Thank you for this opportunity to submit a Statement for the Record on behalf of the members of Gold Star Wives of America, Inc. (GSW).   

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.

I have read through the draft issue of the Veterans Disability Benefits Claims Modernization Act of 2008, and its provisions are well crafted and much needed.

We are very happy that this proposed law specifically mentions survivors.  Survivors have a unique set of benefits and a unique set of problems.

GSW requested that a few of our members who have personal experience in dealing with the Department of Veterans Affairs claims system and professional experience in converting manual business systems to computer systems read the proposed law and make suggestions and comments.

We are well aware that the Veterans Affairs claims system has a huge backlog of claims as well as a very long wait for processing. A large portion of this backlog is generated by having to file claims and appeals over and over again before they are properly and fully adjudicated. One surviving spouse’s husband filed a claim five times before he died, and she has filed the same claim twice since he died. If the claims had been fully and competently processed, no more than two claims should have been required.

We fully support the provisions of this proposed legislation that call for proper training and certification of adjudicators. We would also like to see provisions that require that any rejected claim be reviewed by a knowledgeable, competent adjudicator before they are rejected or denied.

We also fully support all efforts to inform the claimant of the type and quality of information that the VA adjudicators need to properly process a claim.

Many of our service members have participated in black or classified missions and in subsequent years they have developed illnesses as a result of those missions. In some instances portions of their service records are still classified or heavily redacted, and VA cannot adjudicate a claim without full access to those records. Some provision needs to be made to alleviate the situation whereby the claimant cannot receive compensation for his illness or injury because the records pertaining to it are classified or heavily redacted.  It would seem reasonable to assume that if records are classified or heavily redacted, the claim should be adjudicated in favor of the claimant without the records that are usually required. The more cumbersome alternative would be that adjudicators to have a high enough security clearance to read the necessary records.

In the last few years GSW has encountered many surviving spouses who have filed for Dependents Indemnity Compensation (DIC) and have had a significant delay in receiving benefits. Some of these survivors have lost or nearly lost their homes and/or their credit ratings have been lowered before the claim was processed and benefits were awarded. Many of these claims were very routine, straight forward claims which should have been processed quickly and easily. 

Other surviving spouses have had to go without medical care or go heavily in debt to obtain medical care because the DIC claim was not processed expeditiously or the surviving spouse was not properly entered into the ChampVA system.

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.

Temporary Aid and Attendance awards should be available for the surviving spouse and dependent children of a 100 percent totally and permanently disabled veteran or deceased veteran whose surviving spouse is entitled to DIC. These awards would be applicable in cases of catastrophic illness, surgeries where the anticipated length of recovery is greater than 10 days, chemotherapy, etc. Actual payments could be prorated to the actual recovery time involved.

If the condition becomes permanent, the Aid and Attendance could be continued on a permanent basis. Surviving spouses and dependent children should be allowed to claim housing modifications if the condition is permanent and the modifications are necessary.

Temporary Aide and Attendance is a real necessity for the surviving spouse and dependent children as there is only one parent and one adult in the household once the veteran dies.

In reference to:

(Page 14) Advisory Committee on Disability Compensation, GSW would like to have one of our well qualified members included on this committee. The needs of family members and survivors also need to be addressed by this committee.

(Page 15) Title 1, Section 102. “assemble and review relevant information relating to the needs of veterans with disabilities”. Please add their families and survivors. The needs of families and survivors also need to be addressed.

(Page 16) Title 1, Section 102. “An assessment of the needs of veterans with respect to disability compensation”.  Please add their families and survivors. The needs of families and survivors also need to be addressed.

(Page 21) Title 1, Section 105. Employee Certification. This employee certification examination for adjudicators needs to include DIC claims and survivor benefits.

(Page 24) Title 1, Section 106. Annual Assessment of Quality Assurance Program.

It is our understanding from comments made at other hearing that there is a great deal of difficulty involved in training and certifying adjudicators. One comment was made that only 27 percent of the adjudicators could pass the certification exam; another comment was that adjudicators remained in their positions for only about 2 years.  With the vast amount of knowledge needed to perform adequately in these positions and with this difficulty in training and retaining adjudicators, some thought needs to be given to raising the grades of these employees and to creating upward mobility positions. Perhaps the adjudicators could be monetarily rewarded or promoted to the next level on an upward mobility path based on passing the examinations.

Different regional offices often rate veterans with similar illnesses and injuries very differently. Hopefully the reports required by this legislation and the certification examinations will allow the regional offices to rate veterans with similar illnesses and injuries in a more equitable manner.

(Page 29) Title 1, Sec 109. Assignment of Temporary Disability Ratings to Qualifying Veterans. 

When a claim is incomplete and a checklist is provided to the claimant will there be time constraints involved?  If there are time constraints involved, can those time constraints be extended if, through no fault of their own, the claimant cannot comply with the time constraints? 

Veterans who have been declared terminally ill should be included in the provisions for Temporary Disability Ratings.  There should be a specific set of procedures for terminally ill veterans. Pending claims should automatically be expedited without the need for a special request.

In the case of a terminal diagnosis stemming from a previously rated service connected disability, the veteran should be rated as 100 percent totally and permanently disabled from the date of the original claim.

(Page 30) Qualifying Veteran.  “(1) who has been discharged from active duty service for 365 days or less.”

And on (Page 31) Termination of Temporary Rating (B) “The date that is 365 days after the date of the veteran’s last separation or release from active duty.”

The two dates specified above could be the same or very close to each other.  Perhaps it would be better to specify under Termination of Temporary Rating that the Temporary Rating would be terminated 365 days after it was received or 365 after the first temporary compensation check was mailed.

(Page 32) Sec 110. Review and Enhancement of Use of Information Technology at Veterans Benefits Administration. 

Security of online records should be a prime consideration.  All access to those records should be logged and the reason for that access specified. Digital signatures should be provided for all access and a record kept of what information was accessed and why it was accessed. All HIPPA provisions should be used to safeguard the information in these records.

A veteran should have access to his own records. A copy of the records should be provided to the veteran upon request without charge. If a surviving spouse requires access to the deceased veteran’s records, a copy of those records should be provided without charge.

If there is incorrect information in the records, it should be corrected upon request of the veteran.

If a veteran’s record is included in the registries (cancer, Agent Orange, Gulf War, etc.) the veteran should be advised that the record is being included in these registries and how the data in those registries will be used.

If a veteran’s record is used for research all identifying data should be stripped from the record. If for some reason all identifying data cannot be stripped from the record, then written approval of the veteran to use the information in his records should be required.

(Page 36 ) Sec. 111. Substitution in case of death of claimant. 

Minor dependent children should automatically be considered as co-claimants, if the claimant of record is not the custodial parent. This will ensure that the original claimant’s minor dependent children are not forsaken in lieu of a current spouse or in the cases of a guardianship or custodial grandparents. The dependent child or children’s financial interests are then protected until the reach the age of majority.