For Your Benefit
For and about Hawaii's militaryBy Gregg K. Kakesako
Sunday, February 10, 2002
See also: In The Military
President’s budget request
floats largest increase
ever for the VAQuestion: I read where the president is proposing a large increase in the defense budget for 2003. Is there any money to increase the Veterans Affair's budget in his proposal?
Answer: The president's 2003 budget for VA provides approximately $58 billion, including medical care collections, for veterans' benefits and services. If approved by Congress, the budget would provide VA with $6.1 billion more than 2002, the largest increase ever for VA. The new budget also would give VA the largest increase in health care spending in history: $1.8 billion more than the current budget, an 8.2 percent hike.
In summary, the budget requests: $25.5 billion for medical programs, a $2.7 billion increase; $31.5 billion for veterans' benefits programs (including administrative costs), a $3.4 billion increase; and $138 million to operate the national cemetery system, a $17 million increase.
You might note that Congress mentions only $56.6 billion. That amount is the net budget authority request that does not include nearly $1.5 billion in "medical care collections." When VA seeks budget authority it must include money collected from third-party insurers, veterans' co-payments for medical care and, in 2003, the new deductibles paid by higher-income veterans with no service-related disabilities.
Question: Some time ago I filed a claim for lung cancer as a result of my service in Vietnam and was denied because I had to file within 30 years of my tour. I recently learned that the 30-year limit has been eliminated. Does this mean anything for me?
Answer: The Veterans Education and Benefits Expansion Act of 2001 liberalized the requirements for compensation for cancers of the lung, bronchus, larynx, and trachea for veterans claiming that such disability was caused by Agent Orange exposure. Previously, the Department of Veterans Affairs required that these cancers be manifested within 30 years of a veteran's departure from Vietnam for compensation to be granted if these cancers did not occur during the veteran's period of service or within one year following separation. The new public law eliminated the 30-year requirement.
Compensation may now be granted for a Vietnam veteran who now has cancer of the lung, bronchus, larynx or trachea who finds that he has this disability more than 30 years following service in Vietnam. Veterans who filed a claim for lung cancer, but denied because it was filed after 30 years, are encouraged to contact a VA benefits counselor and have that claim re-opened. If granted, benefits would be retroactive to January 1, 2002.
If you have questions about your benefits as a veteran,
call Fred Ballard at the Veterans Affairs at 433-0049
or the Star-Bulletin at 529-4747.Gregg K. Kakesako can be reached by phone at 294-4075
or by e-mail at gkakesako@starbulletin.com.
