VA and TriCare News

Special interest news for Veterans of Massachusetts and Nationally

Retiree Dental Coverage Available for Purchase
Good oral health is an important part of maintaining overall health and a military retiree’s access to dental coverage doesn’t end when they hang up their uniform. With the TRICARE Retiree Dental Program, retired service members can purchase affordable dental coverage for themselves and their eligible family members.

Know Before You Go: Some Services Need Prior Authorization
Some health care services – like visiting a primary care provider when sick or for a follow-up appointment – are routine. However, for other services – such as care from a medical specialist or special tests – TRICARE requires prior authorization.

VA Begins Nationwide GI Bill Advertising Campaign to Reach Student Veterans and Schools
The Department of Veterans Affairs today announced a two-month, nationwide advertising campaign to assist student Veterans and servicemembers applying for the Post-9/11 GI Bill.

Dot Mil Docs, MHS Podcast, Celebrates 100th Episode!
FALLS CHURCH, VA - Dot Mil Docs, the Military Health System's official podcast, celebrates its 100th episode this week. Dot Mil Docs is a weekly audio podcast that features military medical professionals and other military health experts from across the DoD. The program upholds the Military Health System's commitment to connecting with service members, veterans and their families through social media outreach.

inTransition Now Available for Service Members Receiving Mental Health Treatment
FALLS CHURCH, Va. – The Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Force Health Protection and Readiness announced Feb. 24 the kick-off of inTransition. inTransition is a new program designed to offer service members currently receiving mental health treatment a bridge of support between health care providers when they transfer to a new location or separate from active service.

Benefits reconsidered for ill Gulf War vets
WASHINGTON — The Veterans Affairs Department says it will look again at the rejected claims of veterans who say their Gulf War service caused a mysterious illness, the first step toward potentially compensating them nearly two decades after the war ended.VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said the decision is part of a “fresh, bold look” his department is taking to help veterans who have what’s commonly called “Gulf War illness” and have long felt the government did little to help them. The VA says it also plans to improve training for medical staff who work with Gulf War vets, to make sure they do not simply tell vets that their symptoms are imaginary — as has happened to many over the years.“I’m hoping they’ll be enthused by the fact that this ... challenges all the assumptions that have been there for 20 years,” Shinseki told the Associated Press in an interview.The changes reflect a significant shift in how the VA may ultimately care for some 700,000 veterans who served in the Gulf War. They also could improve the way the department handles war-related illnesses suffered by future veterans, because Shinseki said he wants standards put in place that don’t leave veterans waiting decades for answers to what ails them.The decision comes four months after Shinseki opened the door for about 200,000 Vietnam veterans to receive service-related compensation for three illnesses stemming from exposure to the Agent Orange herbicide.About 175,000 to 210,000 Gulf War veterans have come down with a pattern of symptoms ranging from mild to severe that include rashes, headaches, memory problems, joint and muscle pain, sleep issues and gastrointestinal problems, according to a 2008 congressionally mandated committee that based the estimate on earlier studies.But what exactly caused the symptoms has long been unanswered. Independent scientists have pointed to pesticide and pyridostigmine bromide pills, given to protect troops from nerve agents, as probable culprits. The 2008 report noted that since 1994, $340 million has been spent on government research into the illness, but little has focused on treatments.Steve Robertson, legislative director of the American Legion and a Gulf War veteran who has struggled with his own health issues such as joint problems and chronic fatigue, said Friday the decision is welcome news.“I can assure that there are Gulf War veterans who have been fighting this issue since 1991-92,” Robertson said. “The ones I’ve talked to are very, very upset that they’ve had to fight this battle.”James Bunker, president of the nonprofit National Gulf War Resource Center, also praised the decision but said he hopes the claims processors will be better trained so they don’t reject the same claims again, turning the process into “something that had lifted the hopes of many veterans just to let them down again.”Last week, Shinseki and Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs committee, met privately in Charleston, W.Va., with several Gulf War veterans. In an interview after the meeting, Rockefeller said that Shinseki’s background as a former Army chief of staff made the changes possible. He said either the military has been reluctant over the years to release paperwork related to the war or kept poor records about exposures in the war zone, which made it harder for the veterans to prove they needed help.“The paperwork isn’t very accurate, but the pain is very real,” Rockefeller said.Shinseki has publicly wondered why there are still so many unanswered questions about Gulf War illness, as stricken veterans’ conditions have only worsened with age.Last fall, he appointed a task force led by his chief of staff, John Gingrich, a retired Army colonel who commanded a field artillery battalion in the 1991 war, to review benefits and care for Gulf War veterans. The changes stem from the task force’s work.Gingrich said he feels a personal stake because some of his own men who were healthy during the war are dealing with these health problems. Gingrich said the VA isn’t giving a new benefit to Gulf War veterans, just making sure the claims they submitted were done correctly.A law enacted in 1994 allows the VA to pay compensation to Gulf War veterans with certain chronic disabilities from illnesses the VA could not diagnosis. More than 3,400 Gulf War have qualified for benefits under this category, according to the VA.The VA doesn’t have an estimate of the number of veterans who may be affected, but it could be in the thousands.Of those who deployed in the Gulf War, 300,000 submitted claims, according to the VA. About 14 percent were rejected, while the rest received compensation for at least one condition.

