DeMint holding up bill to treat Marines and families

UPDATE

Lejeune health care bill is unstuck in Senate
By Rick Maze
Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Jul 18, 2012

A stalled veterans’ bill is now on track for Senate passage this week after a small change was made in a landmark program under which the Veterans Affairs Department would provide health care to people suffering from long-term effects of drinking contaminated water at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Up to 750,000 people who lived or worked on the base from Jan. 1, 1957, through Dec. 31, 1987, would be eligible for care if they have a disability or disease linked to exposure to drinking water found to contain carcinogens.

Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., had used his Senate privileges to put a hold on the bill because it included no provision to allow VA to deny coverage even if an individual’s health problems clearly stemmed from some other cause.

DeMint and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee chairwoman, reached agreement Wednesday to add a section allowing VA to deny health care if “conclusive evidence” is available to show the individual’s disability or disease had a different cause than exposure to the contaminated drinking water at Lejeune.
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Vets bill held up by Lejeune toxic water issue
By Rick Maze
Staff writer
Posted : Monday Jul 16, 2012

A South Carolina senator is holding up a landmark veterans’ bill that would provide health care for thousands of people suffering the ill effects of exposure to toxic water at Camp Lejuene because eligibility rules for the new benefits doesn’t include enough safeguards to prevent fraud.

Because of this objection from Republican Sen. Jim DeMint, the Senate has been unable to approve a comprehensive veterans’ bill that was agreed to on June 21 by members of the House and Senate veterans’ affairs committee.

The bill in dispute is the Honoring America’s Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012.

DeMint was not part of the negotiations, but Senate rules give every senator the power to temporarily block legislation and nominees, a power DeMint is using while trying to renegotiate details about how the Veterans Affairs Department to determine eligibility for health care for people who lived or worked at the Marine Corps base from Jan. 1, 1957 through Dec. 31, 1987.
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Soldiers going to Olympic Games with Army of support

Olympic wrestlers going to London Games with Army of support
POSTED: 07/16/2012
By Lindsay H. Jones
The Denver Post

FORT CARSON — Each day as the three U.S. Olympic wrestlers drive to and from work, they pass signs that serve as a reminder of the lives they have chosen.

"I will never accept defeat" and "I will never quit" are two of the four signs posted near the gates at Fort Carson, the mammoth Army base near Colorado Springs. The signs are part of the "Warrior Ethos," a mantra for all American soldiers. But the mottos mean more for Dremiel Byers, Justin Lester and Spenser Mango as they prepare to wrestle in London at the Summer Olympics.

All three are members of the Army's World Class Athlete Program, active soldiers and national wrestling champions — each with a legitimate shot of winning a medal in their respective weight classes.

"I expect gold medals," Mango said Monday as he looked around the WCAP wrestling gym.
"We've got three of them in the room right now."
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Facts you don't hear about veterans

If you are a politician and still think veterans don't matter, your staff should have paid attention since you didn't.

Facts you don't hear about veterans.

Snapshot of Our Nation's Veterans

21.8 million veterans
20.2 million are male
1.6 million are female

California has the most veterans at 2 million
Texas and Florida come in second with 1.6 million


92% of veterans 25 and older have high school diploma and 26% have at least a bachelor's degree.

1.3 million served in more than one war

This is the part the reporters should be asking politicians about when they talk about cuts in public sector jobs.

About 14% work in the public sector and then education, healthcare along with social services and manufacturing.

9% of US businesses are owned by veterans with 1.2 trillion employing 5.8 million people.

[Source: U.S. Census Bureau]

Microchip reunites soldier with dog missing for 3 years

Fort Hood soldier’s dog turns up in Ariz. 3 years later
Associated Press
Monday, July 16, 2012

PRESCOTT, Ariz.— A soldier will soon be reunited with her dog, which went missing three years ago in Texas and has been found in northern Arizona.

Prescott police say the unidentified soldier returned from deployment in Iraq in 2009 and asked a friend at Fort Hood to watch her basset hound while she left for a training mission.
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Other than honorable discharged veteran wins rare VA appeal

Connecticut Veteran Wins Rare VA Appeal
By PEGGY McCARTHY
Connecticut Health I-Team Writer
The Hartford Courant
July 15, 2012

At 55, Stephen Norko says he was at "the lowest point'' of his life. Homeless, unemployed, and feeling sick, the 17-year Navy veteran couldn't get medical care at a VA hospital because he had an "other than honorable'' discharge.

"They wanted nothing to do with me,'' Norko said.

A VA health care worker, who met Norko at a homeless shelter, encouraged him to do what few veterans have done—fight the decision that denied him VA medical care. He became one of a handful of veterans nationwide to appeal a health eligibility decision in the last two years.

This year—with significant legal and political support – he won.

Advocates for veterans say they hope the case will prompt other veterans with "other than honorable" (OTH) discharges to seek VA benefits, which many assume are out-of-reach.

"It's a big myth out there that an OTH is automatically ineligible," said Michael Taub, who works with veterans in the Homeless Advocacy Project in Philadelphia and has been spreading the word that vets with other than dishonorable discharges may often be eligible for VA medical care.

Statistics show that appeals such as Norko's are rare. Official figures from the Veterans Health Administration's Health Eligibility Center in Atlanta show only six appeals were filed nationally through the central office in the last two years, including one in New England. Of the six, two were successful, three are still pending, and one was withdrawn by the veteran, according to the Eligibility Center. Norko's appeal, which did not go through the central office, is not included in those numbers.
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