Disabled Veteran Loses Caregiver Wife's Benefits

4 tours in 4 years! Wow. There is a section in this article that sums up what has been missed all along.

“The stipend is not an entitlement or benefit but rather recognition of the care and support a caregiver provides to the veteran,” Meyer said in the email. “The stipend may change or be discontinued if the veteran’s care needs change.”

Thanks to Congress, they do not give the same recognition to older veterans families, offering the same care for the same wounds for a lot longer.

Hill County veteran, wife fighting loss of VA caregiver benefits
Waco Trib
By REGINA DENNIS
April 12, 2015

The couple lost their initial appeal of the decision. The Central Texas Veterans Health Care System, which administers the caregiver benefits to veterans in this region, wrote in a decision letter to the family that Thomas Hopkins’ case “does not indicate a serious physical or psychological injury” that requires full-time caregiving assistance.

Staff photo— Jerry Larson
Kristina Hopkins kisses her husband, Thomas, on the forehead. The couple says they were wrongfully dropped from the caregiver program at the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System despite that they say Kristina must stay home full-time to care for her husband due to his injuries.

A Hill County veteran and his wife think they were wrongfully dropped from a Veterans Affairs program that helped cover caregiver services he relied on because of debilitating service injuries.

Kristina Hopkins was accepted into the VA’s caregiver support program in 2011. She provided round-the-clock care and assistance for her husband, Thomas, a disabled Army veteran who completed three tours of duty in Afghanistan between 2002 and 2005, plus an 18-month stint in Iraq beginning in 2006.

The program grants compensation to the spouse or designated relative who provides full-time care to a veteran, presumably forgoing full-time job opportunities to do so.

But the Hopkinses, who live in Blum, were notified in June that they were being dropped from the program, despite Thomas Hopkins being confined to a wheelchair most days because of degenerative arthritis he says he developed as a result of his paratrooper duties with the 82nd Airborne Division.

Kristina Hopkins quit working six years ago to take care of her husband. Without the caregiver benefits, the family cannot afford the mortgage on their home and now must move.

For example, Thomas Hopkins said he suffered at least three traumatic brain injuries while in service, which has affected his memory and concentration. He said he also was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, sciatic nerve damage and post-concussive headaches.
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