“With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see right, let us strive to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who has borne the battle, his widow and his orphan.” 

          …. President Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865

Thank you for your invitation to testify before the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs of the Committee on Veterans Affairs.

I am Kathryn Witt, and I am the widow of SGM Keith M. Witt, U.S. Army (Retired). I would like to say that my husband received excellent care and superb service from our local VA and VA Medical Center.

Gold Star Wives of America, Inc. (GSW) was founded in 1945 and is a Congressionally chartered Veterans Service Organization comprised of surviving spouses of military service members who died while on active duty or as a result of a service-connected disability. GSW currently has approximately 10,000 members who are surviving spouses of those who served in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and other smaller conflicts.

Survivors Office

GSW would very much like to see a Survivors Office at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).  Ideally a Survivors Office would represent survivors at the Policy level as well as have personnel who are trained to assist survivors with claims and provide the necessary information on survivor benefits and how to apply for them.

Survivors are often referred to and thought of as family members, but survivors really are not family members. Survivors are a separate and distinct category of beneficiaries. The VA benefits survivors receive are very different from the benefits of other beneficiaries.

GSW has numerous reports of survivors who have called the VA Regional Offices and either been given erroneous information, incomplete information or no information. Apparently the personnel answering the phones have little or no training on survivor benefits and no readily accessible source for survivor benefit information.

Ideally claims for survivor benefits would also be handled exclusively by this office and routine, properly documented claims could be expedited.

We have numerous complaints from all categories of survivors who have filed for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) and waited months and years for a routine, properly documented application to be processed. In some instances these spouses have lost their homes, ruined their credit ratings, had to file for bankruptcy, or had to defer needed medical care or go heavily in debt to obtain medical care. The spouses who suffer the most in this particular situation have been long term caregivers for their husbands who had a service connected disability and have therefore been unable to maintain a career or acquire personal resources.

Army Long Term Family Care

The Army Casualty and Mortuary Affairs office of the Human Resources Command in Alexandria, VA, provides training and Army certification on VA survivor benefits to every Army Casualty Assistance Officer (CAO). The Army Long Term Family Care office gives every survivor a loose leaf notebook that contains a copy of the VA handbook, “Federal Benefits for Veterans and Dependents” and lists of mailing addresses, website addresses and phone numbers the survivor might need in addition to the necessary Army information. The Casualty Assistance Officer also assists the survivor in locating a VA office and filing the necessary VA claims. The Army Long Term Family Care office also offers assistance to surviving spouses and children for as long as they need assistance. Although the primary mission of the Army Long Term Family Care office is to assist survivors of Army personnel who died on Active duty, they will also assist survivors of other military services, retired survivors, and veterans when they are asked to do so. These folks do a tremendous job of assisting survivors and others in need of assistance. This program should be duplicated for all the military services. This Army Long Term Family Care office would be an extremely good model for a VA Survivors Office.

National Service Officers Trained on Survivor Benefits

Our recent surviving spouses are overwhelmed with grief and with everything that needs to be done when their military spouses die. Some are not even aware that they are entitled to VA benefits; others do not know the benefits to which they are entitled, let alone how to go about obtaining those benefits. They are confused about which benefits are from DoD and which benefits are from the VA. Some are unaware that they must file a claim for VA survivor benefits.

Training for the National Service Officers (NSO) from the Veterans Service Organizations (VSO) should include a substantial segment on survivor benefits. Training on survivor benefits should also be available to members of organizations like GSW.

ChampVA and Medicare Part B

ChampVA requires disabled surviving spouses under the age of 65 to purchase Medicare Part B at a cost of approximately $100 per month. Many disabled surviving spouses are not aware that ChampVA requires that they purchase Medicare Part B to retain their ChampVA benefits. The requirement for disabled surviving spouses to purchase Medicare Part B needs to be revoked, but at a minimum an outreach program needs to be established to ensure that disabled surviving spouses are aware of the need to purchase Medicare Part B in a timely manner.

In most cases they were not made aware of the requirement to purchase Medicare Part B until ChampVA denied coverage for medications or a claim was denied. When they discovered that they had to purchase Medicare Part B, they were also required to pay penalties and interest.

Only those receiving Social Security Disability payments under the age of 65 are required to purchase Medicare Part B. Enabled persons under the age of 65 entitled to ChampVA are not required to purchase other health insurance to receive ChampVA benefits. The Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan (FEHBP) does not require those under 65 to purchase additional health insurance to receive benefits from FEHBP. This ChampVA requirement not only discriminates against the disabled, but it is levied against those least able to pay.

GSW strongly recommends that all those entitled to Medicare Part B purchase it, however we believe that the ChampVA requirement to purchase it discriminates against the disabled and is just plain wrong.

Military ID Cards

GSW also has many members who are unaware that they are entitled to a military identification card for commissary and exchange privileges if their deceased spouse was 100 percent disabled veteran, and they are eligible for DIC. These surviving spouses are not receiving the information or the required letter from the VA. Additionally, the personnel in the military who are supposed to issue the identification cards do not know how to get the information into the various computer systems as required and therefore cannot issue the identification cards. Outreach to the surviving spouses who are eligible for the military ID card and more coordination with DoD would be very much appreciated.

Property Taxes Exemptions and Reductions

Many of our surviving spouses are entitled to property or real estate tax exemptions on their homes. In some states the VA provides letters to these surviving spouses that are to be given to their local tax office to verify that they are entitled to this exemption or reduction. In some cases the surviving spouse receives the letter from the VA and has no idea what the letter is for or that he or she is entitled to a property tax exemption or reduction. In other states the surviving spouse is aware that she is entitled to the property tax exemption or reduction, but can no one at the VA who is familiar with this issue and can either provide her with the appropriate letter or refer her to someone who can provide the letter. We need more outreach and clarification on this issue.

Newsletter

One way to increase outreach to survivors might be to have a newsletter for survivors. 

As the cost of printing and mailing a newsletter would be prohibitive, I would suggest that a survivors’ newsletter be attached to the VA website www.va.gov . The website could contain a request that those who read the online newsletter pass a link to others in a similar situation. There should also have a subscriber list so that either copies of a new newsletter could be emailed to them or a notice that a new newsletter is available could be mailed to them.

The newsletter could contain information about changes in VA benefits, new benefits, COLAs, etc. Each addition could contain an article about an existing benefit, the criteria for receiving that benefit and how to apply for that benefit. It could include the email addresses and phone numbers a survivor might need to obtain information about different benefits. It could also contain a “contact us” link that would allow a survivor to ask questions and a database of prepared answers to frequently asked questions.

As we all know, improvements and new ideas are needed to make the VBA outreach efforts more effective.

Thank you for this opportunity to testify before you today.