The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia awarded an $807 million judgment to victims and families of the USS Cole bombing. The 25 sailors and 33 members of their immediate families filed a lawsuit against the country of…
Military retirees with a VA disability rating higher than 50% have been able to collect both their disability benefits and retirement pay without being docked since 2004. However, vets that were medically retired without serving for 20 years or had…
The VA wants to raise awareness of some little-used benefits: burial benefits. According to the VA, only a fraction of eligible veterans have taken advantage of burial benefits and been buried in a VA-managed or -supported cemetery. What Are VA…
Starting on Feb. 1, benefits checks will no longer have the “Widow’s Tax.” Mark Belinsky, a director of the Military Officers Association of America, said “the decision to eliminate the ‘widow's tax’ was a ‘huge win’ and ‘the right thing…
Anyone who travels to medical appointments frequently knows that the expenses can add up quickly. Fortunately, the VA can help cover those expenses through travel claims. Veterans often are unaware that the VA will reimburse them for their travel to…
In September 2022, the VA announced that it would begin screening all patients for possible exposure to environmental hazards during military service. The very simple screening is part of a larger effort to understand the scope of the issue as…
On August 10, 2022, President Biden signed the PACT Act, a new law that gave thousands of veterans sickened by toxic environmental exposure access to VA healthcare. Less than two months later, on October 1, the VA opened enrollments for…
An audit by the VA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) showed that about 37% of disability benefits claims related to toxic water exposure at Camp Lejeune were processed incorrectly. As a result, thousands of veterans’ claims were underpaid or not…
On July 26, 3M subsidiary Aearo Technologies filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Indiana in an attempt to handle the hundreds of thousands of claims of hearing loss from defective earplugs. The company also announced its intentions to create a…
The Department of Veterans Affairs announced that it will soon start processing claims for three new illnesses related to herbicide exposure in Vietnam and other places. In addition, the VA also plans to automatically review all previous claims and denials…