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exciting. So fingers are crossed, toes are crossed. Everybody hopes that they play their best game.

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And we'll see how it comes out at the end. But doesn't start for a while. We'll make sure that

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just stick around here on Veterans Radio. Before we get into talking with my guests, I want to

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make sure that we thank our sponsors. We can't do this program without them. And without you as

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our listeners, of course. But our corporate sponsors, I guess you could say we want to start

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out with legal help for veterans, legal help for veterans specializes in veterans disability

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claims. Give them a call at 806-93-4800. The National Veterans Business Development Council,

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better known as NVBDC is the nation's leading third party authority for certification of

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veteran don't businesses. For more information, you can go to their website, that's NVBDC.org,

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or give them a call at 888-237-8433. I should mention that if you are a veteran don't business,

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and you want to do business with the federal government and many corporations, you need to be

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certified that you are really a veteran don't business. These are the folks that can help you

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do that. NVBDC.org. The Charles S. Kettles VA Medical Center here in Ann Arbor, Michigan,

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one of the five star VA hospitals across the country. We're very pleased and proud of the

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facility there. For more information, you can go to va.gov. We also want to thank our local

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veterans organizations for their long time support. Just a reminder to everybody, this is

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our actually in the middle of our 20th year now. And these folks have been there since the first

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day. Number one is the Erwin Prescott and American Legion post 46 and the Charles S. Kettles Vietnam

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Veterans of America Chapter 310, both of Ann Arbor, Michigan. If you would like to have your corporation

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sponsor Veterans Radio, all you need to do is go to our website, that's veteransradio.org,

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and click on the donate button or sponsorship button there on the front page of our website.

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And all that information that you need is there and it's available for you. All right, so let's get

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right into this, I guess we could say. So first of all, let's talk about the healthcare system.

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And that's our expert for that is Brian Hayes. And Brian is the, let's see, he's the communications

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director of the health system specialist publicly, all kinds of names after your name, Brian. But

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welcome back, Brian. And just go and start filling us in a little.

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Well, welcome back everybody after the holidays. It's good to get the year started off on another

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Veterans Radio episode for the benefits program. Lots of really good stuff going on at the Ann Arbor

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VA. We've got some great celebrations coming up. In fact, the Vietnam Veterans Day is coming up

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March 29th, and we celebrate that at the Ann Arbor VA. We'll have stuff going on for that.

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We're going to be doing a groundbreaking, not a big one, but because the building is already there,

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but a bit of a groundbreaking for the new Findlay, Ohio, a community based outpatient clinic that

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we're getting ready to build. That'll be four new clinics for the Ann Arbor healthcare system in

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the last three years. So we're putting these clinics out, you know, you want to go where the

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Veterans are, and that's what we're trying to do. And then of course, we've got a really big

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celebration that's near and dear to our hearts, and that's the naming of the women's clinic that's

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coming up at the end of May. You'll be hearing a lot more about that as things roll out and as

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planning gets more into high gear. And then of course, I don't want to forget, you know, as long

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as we're on and Veterans locally are listening, remember, we have our brand new clinics in

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Adrian, Michigan, Canton, Michigan, and in Howell, Michigan. So if those areas are closer to where

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you are, you can transfer your care to your primary care and mental health and a few other things

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to those clinics so you don't have to drive so far to get to the medical center. And the parking is fabulous.

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A little bit easier to get around. Before we went on the air, I was talking with Brian and

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the clinics are not just around the Ann Arbor healthcare system. There are many VA health

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programs around the country that are opening up these clinics. Oh, sure. Yeah, it's about getting

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smaller clinics to where veterans don't have to go so far to get to the big medical centers

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to get their health care. Because oftentimes you don't need to go to the hospital for a quick

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doctor checkup, right? You don't need to go to the medical center for that. You can just do that at

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your local clinic. And that's really what we're trying to do is make things a lot easier, a lot

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more convenient for veterans. I think that's awesome that you're able to do that. We also

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mentioned, if on an article that we were talking about the quality of care at the VA medical centers,

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and sometimes we hear some people out there making comments that are,

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you know, they're not necessarily satisfied, but it seems like the numbers are really high as far as

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satisfaction with what kind of care we do get at the VA's. Yeah, the numbers are very high. Of

