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New Online Enrollment Application Available for Servicemembers To Be Introduced at Demobilization Sites Nationwide

WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs partnered with the First Army at Camp Shelby, Miss., to launch a streamlined version of its online application for VA health benefits (VA Form 1010EZ) for Servicemembers returning from deployment. VA will introduce it at demobilization sites nationwide by early spring 2012.

“This online application demonstrates VA’s commitment to work with the Department of Defense to make it easier for Servicemembers to get the care they earned by their service,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “The new, online system noticeably reduces the paperwork and reduces a 10-day process to three days.”

The application is used to enroll in the VA health care system, which has more than 1,000 sites of care across the country. Enrollment for VA health care is done as part of a Servicemember’s demobilization. The online form allows the application to be completed during a regularly scheduled briefing for all Servicemembers on VA benefits.

Quick enrollment is important for returning troops because recently discharged combat Veterans are eligible for five years of cost-free care and medications for conditions potentially related to combat service.

The new application was piloted as part of the demobilization process at Camp Shelby. Based on the results, VA plans to collaborate with DoD to offer this online application at all 61 demobilization sites nationally.

For more information, Servicemembers may contact VA at 1-877-222 VETS (8387) or visit VA’s health eligibility website at www.va.gov/healthbenefits.

VA DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
Office of Public Affairs
Washington, DC 20420
(202) 461-7600
www.vva.gov

NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 27, 2012

VA Publishes Regulation on Newborn Care

WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs has published a regulation officially amending VA’s medical benefits package to include up to seven days of medical care for newborns delivered by women Veterans who are receiving VA maternity care benefits.

“The regulation change makes formal the commitment VA made to women Veterans,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Erik K. Shinseki. “This falls in line with the broad range of services VA is proud to offer women Veterans who have served this nation.” Newborn care includes routine post-delivery care and all other medically necessary services that are in accord with generally accepted standards of medical practice.

The effective date of the rule is Dec. 19, 2011, but the regulation applies retroactively to newborn care provided to eligible women Veterans on or after May 5, 2011.

VA has women Veterans program managers at every VA medical center to help women Veterans learn more about the health care benefits they have earned with their service. For more information about VA healthcare for women Veterans, visit http://www.womenshealth.va.gov.

United States House of Representatives
News from the Committee on Veterans Affairs
Jeff Miller, Chairman 335 Cannon House Office Building, Washngton DC 20515
IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 3, 2012
CONTACT: Amy Mitchell (202) 225-3527

Miller: “Protect Veterans’ Healthcare First”

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, Rep. Jeff Miller, Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, issued the following statement on President Obama’s Veterans Job Corps initiative:

“I look forward to learning more about the President’s initiatives. Veterans deserve nothing less than to have the opportunity to gain meaningful employment and to be first in line for any existing jobs program.

“My immediate concern, however, is the potential for cuts to veterans’ healthcare this coming year through sequestration. Due to a conflict in the law, the Department of Veterans Affairs may be subject to a 2% cut in medical care—a cut that would significantly impact the care provided to America’s veterans. Despite repeated requests made to the President and Secretary of Veterans Affairs over the past six months, I have not received any assurance—and more important, nor have our veterans—that these cuts will not take place.

“Today, I will, therefore, introduce the Protect VA Healthcare Act of 2012 to remove any ambiguity from the law and ensure existing funding for veterans is in no way adversely affected in the years ahead. We must protect our veterans’ healthcare first.

“We must also always look to plot the course ahead that serves the best interest of our veterans in the long-term. It starts with getting our economy going again. Short-term spending and temporary programs have failed and are not the solution. I am hopeful that the Administration will work with Congress to get our businesses hiring again in order to give America’s veterans the chance to lead the successful and productive lives they deserve when they return home.”

