Vets Can Apply For All PACT Act Benefits Now After VA Speeds Up Law
Veterans Affairs officials are now accepting claims for all presumptive illnesses included in the massive toxic exposure legislation signed into law last month, including cases concerning burn pit smoke and carcinogenic chemicals that were not scheduled to go into effect for several more years.
VA's Widespread Mishandling Of Disability Claims Could Have Caused Delays And Denials For Veterans
The vast majority of claims processors at the Department of Veterans Affairs failed to follow procedures on disability claims that involved requesting medical opinions or disability exams, which could have led to delays and denials for veterans, an inspector general investigation found.
Important To Reiterate: Air Force Leaders Pledge To Fix Hated myEval Software
By: Rachel S. Cohen I MilitaryTimes.com
Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass speaks to airmen during the 2022 Air Force Sergeants Association Professional Education and Development Symposium in San Antonio Aug. 18.
The Department of the Air Force in January promised to launch a modern app as the centerpiece of an effort to transform how troops are judged on their work each year. Instead, airmen and Space Force guardians got poorly tested, confusing and erratic new software called myEval.
Nine months into the myEval rollout, senior leaders are delaying other updates to officer and enlisted evaluations. They vow to fix the program's shortcomings.
"I think everyone would say it's not as well-executed as it could be," Gen. David Allvin, the Air Force's vice chief of staff, said Thursday. "We own that."
Allvin and the Air Force's top enlisted official, Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne Bass, discussed the rank-and-file's hatred of myEval in a live Facebook chat Friday.
"When it achieves what it was intended to, it's going to be awesome," Allvin said.
The Air Force and Space Force wanted myEval to replace the former system, known as vPC, as a more automated, cloud-based database for performance evaluations.
It would offer features that have become standard in commercial software, like click-to-sign functionality. The system is also supposed to automatically pull in information from the centralized personnel data system and other programs like myFitness, which tracks airmen's fitness test scores.
Updates the Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers (PCAFC) of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) by requiring the VA to continue providing assistance to a family caregiver for at least six months after the death of a veteran participating in the program.
Requires the VA to establish a process by which veterans who are determined to have the most significant need for caregiver assistance are permanently eligible for such assistance.
Requires the VA to standardize the criteria used across all facilities in its required evaluations of the needs of the veterans and the skills of the family caregiver.
Standardizes criteria used in accepting and evaluating applications for participation in the program across all facilities.
Support the CHAMPVA Children's Care Protection Act!
This bill provides that a child shall be eligible for medical care under the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA) until the child's 26th birthday, regardless of marital status.
Support the AUTO for Veterans Act!
Link to Advocacy Campaign: https://www.votervoice.net/AFSA/campaigns/92795/respond
Legislation Summary
The Advancing Uniform Transportation Opportunities for Veterans "AUTO" Act would reduce the financial burden incurred by virtue of military service by ensuring severely disabled veterans receive a grant from the VA's Automobile Assistance Grant program to purchase a specially equipped vehicle once every ten years - as opposed to only once.
Support the Aid and Attendance Support Act!
Link to Advocacy Campaign: https://www.votervoice.net/AFSA/campaigns/92792/respond
Legislation Summary
The Aid and Attendance Support Act temporarily increases eligible disabled veterans' and surviving spouses' Aid and Attendance (A&A) allowance by 25%.
Support the Ensuring Survivor Benefits during COVID-19 Act!
The Ensuring Survivor Benefits During COVID-19 Act requires the VA to solicit a medical opinion to determine if a service-connected disability was the principal or contributory cause of death in situations where a veteran's death certificate identifies COVID-19 as the principal or contributory cause of death, the certificate does not clearly identify any of the veteran's service-connected disabilities as the principal or contributory cause of death, and a claim for dependence and indemnity compensation is filed with respect to the veteran.
Ensures Reservists and National Guard members have no-fee healthcare through TRICARE Reserve Select that covers medical and dental coverage.
Fixes the parity gap for Reserve Component retirees receiving early retirement pay due to deployment credits making them eligible for TRICARE upon receipt of retirement pay.
Provides an incentive for small businesses to hire Reserve and National Guard members by ensuring their healthcare costs are covered.
Ensures service members can access physicals needed to be ready for no-notice deployments (which have increased over the past year).
Eliminates the statutory language that excludes Federal Employees Health Benefits Program eligible service members from TRICARE Reserve Select eligibility.