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course, you know, we always regret if there's someone that's not having a positive experience

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at the VA. And, you know, we complete over 700,000 appointments a year. And unfortunately, some of

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those aren't going to go as expected. And so, you know, we do the best we can. But overall,

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Ann Arbor receiving a five star rating from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services,

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known as CMS. And these are the folks that go out and rate hospitals all over the country,

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including VA's and civilian hospitals as well. And when, you know, they rate them sort of,

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they don't rate them against each other, but they rate them based on 10 measures of quality. And we

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at our hospital outperformed non VA hospitals on all 10 core patient satisfaction metrics, all 10.

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And that put us at a five star, which is even above the medical centers that are around us,

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you know, such as U of M and Chelsea and all, you know, a lot of other hospitals.

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So we're very proud of that. And, you know, want to get that word out too.

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Well, I, you know, there's not much we can say about what is occurring. There's so many positive

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things that are going on at the Ann Arbor VA, especially, but I think at various centers across

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the country. And so I just encourage people out there. And this is again, what we always encourage.

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All of you veterans that are listening to don't go to your VA. We really encourage you to go and

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at least register and sign up because it's free. You know, I got to charge you to register for

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anything. And, you know, the specialists, you know, many of the VA centers are near major medical

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centers, as you know, as ours is in Ann Arbor. And I know that there are other ones around the

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country that are associated with, you know, big universities and so forth medical schools. In fact,

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I don't know. I think I don't think I've had an appointment at the VA hospital in a long time

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where the person wasn't, I don't know what they call it, jointly appointed at the U of M hospital.

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Co-appointed. Yeah, they're usually faculty at the U of M. Yeah.

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So, you know, the opportunity for great care is there. And please, you know, I can't tell you

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enough about this because I've had, I've run in the last six months, I've run into three report

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people, older veterans, even beyond the Vietnam generation, who have never been inside a VA

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hospital. And they've got conditions that were accelerated, I think. Yeah. That were accelerated

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by their exposures to all kinds of things. Yeah. And they're just leaving money on the table,

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not only benefits, but the money that they're spending on private health care. And, you know,

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they could be getting that done at the VA. Yes, I know we've got a caller on the line for disability,

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but I'm going to ask Brian to be patient for a second here. Sure. No, that, there's a Brian

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on the line as well. Well, you're a really popular name. I bet you didn't know that. There's a lot

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of us out there, especially ones born in the mid-60s, something about that name. There you go.

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Yeah. There you go. You know, one other thing that's, it's really awesome on the health care side

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that we don't think about. And if this is new for business, I'm sure Brian, or Brian Hayes knows

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this, but on the health care side, the VA is number one across the board for research. And

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one of the new areas is in the ALS. And down in the Houston area, they are at the Michael DeBakey

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Center, they are doing all the new research for ALS. And so that's another important thing

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for our listeners and our clients, because we represent at Legal Health for Veterans nationwide,

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when we're aware of the research that's going on in different parts of the country,

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we encourage our clients to ask their primary teams how they could get involved and should

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they be involved in research. So I think that's really important when you've got these special

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conditions that you might be able to enter into some of these outstanding research projects,

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because as Brian knows, we're right. We combined our services at Ann Arbor with the University

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of Michigan. And what a great platform to be looking at some of these interesting diseases

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that are out there to be doing research. And that's how you find out some of the

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cures for the different cancers, and maybe ALS future down the road.

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It's easy to kind of forget about the involvement that VA has in research, and how, gosh, I don't

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know what the word is, but just how gigantic the contributions of VA have been to health research

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overall for many, many, many decades. VA invented the nicotine patch, right? A lot of people forget

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that. We did the first heart transplant. Even technologically, VA invented the electronic

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health record. So no matter where you go for your healthcare, when your doctor is sitting there

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typing everything into the electronic health record, VA invented the first one back in the 80s.

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So I mean, and that's just some of it. We've got great research going on at Ann Arbor into PTSD

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and ketamine, and all kinds of PTSD research going on at Ann Arbor. So including therapy dogs

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and service dogs. Gosh, my brain right now is just flooded with all the research that's going on,

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but Ann Arbor is one of the key sources of research in the VA.

