VFW Washington Weekly, May 9, 2008
Friday, May 9, 2008 at 06:56 PM
by dist3
In This Issue
1. GI Bill Call to Action
2. House Holds Veteran Suicide Hearing
3. Senate Holds Hearing on Benefit Bills
4. Senate Committee Boosts Pay, Rejects Fees
To access the full report go HERE
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VFW Washington Weekly, May 2, 2008
Friday, May 2, 2008 at 02:49 PM
by dist3
In This Issue
1. GI Bill Call to Action
2. House VA Committee Moves Bills
3. Paid Up Survivor Benefit Plan
To read the full text of this report go to
VFW Washington Weekly, May 2, 2008
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VFW Washington Weekly, April 28, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008 at 12:29 PM
by dist3
In This Issue:
1. Senate Passes Large Benefits Bill
2. House VA Committee Bills
3. Senate Hearing on VA/DOD Improvements
4. OIF/OEF Campaign Stars
The full text can be found at Mo Legislative Updates
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Dept of Mo May General Orders
Friday, April 25, 2008 at 08:43 PM
by dist3
The General Orders for May, 2008
from the
Department of Missouri
and
Hotel Room Registration Forms
for the 88th Dept Convention
are now available at
Dept of Mo May General Orders
(printable forms included)
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VFW Washington Weekly - April 18, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008 at 01:17 PM
by dist3
In This Issue:
1. House VA Committee Hearings
2. Senate Passes VA Home Package
3. New GI Bill Needs Your Help
To read the full report go to Mo Legislative Updates
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VFW Washington Weekly - April 14, 2008
Monday, April 14, 2008 at 02:57 PM
by dist3
In This Issue:
1. VFW Legislative Alert Supports GI Bill for 21st Century
2. House Hearings on Disability Claims, Homelessness
3. President's Statement on Iraq
4. VFW Travels to Southeast Asia
To read the full report go to Mo Legislative Updates
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Understanding Your VA Benefits
Sunday, April 6, 2008 at 02:25 PM
by dist3
Under the compensation and pension programs there is no budget. When you receive these benefits it does not take away benefits from any other veteran. If a veteran is service-connected 10 percent or more for any condition they are entitled to inpatient and outpatient care, hearing aids, eyeglasses and all their prescriptions for $8.00 per prescription for a 30 day supply at any VA facility.
When a veteran is service connected 50 percent or more all their prescriptions are free of charge.
When a veteran is rated service connected 70 percent or more they are entitled to nursing home care at no cost to the veteran.
When a veteran is rated 100 percent service connected they are entitled to dental care.
Most veteran’s who served in the Battle of the Bulge and the Chosin Reservoir suffer from the residuals of cold injuries and they receive a 100 percent evaluation from the VA. ($2,527.00 a month for a single veteran and $2,669.00 a month for a married veteran).
If you served on land in Vietnam and you have diabetes we want to make sure you are receiving all the compensation you are entitled to receive. We represent 1,500 diabetics and 27 percent of them receive a 100 percent evaluation from the VA.
If you served on land in Vietnam and you had prostate cancer we want to make sure you are receiving all the benefits that you are entitled to receive. We will explain to you what the requirements are for a higher evaluation. The number one and two disabilities granted by the VA for compensation are bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus (ringing in the ears). If your occupation in service was consistent with noise exposure or you were awarded any combat ribbon or medal you are entitled to an exam by the VA to evaluate your claimed hearing loss and/or tinnitus. The VA currently denies medical care to some veterans. You served your time so don’t let anybody tell you no when are seeking medical care. File a claim for benefits and get everything you are entitled to receive. If you records were destroyed in the fire in St. Louis, MO in 1973 is not an excuse not to file a claim. We have had veterans in the past whose records were destroyed and we still got them a 100 percent service connected evaluation.
The VA also has a Pension Program. The requirements are 90 days of wartime service, be totally disabled or age 65 or older and be under the income limits. If you or you receive in-home care we would like to talk to you about these benefits.