New hires won’t speed VA claims soon
Key senators said Friday they are pleased that the Veterans Affairs Department is hiring more than 4,000 more claims processors, but they are worried this won’t result in most veterans getting their disability benefits any faster.VA Secretary Eric Shinseki acknowledged that immediate progress might be elusive. It will take up to two years to fully train the new workers, even as the number of claims being filed continues to climb, he said in testimony before the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee.In 2009, VA received more than 1 million disability claims, and expects a 13 percent increase this year and an 11 percent increase in 2011, he said. That does not include an additional one-time flood of claims expected in 2011 stemming from an expansion of Agent Orange-related claims from Vietnam veterans, he said.That alone could result in 228,000 claims, he said.The 2011 VA budget includes an increase of 4,048 full-time equivalent positions for claims processors, a number that includes making permanent some temporary positions.Even with those increases, VA officials have warned that the average waiting time for claims is expected to grow from 161 days today to 190 days in 2011. But if the extra claims workers were not hired, the average wait would be 250 days, officials said.Veterans’ committee members are prepared for the temporary increase in the belief that things will get better after the flood of Agent Orange claims is processed and after the new workers are fully trained.But there is a fear that some bottlenecks that have not been addressed could remain in the claims process. Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., said he is concerned that there is no increase in the budget for people who handle appeals if a veteran is dissatisfied with the initial decision on a claim.Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, said he was worried that VA might push too hard to process claims at the expense of making more mistakes, a problem that Shinseki acknowledged could happen if VA doesn’t maintain an emphasis on quality.John Wilson of Disabled American Veterans said he believes VA will have enough people to process claims with the new hires if they are properly trained.“Training ... has not been a high enough priority in VA,” Wilson said.VA also lacks a strong quality control procedure on claims to identify mistakes, including who is making them, so corrective action can be taken, he said.Shinseki said hiring more people was a temporary “brute force” response to an increase in claims, and that the long-term answer to keeping up with disability requests is to have a mostly automated process.Several pilot projects are underway in that area, he said.

Regular Colorectal Cancer Screening Saves Lives
Colorectal cancer screenings may be an uncomfortable subject for some people to discuss, but their importance cannot be underplayed. With one in 19 Americans being diagnosed with colorectal cancer in their lifetime, the good news for TRICARE beneficiaries is that colorectal screenings are available to them at no cost.

Shinseki Announces Winners of Innovation Competition for Improving Claims Processing
The Department of Veterans Affairs selected 10 winners in a competition that solicited ideas from VA employees and co-located Veterans service organizations to improve claims processing and provide greater transparency to Veterans.