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One thing that you were saying about ALS, if you are a veteran and you are diagnosed with ALS,

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it doesn't matter if you're where you were, when you were in the military, that is a presumptive

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condition for the military. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Space Force, if you come down with ALS

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and you were in the military, it's presumed it was because of the military. So just remember that.

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I think that goes along with some of the other things that are presumptive that we don't even

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think about. Correct. So if anybody out there that has a question on disability, just check in.

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Find out what's going on. You never know if the condition that you are, you've been living with

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for years and years and years is something that you might have contracted or was exacerbated

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by your time in the service. I don't want to lose Brian on the phone, not the Brian on the phone.

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So let me bring him in. He's from Ann Arbor and Brian, welcome to Veteran Radio. You had a question

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about disability? Yes, thank you. I could never get a straight answer on this. I'm 100% disabled.

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Someone had told me if I'm 100% after 10 years, my spouse would get my disability

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that I currently have. Is that true? That's a good question. I have heard that myself. So if I'm 100%,

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this is, I'm considering, this is 100% permanent, whatever the term is. If I die after the 10 years,

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my wife continues to get that amount. Is General David, which one of you would like to address

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that issue? So after 10 years, you can, how I always put it is, before 10 years, you have to pass

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away of one of your service-connected disabilities. After 10 years, you can pass of anything,

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and they don't get your disability amount. They get what is called dependency, indemnity, and

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compensation. So currently, it's around 16 something, some change per month, tax-free,

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and they still get, in Michigan, you still get your property tax waiver,

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but you don't get the same amount that you're receiving. Yes. And David, exactly correct,

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but Brian on the phone, it doesn't happen automatically for your widow, your spouse.

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They have to apply for DIC, and they have to take your paperwork, prove that they were married,

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to say the tax adjuster to your county, or, and you have to apply with a VSO,

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Legal Help for Veterans, go to the county, and do the DIC. Nothing happens automatically

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just because the veteran passes. Does that help a little bit?

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Is that in writing anywhere? Yes. It's in the 38 CFR. Yes. Whatever, what is the 38 CFR?

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That's all the laws. Go ahead, Jim. Well, it's the regulations. The other thing that I think David

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alluded to that I think is critical, just because you're 10 years in paperwork, you want to be

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total and permanent. And if you're total and permanent, the other big factor is, if somebody

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calls you up, like somebody from the regional office, or somebody and says, hey, you need to come in

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and do an exam. We just had this happen recently. You need to get to your VSO, county counselor,

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your claims developer, Legal Help for Veterans, and say, hey, I got this call. They're pulling me

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in for an exam. No, if you're total and permanent, you're total and permanent. You don't have to go

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back in for any more exams. If I should die from a service-connected disability, is that the same

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amount? That's correct. Yep. So if you're 100%, that's what is that? That's a little over 3,000

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a month now, disability? Well, the spouse is around probably 3,900. Oh, okay. I forgot the

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raises and things that Colas. So in planning, you'd have to be allowed for her, the survivor,

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to end up at around 1,600. Yeah, it's 1,612.75 right now. Right. And the other critical thing,

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Dale, because we see this happen, once you're greater than 30% disability, make sure our listening

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audience knows to tell that once again, your VSO, your county counselor, or somebody at Legal

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Health for Veterans, that you have a spouse or you have children, a dependent, so that they get

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added at 30%. We just recently found somebody that was sitting at 80% for a long period of time,

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had a spouse, and they were never added. They came to us and they wanted to continue on.

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Nobody ever told them about adding the spouse. And that's, that was a loss of benefits for

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many, many years. So you find out all these things, depending as you go along. And so we were able to

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help them put the spouse on, but we can't go back all those years and get that money or that benefit

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for that spouse. Okay. Brian on the phone, hopefully that helps you answer your question. And if you

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have any additional questions, are you from the Ann Arbor area? Yes. Well, I would suggest then either

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giving legal help for Veterans a call or give David a call with the Washtenaw County Veterans

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Service Office, and they could probably go into greater detail with you to make sure everything's

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in all in order. And that CFR, if you Google 38 CFR 3.22, that is what covers the DIC benefits.

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Could you repeat that, David? Sure. 38 CFR 322.

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Yeah, Google that'll come up and you can read the law, the regulation.

