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vets4ever
Member
35 Posts |
 Posted - 12/23/2008 : 06:41:21 AM
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Recent VA News Releases
To view and download VA news release, please visit the following
Internet address: You must be logged in to see this link.
VA to Provide Payments to Eligible Surviving Spouses
Quick Action Taken to Resolve Problem Identified by Senate Chairman
WASHINGTON (Dec. 18, 2008) - The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
today announced immediate actions to quickly identify and pay surviving
spouses who are eligible to receive a one-time compensation or pension
payment for the month of the veteran's death.
"This benefit payment is long overdue to many of our beneficiaries,"
said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James B. Peake. "In these
difficult economic times, it is imperative that we take aggressive
action to fix this situation for the families of our veterans."
Problems in VA's implementation of a change in law that was effective in
1997 resulted in some surviving spouses not receiving the veteran's
compensation or pension payment for the month of death. This problem
was recently brought to VA's attention by Sen. Daniel K. Akaka, chairman
of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee.
Peake immediately directed the formation of a special task force to
identify and pay the beneficiaries who never received the benefit or
were inadvertently required to repay the money issued for the month of a
veteran's death.
Surviving spouses most likely to be affected by this processing problem
are those who never applied to VA for survivors' benefits following the
death of a veteran.
The task force is in the process of reviewing VA's payment records for
veterans who died after December 31, 1996, and who are survived by a
spouse. The review will identify those to whom VA owes retroactive
benefits for the month of the veteran's death. Current address
information is being obtained for as many of these beneficiaries as
possible.
VA will begin issuing retroactive payments to eligible surviving spouses
at the end of this month. Payments will continue to be issued as
additional unpaid beneficiaries are identified and VA is able to obtain
current address information.
Because there are deceased veterans for whom VA does not have marital
status information, a special Survivors' Call Center has been
established for spouses who believe they may be entitled to this
retroactive month-of-death benefit.
Surviving spouses are encouraged to contact the Survivors' Call Center
at the toll-free telephone number, 1-800-749-8387. Call center agents
will assist surviving spouses in providing VA with the information
needed to determine their eligibility.
The Call Center is open Monday through Friday from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm
central standard time. Inquiries may also be submitted through the
Internet at
You must be logged in to see this link.
VA is aggressively changing its processing procedures to ensure this
benefit is correctly paid to all surviving spouses in the future. VA's
disability payment system will also be enhanced to automate the
month-of-death payment for all eligible surviving spouses
For Freedom,
WR
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One time payment