VA to reopen Gulf War vets’ files
WASHINGTON — The Veterans Affairs Department says it will take a second look at the disability claims of what could be thousands of Gulf War veterans suffering from illnesses they blame on their war service, the first step toward potentially compensating them nearly two decades after the war ended.VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said the decision is part of a “fresh, bold look” his department is taking to help veterans who have what’s commonly called “Gulf War illness” and have long felt the government did little to help them. The VA says it also plans to improve training for medical staff who work with Gulf War vets, to make sure they do not simply tell vets that their symptoms are imaginary — as has happened to many over the years.“I’m hoping they’ll be enthused by the fact that this ... challenges all the assumptions that have been there for 20 years,” Shinseki told The Associated Press in an interview.The changes reflect a significant shift in how the VA may ultimately care for some 700,000 veterans who served in the Gulf War. They also could improve the way the department handles war-related illnesses suffered by future veterans, because Shinseki said he wants standards put in place that don’t leave veterans waiting decades for answers to what ails them.Steve Robertson, legislative director of the American Legion and a Gulf War veteran who has struggled with his own health issues such as joint problems and chronic fatigue, said Friday the decision is welcome news.“I can assure that there are Gulf War veterans who have been fighting this issue since 1991-92,” Robertson said. “The ones I’ve talked to are very, very upset that they’ve had to fight this battle.”Robertson said many veterans couldn’t work because of health problems, but couldn’t get medical help from the government because they couldn’t prove their illnesses stemmed from their war service.“If you had an invisible wound it was kind of like come back when you have hard evidence that you got it in the theater of operation,” Robertson said.The decision comes four months after Shinseki opened the door for as many as 200,000 Vietnam veterans to receive service-related compensation for three illnesses stemming from exposure to the Agent Orange herbicide.About 175,000 to 210,000 Gulf War veterans have come down with a pattern of symptoms that include rashes, joint and muscle pain, sleep issues and gastrointestinal problems, according to a 2008 congressionally mandated committee that based the estimate on earlier studies.But what exactly caused the symptoms has long been unanswered. Independent scientists have pointed to pesticide and pyridostigmine bromide pills, given to protect troops from nerve agents, as probable culprits. The 2008 report noted that since 1994, $340 million has been spent on government research into the illness, but little has focused on treatments.Last week, Shinseki and Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W. Va., a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs committee, met privately in Charleston, W.Va., with several Gulf War veterans. In an interview after the meeting, Rockefeller told the AP that Shinseki’s background as a former Army chief of staff made the changes possible. He said either the military has been reluctant over the years to release paperwork related to the war or kept poor records about exposures in the war zone, which made it harder for the veterans to prove they needed help.“The paperwork isn’t very accurate, but the pain is very real,” Rockefeller said.Shinseki has publicly wondered why today there are still so many unanswered questions about Gulf War illness, as stricken veterans’ conditions have only worsened with age.Last fall, he appointed a task force led by his chief of staff, John Gingrich, a retired Army colonel who commanded a field artillery battalion in the 1991 war, to review benefits and care for Gulf War veterans. The changes stem from the task force’s work.Gingrich said he feels a personal stake because some of his own men who were healthy during the war are dealing with these health problems. Gingrich said the VA isn’t giving a new benefit to Gulf War veterans, just making sure the claims they submitted were done correctly.“We’re talking about a culture change, that we don’t have a single clinician or benefits person saying ‘you really don’t have Gulf War illness, this is only imaginary’ or ‘you’re really not sick,’“ Gingrich said.A law enacted in 1994 allows the VA to pay compensation to Gulf War veterans with certain chronic disabilities from illnesses the VA could not diagnosis. More than 3,400 Gulf War have qualified for benefits under this category, according to the VA.The VA says it plans to review how regulations were written to ensure the veterans received the compensation they were entitled to under the law. The VA would then give veterans the opportunity to have a rejected claim reconsidered.The VA doesn’t have an estimate of the number of veterans who may be affected, but it could be in the thousands.Of those who deployed in the Gulf War, 300,000 submitted claims, according to the VA. About 14 percent were rejected, while the rest received compensation for at least one condition.