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Okay. So hopefully Brian, that's helped out. Okay. Yep. Thank you. All right. Thank you very

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much for giving us a call. Again, that number here, thanks for Brian for calling in. This is

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what we're here for, folks, every month. The last Sunday of the month is to answer any questions

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that you might have because the VA system gets a little complicated sometimes, you know, not only

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with the disability, but also with the healthcare too. So, you know, these are the people that

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could answer your questions or at least point you in the right direction for that. So again,

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in continuing on with the disability claim, are there any, I'm talking to David right now,

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because I'm doing David, you have to leave a little bit earlier. Are there any particular

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changes in the disability side of the VA that we need to be aware of?

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I know you sent me an article on what they were covering were a bit of the PACDAC, but also the

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these, I think it was 3.2 increase on the, is it 3.2 or 3.4?

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The COLA increase? Yeah, the COLA. Yeah, I thought it was 3.4, David.

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Yeah, 3.4. So, they were talking about that, that increase. And they do have one

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that I was turned on to a law that was just passed through, it's called the Veterans

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Restitution and Justice Act. And it would change the effective date of a veteran's claim to allow

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veterans who experience sexual trauma during their service to receive retroactive disability

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benefits starting from the date after their discharge from service rather than the date of

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claim. So that's huge. Oh, I got you. Okay. Yeah. So, and that's a tough one. MST claims are tough,

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you know, because they've been living with that a lot of their life. And then they finally

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come into a VSO or legal help for veterans and get it off their chest. And then you file that claim.

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And they, the VA looks for those certain markers in service. And they even have a dedicated person

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at each one of the ROs that goes through the service treatment records and the personnel

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file and checks for those markers. And they put special effort, you know, work on that

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for the MSTs because they don't want to come out and say, yes, you know, something happened in

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service or they'll get the retribution that they're going to get kicked out of the military.

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And so they just live with it. And so I think that's huge for our veterans.

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David, you know, the interesting thing is this past week, I talked to two individuals,

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two women who found out, kind of searched me out, believe it or not. And two different stories.

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One very sad that this occurred during training and reported it and was told nothing would ever

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happen. Barely got through training and then attempted to get a discharge, did get an honorable

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discharge. But, you know, with training, you don't go very far. And so went through that.

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And then recently, what prompted her to search me out is the VA, and I don't want to give it away,

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it's not our state, called her and said, we understand you searched us, you came into us to try to get

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service and help several years ago. And we said there was nothing that could be done.

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You know, they reached out to her to have her come back in and go to the women's clinic and to see

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what they could do to help her now. Now, there's no disability benefits she could apply for,

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but maybe she could get some health through the VA. And so I think the healthcare side,

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that one is really good. It might be able to give her some recourse and counseling because it never

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happened on active duty. And the second one, as you just described, she did file for a disability.

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She got a denial, but they are going to go back and look at it. So I, you know, two different

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scenarios, but I'm hoping some good will come out of both. And general, I think you should look at

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that first scenario because I had one same, same, same problem that something happened during basic

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training in the Marines. And she had twins because of it. And I got a service connected.

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Excellent. Excellent. This is what happens, folks out there, don't ignore your claims. If

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something happened to you, especially through the side of sexual assault or anything along those

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lines, or anything, you just never know what is going to be covered, what is not going to be covered.

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And, you know, you don't want to regret 10, 15 years down the road that you were, you know,

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that you didn't take advantage of the benefits that you're entitled to. Because, you know,

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it's a cliche, but all of you are willing to give up your lives for this country. And this is what

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all we can do in the standpoint of the VA's system. I obviously am not connected, but

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this is all that they can do to help you and pay you for that service.

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No, you never would have been exposed to half of the things that, you know,

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many of us come down with if we had just stayed out of the service.

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You know, and I'll make this statement too. And we see it not as much, but males could be

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sexually assaulted. It doesn't occur as much that I've seen in my career as much as females,

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but it has occurred. Well, I am sure that, you know, there are plenty of examples of bullying.

