Support the Care for the Veteran Caregiver Act!
Link to Advocacy Campaign: https://www.votervoice.net/AFSA/campaigns/92824/respond Legislation Summary - 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!
Link to Advocacy Campaign: https://www.votervoice.net/AFSA/campaigns/92822/respond Legislation Summary 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!
Link to Advocacy Campaign: https://www.votervoice.net/AFSA/campaigns/92790/respond Legislation Summary 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. Support the TRICARE Select Restoration Act!
Link to Advocacy Campaign: https://www.votervoice.net/AFSA/campaigns/92820/respond Legislation Summary The TRICARE Select Restoration Act would eliminate TRICARE Select enrollment fees for veterans who retired prior to 2018. Support the Healthcare for Our Troops Act!
Link to Advocacy Campaign: https://www.votervoice.net/AFSA/campaigns/92819/respond Legislation Summary - 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 - Allows the receipt of both military retired pay 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! Share your Story Here: https://www.votervoice.net/AFSA/Surveys/7294/Respond Context 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 TRICARE'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.
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