For more news from the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, please visit: Veterans.House.Gov

Find us on Facebook at: Facebook.com/HouseVetsAffairs or follow us on Twitter at:@HouseVetAffairs

United States House of Representatives
News from the Committee on Veterans Affairs
Jeff Miller, Chairman 335 Cannon House Office Building, washngton DC 20515
IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 2, 2012
ONTACT: Amy Mitchell (202) 225-3527
Committee Looks to Solve Growing Guard Unemployment Rates

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity (EO) held an oversight hearing to hear from the National Guard Adjutants Generals from Indiana, Iowa, and Tennessee on their efforts to reduce the unemployment rate amongst National Guardsmen. Federal officials from the Departments of Labor, Defense, and the Employer Support for the Guard and Reserves also presented their views.

Rep. Marlin Stutzman (IN-03), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity, highlighted many of the existing education, training, and job placement programs that are key resources designed to reduce the high unemployment rate of our Guard and Reservists. Citing the Training Assistance Program (TAP), a vital component of the VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011, as an example, Chairman Stutzman discussed the importance of increased coordination between federal, state, and local governments, business, and non-profit resources as essential to decreasing the unemployment rate. Noting numerous programs, Stutzman stated, “We have all these programs to help members of the National Guard and Reserves get the skills they need to get a good job but the unemployment rates are still too high. We must first ask: what can we do to get our economy going? Second, are we using the programs currently in place in the most effective way to give our Guard and Reserve the tools to transition?”

In testimony, the Manufacturing Institute stated that over 600,000 manufacturing jobs are going unfilled because of skill shortages. Chairman Stutzman responded by saying, “it is clear that the jobs are there, but we are going to have to use innovative solutions to make sure that Guardsmen have the skill sets required to fill these positions. I know that many companies work with community colleges to develop the skills needed in their company and I suspect that expanding that model is an area we need to explore further.”

Problems facing members of the Guard and Reserves returning home include a failure by employers to comply with provisions in the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), poor coordination of employment services by local agencies, and a lack of understanding of the resources available to servicemembers.“After we get our economy going again, the key to reducing these unemployment rates is to focus on local services, make use of all the federal and state education and training benefits that have been put in place to assist servicemembers, and more effectively inform transitioning servicemembers of the resources available.”

“As the owner of a small business, I understand the pressures that the loss of a critical employee creates. But, in the end, I always ask who makes the greater sacrifice, the employer or the service member who is literally going in to harm’s way and that member’s family who must cope with all the stresses of a deployment?”

For more news from the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, please visit: Veterans.House.Gov

Find us on Facebook at: Facebook.com/HouseVetsAffairs or follow us on Twitter at: @HouseVetAffairs

NEWS FROM…
RANKING DEMOCRAT BOB FILNER
HOUSE COMMITTEE ON VETERANS’ AFFAIRS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 1, 2012
Contact David Tucker at (202) 225-9756
http://democrats.veterans.house.gov/


Runaway Contracts: VA Loses Control of "Open Market" Purchases

Washington, D.C. - Democratic Members of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs released this statement following today’s Full Committee hearing to review the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Pharmaceutical Prime Vendor (PPV) contract and $1.2 billion in improper drug and pharmaceutical purchases starting in 2004:

“We are here because VA has one again demonstrated an inability to perform at the level expected in managing procurement processes. VA readily admits that violations took place, and they are quick to assure us that changes have been implemented to fix the deficiencies at hand. But frankly, I have heard it all before,” stated Congressman Michael H. Michaud, Ranking Democratic Member of the Subcommittee on Health.

Since 2004, the VA has purchased $1.2 billion in “open market” purchases, a clause allowed in the PPV contract to be used in accordance with all applicable procurement law and regulation. However, the VA testified that they did not follow all applicable guidelines for these transactions nor detected the problems with the PPV open market clause “in part because the process that was in place since 2004 had become routine.”

Full Committee Ranking Democratic Member Bob Filner (D-CA) concluded that, “There is a saying that ignorance of the law is no excuse. In moving forward, the VA should provide us with who is going to be held accountable for the abject failure to follow policies and procedures, how this going to be fixed, and how these changes will ensure that the care we provide to our Nation’s veterans is properly managed at all levels.”