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Let's put it that way. I mean, many of us who went through basic training, there always seemed to be

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one person that wanted to take on everybody for whatever reason that was there. And then I can

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think of a guy in basic training I went through. He was a National Guard from Massachusetts. And I

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was, we were in Louisiana, and he was not in the best condition. Let's put it that way. And they

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just drove him out. And he ended up disappearing one day. And, you know, the word was that he was

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sent to the motivational platoon. So, you know, and I'm sure that that traumatized him for the

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last 50 years. But things like that are out there. And it's really, you know, this is what these

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folks do. So you're a veteran and you've had a bad experience somewhere in the service that has

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affected your life forever. It's not a bad idea to go and talk to these. I mean, even go to, you

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know, go to the VA and just talk to a counselor. There's always, there are excellent social workers

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available. All of these things, you know, don't keep it all bottled up inside of you folks.

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That's, I guess, that's where I'm trying to go with this because it's just going to eat away at you.

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And you don't want to take that opportunity away from yourself. So we need to take a break. David,

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I know that you need to head off and oh, you gave me a little bit more time. Okay. All right. Well,

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we're going to still going to take a break. We're going to do our Medal of Honor segment and then

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we will come back and hopefully if you have a question, we will answer it. Otherwise, we're

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going to go to our experts and let's see what's going on in the healthcare side and on the

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disability side. The number is 734-822-1600. You're listening to Veterans Radio. We'll be right back.

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The Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor in combat given a member of the Armed

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Forces of the United States. There have been over 3,400 recipients of the nation's highest award.

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This is one of them. Sergeant First Class Nelson Britain killed 20 enemy soldiers and

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destroyed four automatic weapons. Details after this. If you have a VA claim denied by the Board

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of Veterans Appeals, contact Legal Help for Veterans at 1-800-693-4800. They're experts

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in handling cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. Their number again, 1-800-693-4800.

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Britain, a member of Company I, volunteered to lead his squad up a hill with big recovery against

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murderous fire. He ordered his squad to give him support and in the face of withering fire and

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bursting shells, tossed a grenade at the nearest enemy position. On returning to his squad, he was

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knocked down or wounded by an enemy grenade. Refusing medical attention, he replenished his

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supply of grenades and returned, hurling grenades into hostile positions and shooting the enemy as

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they fled. When his weapon jammed, he leaped without hesitation into a foxhole and killed the

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occupants with his bayonet and the butt of his rifle. He continued to wipe out foxholes and

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noting that his squad had been pinned down, rushed to the rear of a machine gun position, threw a

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grenade into the nest and ran around to its front where he killed all three occupants with his rifle.

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Less than 100 yards up the hill, his squad again came under vicious fire from another

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camouflaged, sandbagged machine gun nest well flanked by supporting riflemen.

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Britain again charged this new position in an aggressive endeavor to silence this remaining

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obstacle and ran direct into a burst of automatic fire that killed him instantly.

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The Metal of Otter series is a production of Veterans Radio.

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Military veterans touch everyone's life. I'm guessing right now you're thinking of a veteran,

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a close friend, relative, maybe it's you. Even the toughest among us sometimes need help,

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but don't know where to turn for support. You don't need special training to help a veteran

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in your life. If you know a veteran in crisis, don't wait, reach out. Call the Veterans Crisis

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Line at 988, then press one 988, press one, a message from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

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And we're back here on Veterans Radio and we're going to let Brian Hayes go. He's on from the

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healthcare side unless you have a question right away out there. Anybody. Brian, thanks very much.

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I know you'll be back next month and we'll fill everybody in and what's happening in the healthcare

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end of the business. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me. All right, go Lions.

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It's everybody I know. I want to get closer to the game as it goes along.

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That Metal of Honor that we just paid, I was listening to it. When we recorded it,

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we never told you what war it was. It was a Korean war. Nelson, Britain,

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received his Medal of Honor for his actions during the Korean War. So I just wanted to

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get caught up on that. So we are talking now with David Sames from the Washtenaw County Veteran

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Service Office and retired General Caroline Fausson from Legal Help for Veterans. Is there

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anything else that we, any new things that either one of you have come across recently that our

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audience would be really interested in finding out about? I don't know about so much new. I know

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I have presented it on the Veterans Radio before and I can't stress enough about with the VA adding

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all these new presumptive conditions. And if the Veterans Service member dies and they have a wife

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and they die of that condition, well there's benefits like we just talked about DIC for them.

