The members of Gold Star Wives of America are the widows[1] of military service members who served during World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the periods between these wars. Our husbands died on active duty and/or as the result of a service connected cause.

We are those to whom Abraham Lincoln referred when he made the government’s commitment “… to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan.”

H.R. 4505 

H.R. 4505 would grant nursing home care in state veterans’ homes to the parents of those who died while serving the Armed Forces of the United States.

Gold Star Wives of America (GSW) believes that this legislation needs to be amended to include:

• The widows of those who died while serving in the Armed Forces
• The parents and widows of those who died of a service connected cause

Many of these parents, wives and widows have spent or will spend much of their lives as the caregivers of severely disabled veterans. If anyone deserves nursing home care in a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) or VA subsidized nursing home, it is the parents, wives and widows who have provided care to severely disabled service members and veterans.

The recent bill which provides for benefits to caregivers included only the caregivers of those who were injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. The caregivers of veterans from previous war eras were not included in these benefits.

Survivor benefits during earlier war eras were less than adequate. Many of the widows from the World War II and Korean War eras receive Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) and $200 - $300 in Social Security.  Many of these widows live on $1500 a month or less and are financially challenged. 

Some of the widows of the Vietnam era receive only DIC and are not entitled to Social Security Widow’s Pension because their husbands died very young and had not accumulated enough quarterly work credits for them to receive a Social Security Widows’ Pension. (This oversight also needs to be fixed.)

Congress has not been able to fund H.R. 2243, the bill to increase DIC or H.R. 775, the bill to repeal the DIC offset to SBP for widows who have not remarried.

As a result of this lack of funding many of our widows are in significant financial need now and they would have no means to pay for nursing home care should the need arise.

As an alternative to providing care for parents, wives, and widows in a VA or VA subsidized nursing home, Congress should consider providing subsidized long term care insurance. Long term care insurance would be far less expensive and would allow these proposed beneficiaries to obtain nursing home care while remaining in their own communities close to friends and family. An exception might be made so that if a veteran is already in a nursing home, his family members would be eligible for care in the same VA or VA subsidized nursing home.

Subsidized long term care insurance would also relieve the burden to the VA of providing care to additional family members when the VA is already staggering under the current burden of caring for veterans.

“Taking care of survivors is as essential as taking care of our Veterans and military personnel.  By taking care of survivors, we are honoring a commitment made to our Veterans and military members.” Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki 

[1] Although widowers are more than welcome in GSW, GSW’s membership is primarily widows.  Use of the word widows or other gender specific language is meant to include widowers.