For Your Benefit
For and about Hawaii's military
See also: In The Military
Bill payments can be made
in person at Tripler or
mailed to VA officeQuestion: When the Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic was at Ala Moana, I paid my bills there. Now the clinic is at Tripler, and when I receive my bills, the payment goes to Atlanta. Why is it I cannot make my payments at the VA clinic? Why do I have to waste a stamp (and the cost of mailing is going up again)?
Answer: You still can make payments at the clinic at Tripler. Prior to the VA's move in May 2000 to its present facilities at Tripler, the VA instituted a centralized distribution point in Atlanta meant to streamline mailing procedures. However, you can drop off your payments at the Spark M. Matsunaga Ambulatory Care Clinic, second floor, at the agent's cashier's window located across the pharmacy. The clinic is on the mountain side of Tripler.
You also have the option of mailing your payment to the Honolulu VA or Atlanta. The local address: Spark M. Matsunaga VA Medical and Regional Office Center, 459 Patterson Road, Honolulu, HI 96819-1522, attention Agent Cashier.
Q: My husband recently received a final disposition on his VA claim, but he just passed away. Can I receive any of his monetary benefits?
A: Generally, benefits to which a VA beneficiary was entitled but had not received from VA at the time of death are payable to specific survivors. For example, benefits that had accrued to a veteran (effective date of the award to the date of death) but had not been paid before the veteran's death may be paid to the surviving spouse or minor children.
Current laws limit this to benefits that accrue in the two-year period preceding the ending date of the deceased's entitlement. For instance, if a veteran who prevails after an appeal taking several years receives his or her check the day before death, all retroactive benefits for the time the claim was pending will have been paid and presumably available for the spouse.
If another veteran in the same situation is awarded retroactive benefits after a long-pending claim or appeal but dies before the treasury check can be issued, the surviving spouse will receive benefits for only the last two years of the veteran's entitlement. For more information on survivor entitlements, call the Honolulu VA's benefit section at 433-1000.
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, who covers military affairs for the Star-Bulletin,
can be reached by phone at 294-4075
or by e-mail at gkakesako@starbulletin.com.