Enrollment surge forced tuition program to halt
An abrupt sixfold increase in the number of military spouses enrolling in the My Career Advancement Account program caused the sudden halt of the program Feb. 16, according to a defense official.About 95,000 spouses enrolled in the first six weeks of the year for a program that, until then, rarely received more than 10,000 applications a month. The spike overwhelmed the system and threatened to drain the program’s budget, said Tommy Thomas, deputy undersecretary of defense for military community and family policy.Military spouses — who were depending on the program to help pay for classes for which they already had registered — could not be told about the shutdown ahead of time because “given the gravity of the situation, there was no time for a warning,” Pentagon spokeswoman Air Force Maj. April Cunningham said.The online MyCAA program provides up to $6,000 in tuition assistance to help spouses pursue education, training, licenses, certificates and degrees leading to portable careers.Thomas said the halt is temporary and “was done in the best interest of all.” Officials said they hope to resume the program in several months, though no date has been set.The MyCAA program expanded last March after a limited pilot program. Of the 133,000 spouses who applied for the program before the surge of applications early this year, 98,000 had been approved for assistance.Frustrated spouses learned about the shutdown just as they tried to request funding for classes that start within a month. They cannot request payment for classes for which they have already registered.Scrambling to come up with moneySome spouses said they had reduced financial aid loans from other sources in expectation of getting funding from MyCAA, and they now must scramble to figure out if they can come up with money for their education.Spouses should call Military OneSource at 800-342-9647 and “request consultation with a career counselor to discuss alternative funding options,” Cunningham said — although many spouses who have called say they’ve been unable to get their questions answered.In the days immediately following the halt of the program, Thomas acknowledged receiving “concerns expressed by many program participants.”After some spouses from Virginia Beach, Va., contacted Rep. Glenn Nye, D-Va., he sent a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, noting that thousands of spouses are waiting for approval and assistance from MyCAA.After receiving information from defense officials, Nye said in a statement that “the Pentagon needs to take action to help military spouses who were counting on this program so they aren’t forced to cancel or postpone their education plans.”But some spouses are still upset. One group is organizing a demonstration in Norfolk, Va.“If we don’t fight for ourselves, nobody’s going to fight for us,” said Navy wife Jacquelynne Blazon, a demonstration organizer and student at Tidewater Community College who faces a cutoff in her MyCAA funding.“I don’t feel we’re being told the honest truth,” she said. “I cannot fathom for a millisecond that [the Defense Department], in creating this program, couldn’t foresee that this wasn’t going to take off” in popularity.A date for the demonstration has not been set.“Something happened, but that doesn’t mean their promise to us shouldn’t be honored,” said Blazon, whose husband is an E-5 assigned to Naval Station Norfolk. “And not a single woman I’ve talked to has been notified. That’s criminal.”

VA Education Call Center Again Operating Five Days a Week
The Department of Veterans Affairs today announced that the Education Call Center, closed on Thursdays and Fridays over the past two months, is again operating five days a week.

Groups say transition programs miss many vets
Programs that help service members start applying for veterans’ disability compensation while they are still on active duty are shaving months off the waiting times for benefits, but limitations and a lack of strong military support prevent them from helping everyone.“The potential of these programs has yet to be fully realized,” said Tom Tarintino of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. “Their full impact will not be felt until the [Veterans Affairs Department] begins aggressive outreach to service members and the [Defense Department] makes transition programs uniform and mandatory. We cannot rely on word of mouth to spread this information.”Tarintino, who testified Wednesday in a hearing before the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee’s disability panel, said the Defense Department and VA, which each play a role in the process, “must integrate their outreach and ensure a smooth transition of services before a service member is ready to leave the uniform behind. Otherwise, more men and women will fall through the cracks.”Noel Koch, who is responsible for the Defense Department’s wounded warrior care and transition policy office, said changes are coming. A joint-service order is about to be issued asking senior military leaders and commanders “at all levels to strengthen their emphasis” on the two pre-discharge programs to help prepare veterans claims.A joint memorandum will be a “call to action to commanders” to be “more engaged” in getting eligible service members to start the benefits process before separation, Koch said.Other programsTwo other programs have a similar goal but slightly different eligibility requirements.One program, called Benefits Delivery at Discharge, aims to help service members who are within 60 to 180 days of discharge prepare to file disability claims by getting a complete medical examination and forwarding copies of their personnel and medical records to local VA personnel.A second program, called Quick Start, is available for those who are less than 60 days from separation, such as National Guard and reserve members being demobilized.People facing medical discharge from the military are not eligible for either program.Rep. John Hall, D-N.Y., the disability assistance panel chairman, said the two programs appear to be helping. Last year, 46,856 disability claims were processed using the pre-discharge process, with payments made, on average, 95.5 days after discharge, or about four months faster than for those who did not file claims until after separation.Hall said one of the good things about the two pre-discharge programs is that most claims are paperless — the wave of the future for VA.Gerald Manar of Veterans of Foreign Wars said the disability assistance programs have not reached their full potential because only about 85,000 of 200,000 service members who separated last year received pre-discharge briefings.“A large portion of those serving on active duty and in the reserves are not receiving critical information through VA’s outreach efforts,” Manar said.