By Larry Dandridge
This week’s Island News article on veterans’ benefits provides:
- A summary of the VA (federal) benefits available to those veterans receiving 70% service-connected disability compensation and
- Specific information on VA Community Living Center services.
If you are a veteran who has applied for a military service-connected disability and you have been awarded a 70% service-connected disability rating from the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), you are eligible for more than eleven different benefits that you can take advantage of.
If you do not have time to read this article, you should watch the VA SITREP video titled Veterans Benefits at 70% Disability (VA Service-Connected Disability – the SITREP), narrated by Michael McNamara, at https://bit.ly/3NB7J5E.
Veterans should also subscribe to the SITREP. You can send questions about VA benefits and make recommendations of subjects you want to be covered in a future episode of theSITREP to theSITREP@va.gov.
Of the 11 benefits, there is one benefit that only becomes available once a veteran is rated 70% or higher or is 60% disabled and unemployable. This long-term benefit is not available to veterans rated 60% or lower. That benefit is the ability to automatically qualify for Long Term Care and Community Living Centers.
VA Community Living Centers
The VA’s Geriatrics and Extended Care webpage, https://bit.ly/3CQR0pQ, and the video there, says a Community Living Center (CLC) is a VA Nursing Home. The mission of a CLC is to restore each veteran to his or her highest level of well-being. These centers also prevent declines in health and provide comfort at the end of life. Veterans may stay for a short time (for rehabilitation) or, in some instances, for the rest of their life.
CLCs are where veterans can receive nursing home level of care, which includes help with activities of daily living, skilled nursing, and medical care. All veterans are eligible for short-term care in a VA CLC when they need rehabilitation after major surgeries and other serious debilitating procedures. However, long-term care is only available to veterans who are rated 70% or higher or are 60% disabled and unemployable.
There are more than 100 CLCs across the country.See this listing of the current VA CLC locations at https://bit.ly/3JuNTI0.
There is a CLC in each of the VA Medical Centers in S.C. There are four VA CLCs in Georgia. CLCs resemble a “home” as much as possible and there are activities for veterans of all ages. They are also family-friendly places for visiting. School groups are invited to come in and present programs and trained volunteers are used to socialize, play bingo and other games with residents, and help.
Veterans are invited to decorate their rooms, participate in arts/crafts, do gardening, go on field trips, and have choices in their meals. And, pets are allowed to visit or live in the CLC.
Veterans may stay for a short time or, in rare instances, for the rest of their life. It is a place where veterans can receive nursing home level of care, which includes help with activities of daily living (e.g., bathing and getting dressed), skilled nursing, and medical care.
What makes VA CLCs unique is the wide range of services offered to residents. The VA provides an Attending Physician, Nurse Practitioners, Registered Nurses, Social Workers, Psychologists, Chaplains, and the full range of medical specialists, which are not traditional to civilian nursing homes. For long-term residents, end-of-life planning and care, including hospice is offered.
It is most obvious to staff, residents, families, and visitors, veterans enjoy being with other veterans. Residents share stories and have a special understanding of service to country and fellow veterans. All veterans are encouraged to progress in their goal of improved health and independence.
A veteran must be enrolled in VA Healthcare to take advantage of VA Community Living Centers and many other VA benefits.
Other VA benefits for veterans at 70%
The VA has a program for just about anything a veteran could think of, including a full array of healthcare and programs to assist with education, training, pension, life insurance, burials and memorials, records, employment, housing, medical equipment, life insurance, family member benefits, service member benefits, and more. If a veteran is rated 70% service-connected, all of the following nine programs and more are free.
(1) Service-connected monetary compensation, (2) Compensation for Dependents, A waiver for VA home loan funding fees, (3) direct hire into federal job positions for qualified veterans, (4) 10-point preference in federal hiring, (5) access to the Veteran Readiness and Employment (VR&E) Program, (6) burial and plot allowance, (7) access to military commissaries and exchanges, (8) travel allowance for traveling to VA healthcare appointments, (9.) Travel Allowance for Appointments, and more. The benefits package for a veteran who is receiving 70% service-connected disability is spelled out in the VA’s Service-Connected Matrix webpage, https://bit.ly/3phkaer.
Helpful References
To learn more about these benefits read the information at:
1. How to apply for VA Disability Compensation, https://bit.ly/3wYGMRJ.
2. VA health care, https://www.va.gov/health-care/.
3. Geriatric and Extended Care, https://www.va.gov/geriatrics/.
4. Adding dependents, https://bit.ly/43LjWuY.
5. Direct hire, https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/.
6. VR&E, https://www.benefits.va.gov/vocrehab/index.asp and https://bit.ly/43r9wAJ.
7. 10-point preference, https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight, https://bit.ly/43hbhjX, and https://bit.ly/3OWCzrq.
8. Travel allowance, https://bit.ly/3PdC1h0.
9. Home loan waiver, https://bit.ly/3CgHg8a.
10. Burial & plot allowance, https://bit.ly/3dKZkyx.
11. Commissary and exchanges, https://bit.ly/3OY6BeA.
12. The series of five articles from The Island News on VA benefits for spouses, dependents, survivors, and family caregivers, beginning with the March 15, 2023 article at https://bit.ly/3TOYiSE. Find the other four articles at www.yourislandnews.com archives.
13. The Island News articles on Employment, dated Oct. 7 and 27, 2021, found at https://bit.ly/3OXWFBD and https://bit.ly/3qjsH0D.
Do your homework and enroll in VA Healthcare today
Veterans and their families, caregivers, and survivors should do their homework and read the information at www.va.gov, watch the more than 80 VA SITREP YouTube videos at http://www.newengland.va.gov/sitrep, and ask a VSO to them understand what their VA (federal) and state veterans’ benefits are and how to apply for those benefits. And please do go to https://www.va.gov/health-care/how-to-apply/ enroll today in VA healthcare (online, by phone, by mail, or in-person, or with the help of a VSO)!
Larry Dandridge is a Vietnam War wounded warrior, disabled veteran, ex-Enlisted Infantryman, ex-Warrant Officer Pilot, and retired Lt. Colonel. He is a past Veterans Service Officer, a Patient Adviser at the RHJ VA Hospital, the Fisher House Charleston Good Will Ambassador, and the VP for Veteran Affairs for the local Army Association Chapter. Larry is the author of the award-winning book Blades of Thunder and a contributing free-lance writer with the Island News. Contact him at LDandridge@earthlink.net or 843-276-7164.