Support the Advancing Toward Impact Aid Full Funding Act!
Link to Advocacy Campaign: https://www.votervoice.net/AFSA/campaigns/92818/respond
Legislation Summary
The Advancing Toward Impact Aid Full Funding Act would:
Split Impact Aid's $1.1 billion request evenly over five years, across three main categories for funding: Basic Support, Federal Property, and Children with Disabilities.
Increase Basic Support funding by $190 million annually, meeting Impact Aid's 2019 funding requests.
Increase Federal Property funding proportionally to Basic Support (BSP) by allocating an additional $11 million annually.
Increase funding for Children with Disabilities by $9 million annually, funding $2,000 per eligible student.
Advance national K-12 school systems to become more equitable and meet educational needs.
Support military families that are especially impacted by federally tax-exempt land.
Support the Health Care Fairness for Military Families Act!
Link to Advocacy Campaign: https://www.votervoice.net/AFSA/campaigns/92815/respond
Legislation Summary
Modifies the extension of dependent coverage under TRICARE by allowing a dependent at the age of 26 to be covered without an additional premium.
Authorizes such coverage of dependents without a premium regardless of whether they are eligible to enroll in an employer-sponsored plan.
Support Expanding TRICARE Cranial Remolding Helmet Coverage!
Link to Advocacy Campaign: https://www.votervoice.net/AFSA/campaigns/92802/respond
AFSA urges our nation's elected officials to support legislation that would expand the scope of TRICARE's coverage of the DOC Band Post-Op device if your baby:
Is three to 18 months old; and
Is diagnosed with craniosynostosis or nonsynostotic positional plagiocephaly (to include torticollis)
Support the Jobs and Childcare for Military Families Act!
Link to Advocacy Campaign: https://www.votervoice.net/AFSA/campaigns/92799/respond
Legislation Summary
Allow an employer a work opportunity tax credit for hiring the spouse or domestic partner of a member of the Armed Forces.
Specifically, an employer may receive a tax credit equal to 40% of a new employee's first-year wages if the employer hires a service member's spouse or domestic partner (as recognized under state law or by the Armed Forces).
Create programs for service members to pay for childcare on a pretax basis.
Specifically, the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security (with respect to the Coast Guard) must implement flexible spending arrangements that permit members of the Armed Forces to use basic pay and compensation to pay on a pretax basis for dependent childcare.
Support the Retired Pay Restoration Act!
Link to Advocacy Campaign: https://www.votervoice.net/AFSA/campaigns/92798/respond
Legislation Summary
Allowsthe receipt of both military retiredpay and veterans' disability compensation with respect to any service-connected disability.
Extends full concurrent receipt eligibility to individuals who were retired or separated after at least 20 years of military service due to a service-connected disability.
Call To Action:Share How TRICARE's coverage of the Dynamic Orthotic Cranioplasty (DOC) Band Post-Op device negatively impact your family's quality of life!
For the past year, our Military and Government Relations Team has been working with AFSA military families on getting legislation introduced that would expand the scope of TRICAR's coverage of the DOC Band Post-Op device if a baby:
Is three to 18 months old; and
Is diagnosed with craniosynostosis or nonsynostotic positional plagiocephaly (to include torticollis)
Despite unsuccessful efforts (via FOIA request) to obtain important data for the purpose of quantifying the need of this issue in the aggregate, our Team is looking to hear from the field to share your story and help have your voice heard by members of Congress.
Issue Background
Helmet therapy is used to gently correct the shape of babies' skulls over time.
Newborn babies' skulls are soft plates with spaces between them. As the baby grows, these plates grow, gradually harden, and knit together.
Unfortunately, there are circumstances under which the soft plates may develop a flat spot or uneven appearance. This condition is called plagiocephaly.
Today, almost one in two babies (47%) is affected by some form of plagiocephaly.
When the baby's skull joins together too early, or in an abnormal way, this is called craniosynostosis. There are several types of craniosynostosis, depending on when the baby's skull joins together.
Today, it is estimated that 1 in every 2,500 babies has craniosynostosis.
Positional skull deformities and/or abnormalities - whether diagnosed as a form of plagiocephaly or craniosynostosis - can have short and long term health effects on a child.
However, despite this, TRICARE only covers the Dynamic Orthotic Cranioplasty (DOC) Band Post-Op device, synonymously referred to as a "molding helmet," if your baby:
Is three to 18 months old; and
Has had craniosynostoris surgery;
But still has a misshaped skull.
