What Massachusetts Veterans Need To
Know
Besides having
a copy of your DD 214, this may be one of the most important documents you need
to review and save!
The Veterans
Administration and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts offer a number of benefits
to Veterans and surviving spouses. This document is not a complete list of all benefits you may be eligible or entitled
to.
By law, the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts requires every city and town to have a Veteran
Service Officer (VSO) to assist Veterans in obtaining federal and state
benefits. Please do not try to do this on
your own!
Your local VSO is a
Veteran and is your primary contact to assist you in answering questions and
helping you with the necessary paperwork. Work
collaboratively with them!
To locate the
name and contact information of your local VSO, go to http://www.massvetsadvisor.org/. This web site offers a great deal of
information about Veterans benefits.
Massachusetts Veterans, in general, are
eligible for the following benefits:
- Welcome Home bonus
- Free tuition in all state community colleges, colleges, and
universities
- Have the word ‘Veteran” printed on their driver’s license
- Under Chapter
115 of Massachusetts General Laws (M.G.L. ch. 115), the Commonwealth
provides a uniform program of financial and medical assistance for
indigent Veterans and their dependents. Qualifying Veterans and their
dependents receive necessary financial assistance for food, shelter,
clothing, housing supplies, and medical care in accordance with a formula,
which takes into account the number of dependents and income from all
sources. Eligible dependents of deceased Veterans are provided with the
same benefits as they would were the veteran still living.
- May be eligible for long-term care at the Soldiers Homes in
Chelsea and Holyoke
- Burial in the state Veterans’ cemeteries in Agawam or Winchendon
or the Bourne National Cemetery and obtain grave markers
- Veterans License Plates
- Certain disabled Veterans and former POWs are eligible for a
waiver of fees for motor vehicle registration and sales tax
- Free medical care by the VA for one year immediately upon
discharge
- Participate in the VA Loan Guarantee Program to purchase or
refinance a home
Ultimately, you are
responsible for helping yourself and need to play an active role in obtaining
benefits. The following tips are based on past experiences of VSOs and other
Veterans that will serve you well!
General information:
- Always work closely with your local VSO!
- When mail arrives from the VA or the state, open it and read it.
If you do not understand it, contact your VSO for an appointment to assist
you.
- Always save copies of your VA correspondence as well as your
correspondence and copies of any claims or paperwork you have filed.
- Any documentation requested of you by the VA or that you
voluntarily wish to submit should go through your VSO to ensure quality
control.
- If you are a ‘snowbird’ or are traveling for an extended period
of time –especially if you have a claim pending – you must let your VSO
know. If you miss a VA compensation and pension (C&P) exam your claim
will be denied. By letting the VSO know, the exam can be scheduled upon
your return or, for example, if you are in Florida for the winter the exam
can be scheduled there.
- Notify your VSO immediately of any change of address, phone
number, or dependents’ status.
- If you are changing your direct deposit information, NEVER close out your old account
until you have confirmed that your direct deposits are showing up in your
new account.
- A Veteran can apply for VA compensation and pension at the same
time. The VA will pay the Veteran the higher of the two benefits.
- VA monetary benefits are tax free.
- Upon death, a Veteran’s compensation or pension benefits do not
transfer to a surviving spouse. A surviving spouse may be eligible for VA
pension or accrued benefits.
Contact your
VSO for more information. Make sure your will is up to date and that the
beneficiaries for any pensions and insurance policies are up to date.
VA Specific:
The vast
majority of personnel within the Veterans Administration are themselves
Veterans. You should consider the VA as operating like the military but without
uniforms. Everything they do is governed by laws, rules, and regulations.
Keep in mind, the VA has access to
Social Security and IRS records – be truthful at all times.
VA Compensation Claims must be service connected. In other words, the injury/disability
must have taken place while on active duty and that the condition has been
chronic. A previously existing condition made worse through military service is
also valid. There are exceptions such as claims regarding Agent Orange and the
contaminated water at Camp Lejeune. As a guardsman or reservist, if the injury
happened during a drill weekend, it doesn’t count for VA purposes unless you
have a Line of Duty (LOD) document.