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And that could be now again with the PACT Act, not only did they add a lot of things for Afghanistan,

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well Southwest Asia, they also expanded Agent Orange benefits to the Royal Thai Air Force bases.

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So it used to be if you were an MP on the line they said okay yeah you're eligible for that but

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now it's the whole base. So if that Veteran died of one of those presumptive conditions,

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even if it was 10, 15 years ago we can apply for DIC and I've had two spouses that

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they went back to the date of the Veterans death. One was in 09 and another one was in 11.

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And that was you know that changed their lives a lot right. So there is if you know of somebody

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that was married to a Veteran and they didn't get remarried or if they got remarried after

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age I think it's 56 and a half now then they can apply for that and I just want to stress that.

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Well I think that is so important that's something that none of us would even think about

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in most cases you know. I'm just thinking I have a friend, how far back do they go I better put

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this way. I have a very good friend who passed away from leukemia which was not the right one at the time.

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Well I don't know it's been 2012 and I don't think his spouse has gotten anything from the VA.

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Now if it's not the right one you would have to fight right. Yeah. It is AML that is it is a cancer

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that is right before they can call it leukemia but they can't call it leukemia because of

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chromosome change but I've had two or well I'm hitting my third one that I've got them service

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connected for that death. I mean you have to go to the Board of Veteran Appeals but it is

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it should be on the presumptive list and yeah we have to fight it right but it's always good

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to get a second look and a second opinion just like those two spouses did they got denied and

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one was in Thailand and the other one was in Guam so it's it's huge for their to the dependence.

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The other thing is to be really honest if their Agent Orange as David was just talking and it

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might be you know the wrong and general general just they probably have other other diseases

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other things along with other presumptives and other things going along with that

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with their service and there is no time limit to this. I think David hit a big one on this one

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it's not like when you get a denial and you've got to react within a year the DIC with death

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there's no time limit to this so they are spouses the widows really need to take advantage of this.

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I'm gonna gotta figure out how I can go I can help her out and get her to do this because I know

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she says no we weren't entitled you know and one of those things well no and then you know

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that isn't gonna follow up on it so I'm gonna have to talk to the kid the children.

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Yeah to have somebody you know call either David depending on where she lives in a VSO

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county counselor somebody though that is extremely knowledgeable that could help and that's really

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important too and I am not being cynical about that but sometimes having somebody that could

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spout out and you know help the person and say yes this is what you're eligible for and convince

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them and put trust in them and help them with the paperwork not say hey you fill out this paperwork

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and I'll you know I'll pass it through but no walk them through and literally hold their hand

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and do it for them then I think that makes them feel a lot more comfortable. I would agree because

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I can't imagine you know there are so many so many veterans out there that are so stoic they

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you know they're fine you know I'm fine and uh no somebody else needs it more than I do and

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you know you've heard all the stories but I think it's up to us here at Veterans Radio is to continue

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to get the word out that it's never too late it's you know and it's something that that you have

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earned it's something you're entitled to and it's there you know that was one of the the

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agreements that they made with you that if anything happened to you they promised to take care of you

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and from the health care side and from the disability side so that's why we always encourage

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our our listeners to contact you know the local VA wherever wherever they live across the country

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and to contact their local VSO or to contact you know carillon with legal health or veterans

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they're nationwide and there are there are many great organizations out there that are more than

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willing to help and the other thing to remember is that they don't charge you a dime to help you

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with your claims you know correct with that I I totally agree with that and you know the interesting

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thing is and I hope he's still listening I really want to give a shout out to Brian who called in

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today with his question because um you know when we get veterans who say I don't deserve it you know

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I I don't want it for me no but think about your spouse and that's what he was doing he asked the

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questions about his spouse what happens after I die because then that the spouse and if they have

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children they will benefit the children can't literally apply for it but the wife you know and

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then there's always with being a hundred percent you know then that is huge with your tax abatement

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and so I think that's really critical to know what some of these benefits are right I I agree it's

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really it's really important and there's so many little nuances in the rules and the laws and

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everything and I and I think it's you know the idea of having the advantage of talking to somebody

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who's experienced like both you and David are is is really helpful um because you know and and you

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know because we is that's the clients in this case you know we don't know all the questions they ask