In other words, cranial molding helmet(s) are not covered for the treatment of nonsynostotic positional plagiocephaly or for the treatment of craniosynostosis before surgery; despite medical evidence that suggests the presence or absence of congenital or acquired plagiocephaly (to include torticollis) can, at the very least, increase the risk of gross motor development.
In fact, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics school-aged children with moderate to severe plagiocephaly scored lower than controls on cognitive and academic measures.
As a result, military families - who face unique challenges given the sacrifices that come along with serving our country - have been put in the tragic position to either front the hefty cost of the helmet (approximately $2,000), seek alternative forms of treatment that may not be preferred, or forego treatment altogether.
We are pleased to share the AFSA Set-It-Forever/Auto Pay procedures and marketing materials to help share the process with our members, your membership and potential new recruits.
The Set-It-Forever/Auto Pay program creates an opportunity to JOIN AFSA or RENEW a membership by making a $36 once-a-year/every-year auto payment, or a $4-each-month/every- month auto payment. The $36 once-a-year option is set at $36, and the $4-a-month option includes a bank processing fee of $1 each month.
Review the two ways to enroll, the benefits to using the auto-pay option, and the marketing materials to help share the details of this program and ensure its success.
For questions, please contact AFSAHQ Member & Field team at 800-638-0594 x 288.
Please Update Your Contact Information Today!
Dear Air Force Sergeants Association Member,
In order for the AFSA to effectively communicate with our members, it is essential to ensure we have your current and / or valid e-mail address. We are in the process of updating our records and need your help! Please take a moment to ensure that we have your most current mail and email address (no .mil's); and accurate membership listing information.
We've made it easy, as you can update your information in either one of three ways:
Call Member & Field Relations team directly at 800-638-0594 x 288 (Mon. - Fri. 8:00 am to 5:00 pm (EST)
Email to: msvcs@hqafsa.org
Visit www.hqafsa.org and select the UPDATE button on the right
We thank you in advance for your support and prompt updates.
In sum, in the upcoming months, there will probably be a significant increase in backlogged claims, which might expose department executives to accusations that they are overworking staff members and failing to keep promises to veterans. Senior VA employees, however, assert that they think the change will speed up the process of providing new benefits and health care to veterans and their families, some as early as 2023.
On August 10, President Joe Biden issued an executive order directing VA personnel to treat all of the presumed conditions included in the law "as relevant the minute I sign this bill," which is more commonly referred to as the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act (or the PACT Act).
Veterans who suffer from illnesses that are presumed to be service-connected spend less time filling out paperwork to get monthly disability benefits, which can amount to several thousand dollars per month.
In addition, according to a statistical sampling of claims processed in fiscal 2021, the VA's top watchdog reported on Wednesday that 68% of processors didn't properly manage the part of the claims procedure that demands opinions and exams. In 38% of requests, the VA processors omitted crucial information, and in 19% of requests, they omitted all the material that examiners need to make recommendations.
Examiners from the VA evaluate data supplied by processors to assess the severity of a veteran's disability and determine if it is covered as part of the claims process. Investigators from the Office of the Inspector General discovered that without a thorough understanding of the medical conditions and claim, examiners could overlook problems or arrive at the wrong conclusion.
And lastly, when Bridget Merancio started receiving reports that the tap water her family had been using for drinking and bathing, which had an oily sheen to it, may be tainted with petroleum, everything came into clear focus. As the Thanksgiving holiday in 2021 came to an end, hundreds of families on the Navy's drinking water system that supplies communities near Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam started reporting chemical or gasoline smells coming from their faucets as well as health concerns.
The Navy issued a warning to military families, informing them to phone a hotline if they thought there was a problem with their water and that a team would be sent out to examine it. Early on in the rapidly developing disaster, Rear Adm. Timothy Kott, who was in charge of Navy Region Hawaii at the time, informed military families during a town hall meeting, "We are working vigorously to try to determine out what is in the water."
The first to contact were the Merancios, who now reside in Georgia, although they would never learn exactly what was in their water. That's because the Navy failed to check any of the more than 1,000 residences it collected samples from in the first few weeks after the water pollution for petroleum compounds, including the Merancios'.
And that's the way it is for Thursday, September 8, 2022.
Stay tuned for our next M&G-B, where we will continue to keep you in the loop on all things pertinent to the coronavirus, veterans, active-duty members, guards and reservists, and military family members. Stay happy, and stay healthy!
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