VA Pension Claims are available to wartime Veterans and
surviving spouses. They are based on income and medical expenses. We will not
cover that here because of their complexity.
VA Health Care is available to all veterans who were
in the active service and were discharged under any condition other than
dishonorable.
Certain veterans
may be afforded enhanced eligibility status when applying and enrolling in the
VA health care system. Veterans who:
·
Are
a Former Prisoner of War (POW)
·
In
receipt of the Purple Heart Medal.
·
In
receipt of the Medal of Honor.
·
Have
a compensable VA awarded service-connected disability of 10% or more.
·
In
receipt of a VA Pension.
·
Were
discharged from the military because of a disability (not preexisting), early
out, or hardship.
·
Served
in a Theater of Operations for 5 years’ post discharge.
·
Served
in the Republic of Vietnam from January 9, 1962 to May 7, 1975.
·
U.S.
Navy and Coast Guard ships associated with military service in Vietnam
·
Served
in the Persian Gulf from August 2, 1990 to November 11, 1998.
·
Were
stationed or resided at Camp Lejeune for 30 days or more between August 1, 1953
and December 31, 1987.
·
Are
found by VA to be Catastrophically Disabled.
·
Previous
years' household income is below VA's National Income or Geographical-Adjusted
Thresholds.
Veterans who
enroll in VA health care are assigned a Priority Group rating. The Priority
Groups are explained and defined in detail here: https://www.va.gov/HEALTHBENEFITS/resources/priority_groups.asp. An overview of VA health care
benefits may be found at https://www.va.gov/healthbenefits/resources/publications/IB10-185_health_care_overview_2016_apr_v2_web.pdf
Always work with your VSO!
We are using
the VA Fully Developed Claim (FDC) process exclusively for ALL claims because
it is much more efficient. The average claim processing time is 120 days. The
FDC process is used for new claims, claims for increases in compensation, or to
reopen a claim based on new and material evidence. We also use them for pension
claims for Veterans and surviving spouses. Once the claim is filed, you will
probably not hear from the VA for about 10 weeks.
When a claim
is filed, all evidence including private medical records must be
included. The VA will obtain your military medical records. If you have
received medical care by the VA, note it in the appropriate section of the
claim form. The VA will obtain those records, too.
In the case of
guardsmen and reservists, you must obtain a complete set of your service
treatment records and submit them with the claim. Note: you cannot double-dip receiving drill pay and VA compensation
together.
If you submit
any documents after the fully developed claim has been filed, it will pull the
claim out of the fast track and can take a year or more to complete.
If it is going to take a long time for
you to gather the evidence, work with your VSO to file an Intent to file for
compensation or pension (VA form 21-0966). That will establish your date of
claim and give you a year to formally submit the claim.
Any statement
you provide to the VA in support of your claim must focus ONLY on what you are claiming! All too often, Veterans will focus
on how bad their health is in general. When that happens, the VA, by
regulation, takes those additional complaints as inferred claims and will automatically pull your claim out of the
fast track.
Evidence in
support of your claim comes in many forms:
- Veteran statement
- Spouse statement
- Buddy statement (people you served with)
- Internet evidence from .mil or .gov web sites only
- Military service treatment records
- Private medical records (keep in mind, providers are required by
law to save the records for only 7 years)
Finding people
you served with - If you have lost track of people you served with, the
Internet can be very helpful. You can utilize social media such as Facebook or
search for your particular unit or ship. You will be surprised how many have
‘alumni-like’ web sites.
Rating Decisions and Appeals
Once your
claim has been finalized, you will receive written notification from the VA about
their decision and how they made it. Read it very carefully. If you are
dissatisfied with the VA rating decision, you have the right to appeal. It is
important to work with your VSO because there are different methods to appeal.