To file a claim you can call our office in St. Louis at 314-552-9886 or contact any of our offices at the VA Medical Center. You can also contact us by e-mail and you can send that to Mr. Jason Blakemore, Assistant Service Officer at
jasonblakemore@hotmail.com
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DO YOU KNOW WHY THE VFW WAS FORMED?
Friday, April 4, 2008 at 03:29 PM
by dist3
The VFW traces its roots back to 1899 when veterans of the Spanish-
American War (1898) and the Philippine Insurrection (1899-1902) founded
local organizations to secure rights and benefits for their service.
In order to secure these benefits for veterans the leadership of the
organization created the Veterans Service Program. In the State of Missouri
we wanted our Service Officers to be where ever we can see the most
veterans. So we have Service Officers at the VA Regional Office, every VA
Medical Center and one located in Southwest Missouri.
We keep stats on how much money we are able to secure on behalf of the
veterans that we represent. Seven years ago we were recovering $18 million
dollars in benefits. Today that amount has grown to $92 million dollars a
year. We file a little more than 1,000 claims a month with half of them from
claimants coming to the VFW for the first time. We have signed up more
than 1,100 new members during the past three years.
At the VA Regional Office in St. Louis you will find representative’s from
seven organizations. But no service organization is handling more claims
than the VFW. The VA has 8,419 pending claims and we represent 2,469 of
them or 29.33 percent of all claims. There are 1,351 veterans who have
claims pending that are not represented by anyone, which represents 16.05
percent of all claims. We represent 500 more claims than a Service
Organization that has more than twice the staff as ours and we represent
2,074 more claims than the largest Service Organization. When you look at
the stats for four of the service organizations they represent on 8 percent of
the workload.
If it was not for the generous donations of several VFW Post, substantial
donations from the Ladies Auxiliary and individuals who have given us
donations out of their own pockets we would not have been able to secure
the 92 million dollars in benefits for our veterans during the past year.
The Veterans Service Program is the only program that directly helps our
veterans to receive their medical care, compensation, pension and education
benefits. You will not find another group of individuals who are as
dedicated to helping our veterans than your Department Service Officers.
They work weekends and more than 40 hours a week not because they have
to but because they want to. There are still thousands of veterans in the
State of Missouri who could benefit from our services but we don’t have the
staff to help them. The big difference between the VFW and some of the
other service organizations is that we are looking for veterans to help. We
review the veteran’s file and we look for other conditions that veteran can
claim that they are unaware of. Besides all the claims we get granted we
also get an average of 15 veterans a week a 100 percent evaluation.
I have been your Service Officer for over 30 years and for those that know
me you know that my mission is to file as many claims as possible and to
make sure our veteran’s are receiving the maximum benefits under the law.
I spend a large portion of my day arguing with the VA about negative
decisions that have made in veteran’s claims. You would not believe how
many times we have been able to get the VA to change their original
decisions.
I am asking for your help. If the VFW has helped you with your claim for
benefits and we are asking you to do what you can to support our Program. I
would also like for you to contact your Post and ask them how much they
have sent in to support our Program. Don’t be shocked if you find out that
nothing was sent in or they only sent in $25.00 for the year. Because we
have been there for you when you needed us maybe you can convince them
that our Program is worth more to veterans than 7 cents a day from a Post
that may have more than a hundred members. Hopefully you will find out
that they are giving their fair share because we are all in this together and
until all our veterans are receiving what they are entitled to receive our job is
not done.
I have one goal and that is to help our fellow veterans to receive their
benefits and to do that I need the resources necessary to get the job done.
All contribution should be sent to: VFW Department Headquarters, P.O.
Box 26, Jefferson City, MO 65102. Make check payable to the VFW
Veterans Service Fund.
Dennis F. Flynn
VFW Service Officer
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VFW Washington Weekly, April 4, 2009
Friday, April 4, 2008 at 03:19 PM
by dist3
In This Issue:
1. New GI Bill Needs Our Help
2. House VA Committee Hearings
3. Women Veterans' Bill
4. VA Home Loan Fix
5. VA Names Acting Benefits Chief
6. Soldier Missing in Iraq Identified
Full text can be found at
Mo Legislative Updates
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