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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

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and uh she's she's going what what you know her husband passed away as a result of

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of his exposure to Agent R and so forth and now she's supposed to go to the regional office to

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talk to somebody about this amount of money that they want to take back and you know imagine facing

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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

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you know it was the month of death check and maybe she's eligible for DIC now yes and then

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she's eligible for that month of death check but they have to take it away and then give it back to

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her in her name yes if she's eligible for DIC so yeah you might what was the second word you use

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a monthly it's the month of death check month of death check okay yep is that like social security

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if you don't you know if you don't if you die by a certain date you have to return the

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of social security check or portions of it yes but but we also saw just recently getting

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David brought that up they finally decided on a veteran's disability claim

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poor veteran died he got the check in the mail after his death okay that check has to be returned

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so the the wife now the spouse calls us and says do I have to return this check yes so that we

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turn the check but then we filed and she got it back and then we applied for DIC because they

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are truly entitled to that we did what was called an immediate substitution that means any outstanding

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claims goes to the spouse as the VA continues to adjudicate any open claims for that veteran

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because the old rumor when the veteran dies all the claims dies false if you contact us right away

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but that's a time limited issue it has to be filed the substitution within one year of death

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then the spouse the widow could get the money but in this case we had to return that apply for

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substitution and then she got that money that the veteran would have deposited but he passed away

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yeah I can imagine I mean I think the other thing is to encourage all of our veterans who

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are on disability have that file available somewhere you know with your DD 214 in it and you know the

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marriage license and and so on and so forth so that if something happened to me for instance my

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wife could just you know where the file is but you know grab the file call you one of you guys

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right there and say okay now what right okay David want to thank David uh same's from the

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washington alcani veteran service officer stopping by today appreciate it very much thank you very

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much and as you say go lions go lions they'll be back okay um all right carol anise just you and I

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right now and so what have you been working on lately I know the woman's clinic is very important

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to you at our at our local VA and in fact my my primary care uh doctor now works at the women's

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clinic three days a week oh it's so awesome and uh well as Brian sort of alluded to it that there

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will be a date coming up hopefully soon but I'll tell you that women's center um helping our women

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and the privacy there and not only addressing the mst but a lot of the um issues that women go through

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that are totally unique cardiology and the physical um therapy and pelvic training and just

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just a ton of different physicians that are operating out of that women's center

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in all of the facilities around the country um you need women out there listening you need to go

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in and see and talk to the woman coordinator um and we're very lucky with our woman coordinator

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at the an arbor VA and so uh that's that's another benefit you know we talk about that

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now that's on the VHA side um and you know predominantly day by day I deal with the VBA side

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but I help our men and women get connected on the VHA side to get their benefits and to get in

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and I and I and I want to talk about this because we've been seeing more and more of this so

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so through the VBA side the benefit side they will arrange say at a regional office

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they will arrange for your appointment um whether it's through the contract service to go in

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and get an appointment for whichever um disability claim we've submitted for you so

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whether it's hearing or stomach issues or heart issues and you'll go in for your exam if that

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exam we've been noticing that our veterans have been getting a call or not getting a call this has

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been happening a little lately that they haven't been notified that they're scheduled for an exam

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and then they get a call Dale why didn't you show up for your appointment I never was notified

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well if that happens you need to communicate with either the VSO the county counselor

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call us so that it doesn't get registered you are a no show that's really critical we've been

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seeing that happen if the contracted service calls you and you can't make the appointment oh can you

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make an appointment on February 2 no I can't tell them that you can't and try to work with that

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contracted company um because that's predominantly what the VA's been doing right now right now

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outsourcing and uh try to work with them to get a scheduled appointment that is good for you to go

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to um and then please um keep those appointments if something comes up communicate with either the VSO

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I hate to be a poly parrot legal huffer veterans the county if something comes up and you can't go

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because then it'll you'll be listed as a no show and that's not good because you'll most likely get

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a denial on your claim and then it's like we're starting all over again right yeah the other

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thing I wanted to let our audience know is that you know once you have settled on your whoever

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is going to help you the VSO veteran service officer whether it's whether it's a it's a county

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officer or an american legion that's a legal health for veterans type of organization then you've got a