Dental plans
The VA has
implemented a comprehensive national VA Dental Insurance Program (VADIP) to
give enrolled Veterans and CHAMPVA beneficiaries the opportunity to purchase
dental insurance through Delta Dental and MetLife at a reduced cost.
Participation is voluntary. Purchasing a dental plan does not affect Veterans’
eligibility for VA dental services and treatment. VADIP opened November 2014
for the purchasing of plans, with coverage beginning January 1, 2014.
Covered
services include diagnostic, preventative, surgical, emergency and
endodontic/restorative treatment. Delta Dental and MetLife are offering
multiple plans. Each participant pays the fixed monthly premiums for coverage
and any copayments required, depending on the type of plan selected.
Dependents of
Veterans, except those eligible under CHAMPVA, are not authorized to
participate in VADIP. Those individuals may be eligible for separate dental
insurance coverage offered by these carriers.
Benefits by the percentages
The VA makes a
determination about the severity of a disability based on the evidence you
submitted as part of a claim, or that the VA obtains from your military
records. The VA rates disabilities from 0% to 100% in 10% increments.
If a Veteran
has multiple disabilities, the VA uses a Combined Rating Table to calculate a
combined disability rating. Disability ratings are not additive, meaning that
if a Veteran has one disability rated 60% and a second disability 20%, the
combined rating is not 80%. The 2017
rates can be found here: http://www.benefits.va.gov/compensation/resources_comp01.asp
Here’s a look at what the percentages mean:
The benefits
are cumulative as the percentages go up so we are not repeating all the info as
the percentages increase.
0%>
- A Veteran is service connected for a disability but it is not
disabling enough to warrant compensation. However, the Veteran can receive
treatment and prescriptions free from the VA. For example, in cases of
hearing loss and/or tinnitus, the Veteran can receive free hearing aids.
- The Veteran is eligible for Service-Disabled Veterans Insurance
- A Veteran can be reimbursed for VA co-pays as far back as his
date of claim for his service connected disabilities
10%>
- The Veteran begins receiving compensation for the disability
- The Veteran can obtain a VA ID card at any VA Medical Center
- The Veteran can receive a real estate tax abatement effective
July 1 of each year (surviving spouse is eligible as well) The VA sends a
summary of benefits letter in late June.
- The Veteran is eligible for Voc Rehab
- The Veteran is eligible to receive VA compensation and
Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC). CRSC is not taxable.
30%>
- The Veteran can begin receiving additional compensation for
dependents
50%>
- The Veteran can receive all prescriptions free through the VA
even for medications for maladies that are not service connected
- The Veteran is eligible to receive VA compensation and Concurrent
Receipt and Disability Pay (CRDP) and VA compensation. CRDP is taxable.
60%
- The Veteran is eligible to apply for a Disabled Veterans plate at
the Registry of Motor Vehicles if their disability is mobility impairment.
70%>
- VA is mandated to provide long-term care for Veterans who require
it in a VA or contracted facility
- Veterans can get a 50% reduction on the ‘T’ by filling out a
Transportation Access Pass/TAP Charlie Card application and attaching an
original letter from the VA specifying your disability rating. Go to: http://www.mbta.com/uploadedFiles/documents/ACCESS_PASS.pdf
100% service connected as well as Individual Unemployability
- The VA will provide total healthcare for the Veteran including
dental
- The real estate tax abatement is larger
- The Veteran, with a special letter from the VA, may obtain access
to military installations to include commissary and exchange privileges
- The Veteran or DIC recipients are eligible for the DVS Annuity
- Dependents Educational Assistance is established (must be rated
total and permanent)
Spouses and
dependent children may be eligible for CHAMPVA medical coverage
(02/18/2016)
Some helpful links:
·
Federal Benefits for
Veterans, Dependents and Survivors
·
Federal
Resources for Massachusetts Veterans (pdf)
·
Massachusetts
Guide to Veterans Laws and Benefits (pdf)