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representative I mean it's like having a lawyer and you know if you have to go to some meeting many

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of these organizations will send somebody with you so you you know you're not going into this room

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where they you know it's sort of like you're sitting there in front of this all these judges and

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they're asking you to throw in all these questions at you you've got somebody that can represent you

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and I think that that is really important and I wanted to make sure that our our audience is

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aware of these things you are not alone no and if you get a letter you need to call that representative

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you need to let us know because they're supposed to send us a letter or your representative whoever

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00:48:48,080 --> 00:48:55,280
it is sometimes the system doesn't work that way you get the notice before we do or sometimes

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we find out your results before you do it could be favorable or if you have a bad exam we've had

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veterans to call us and say oh I've just had a horrible exam they asked me a question or I got

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in the room and they asked me for something I didn't even apply for or they thought I was somebody else

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you know so I think those are really important reasons to communicate and I love the way you

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just said that Dale communicate with your representative I you know obviously I mean I

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have been working with folks at legal help and I've worked with folks at the at the county level

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for my own into my own issues let's put it that way and some of the exams went really well and

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some of them had me drive you know they wanted me to drive 50 miles to get my blood pressure checked

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and you know what you know by the time I got there my blood pressure was through the roof

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00:49:56,800 --> 00:50:07,200
and it's just you know you need you know not everybody out there is a good you know

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can make a good case for themselves and that's that's why we encourage you every month to you

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know to talk to these these experts out there you know whether you're a member of a veteran's

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organization or you know you just need help excuse me that you you know utilize these professionals

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00:50:28,720 --> 00:50:34,560
this is what they do I can't even express how much training that they all have to go through

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and especially once you get somebody that has experience you know and then that's that's really

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great for your your to your advantage to have the experience levels there

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you know and I think the great thing is the panel that you've constructed over all the years

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Dale we utilize one another I mean you know I'm going to call David and see how he got his young

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00:51:01,760 --> 00:51:09,440
lady you know for MST benefits and see how I could wiggle and help the other young lady

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00:51:09,440 --> 00:51:16,640
you know after her 20 years the fact that the VA called her back that that's really huge um

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you know and I think that's the beautiful thing to know your resources to make calls to be able

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to know that somebody's out there willing to help you and don't give up hope I keep saying that don't

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give up hope there's there's so many of us out there we want to help you if somebody tells you

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no there's nothing you can do don't believe that reach out to somebody else I think that's

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and that's very true there is no real final no out there until you're gone and even then

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your spouse can keep on keeps a fight going absolutely and that's that was really important

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issue I thought that that was brought up today was the idea that you know that you know the spouse

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who's ever you know whoever's left is entitled to some sort of compensation out there and who's

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you know don't just put it aside and say oh you know the veteran has died and that's the end of it

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you know utilize what's available to you and never you know I think never give up never surrender

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00:52:25,280 --> 00:52:30,000
like this thing all right we've got to wrap it up here we're coming up to the end of the program

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so I want to make sure that we thank general carol and for so in the air force retired nurse

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that's why we have her on the program every month it's why we're so grateful to legal

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health for veterans for their support of our program over the almost 20 years and tire up

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the whole thing and so thank you very much thank you and go lions go lions go blue we're

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00:52:57,840 --> 00:53:04,640
so excited national champions there you go yeah but we're not prejudiced about that here thank you

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very much thank you folks we are going to be coming up here to the end of the program and that

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as we've been doing the last couple of weeks we play a song we're playing god bless america and

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this song this week is by the brothers of the heart from the grand old opera 2022 so until next week

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this is dale thrombur and all of us here at veterans radio you are dismissed

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god bless america

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land that i love stand beside her and god

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her through the night with the light from above from the mountains to the prairie to the ocean

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and white with god bless america my home sweet home god bless america my home sweet home

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all beautiful or spacious

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purple mountains

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above the fruited plain.

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America, America,

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God shed His grace on thee,

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and crown thy good with brotherhood

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from sea to shining sea,

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and crown thy good with brotherhood

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from sea to shining sea.

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From the mountains to the prairies,

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to the oceans,

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white with all.

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God bless America,

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my home sea.

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Oh, God bless America,

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my home sea.

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Oh, God bless America,

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my home sea.