Following the hearing, the Committee voted to subpoena documents from VA related to the VA open market purchases.

U.S. Department of Labor
For Immediate Release Jan. 30, 2012
Contact: Joshua R. Lamont Laura McGinnis
Office of Public Affairr Washington, D.C.
Phone: 202-693-4661 202-693-4653
Release Number: 12-177-NAT
Email: Lamont.Joshua.R@dol.gov
McGinnis.Laura.K@dol.gov

Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis announces proposed rulemaking to implement statutory amendments to Family and Medical Leave Act Rule would expand military family leave provisions, incorporate special eligibility provision for airline flight crew employees

WASHINGTON – Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis today announced that the U.S. Department of Labor is issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking to implement new statutory amendments to the Family and Medical Leave Act that would expand military family leave provisions and incorporate a special eligibility provision for airline flight crew employees.

The FMLA, enacted in 1993, entitles eligible employees of covered employers to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons.

“Keeping the basic promise of America alive means ensuring that workers, from our servicemen and servicewomen who keep us safe at home to the flight crews who keep us safe in the skies, have the resources, support and opportunities they need and have rightfully earned,” said Secretary Solis. “The proposed revisions announced today are an important step toward keeping that promise.”

The proposed language would extend the entitlement of military caregiver leave to family members of veterans for up to five years after leaving the military. At this time, the law only covers family members of “currently serving” service members. Additionally, the proposal expands the military family leave provisions of the FMLA by extending qualifying exigency leave to employees whose family members serve in the regular armed forces. Currently, the law only covers families of National Guard members and reservists.

For airline flight crew employees, the proposed revision makes the benefits of the FMLA more accessible. It would add a special hours of service eligibility requirement for them and specific provisions for calculating the amount of FMLA leave used that better take into account the unique – and often difficult to track – hours worked by crew members.

Today’s proposed revisions were announced by Secretary Solis in separate events with first lady Michelle Obama and International President of the Association of Flight Attendants Veda Shook.

For additional information on the FMLA, including information and fact sheets on the proposed revisions, visit http://www.dol.gov/whd/fmla.

U.S. Department of Labor news materials are accessible at http://www.dol.gov. The information above is available in large print, Braille, audio tape or disc from the COAST office upon request by calling 202-693-7828 or TTY 202-693-7755.

An Unwavering Commitment to Asian American and Pacific Islander Veterans

Posted by Chris Lu on February 01, 2012 at 02:53 PM EST

On Tuesday, the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) convened a roundtable on AAPI veteran’s issues.

The goal of this roundtable was to highlight VA’s work in leveraging partnerships with the AAPI community. Hosted by Eric Shinseki, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, the roundtable gathered high-level Veterans Affairs officials, other federal leaders, and representatives from the Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations, Japanese American Citizen League, National Alliance for Filipino Veterans, National Filipino Veterans for Equity, National Organization of Chamorro Veterans in America, and others, in discussions of great importance to AAPI veterans: data collection, access to healthcare, and veterans benefits.

This roundtable could not have come at a more crucial time, as the data from the 2010 Census revealed that AAPIs are one of the fastest growing racial groups in this country. Among the nearly 17 million AAPIs across the nation, there are over 265,000 Asian American veterans and 28,000 Native Hawaiian and/or Pacific Islander veterans.

Over the past three years, the President has provided unprecedented levels of funding to help veterans. And Secretary Shinseki and his team have worked tirelessly to ensure that VA is doing all it can do to ensure that veterans are receiving the services and benefits they have earned, and that they receive this support in a timely manner.

In recent months, the President has announced a series of new initiatives to help veterans. At the end of 2011, the President signed into law the Returning Heroes Tax Credit, which provides firms that hire unemployed veterans with a maximum credit of $5,600 per veteran, and the Wounded Warriors Tax Credit, which offers firms that hire veterans with service-connected disabilities with a maximum credit of $9,600 per veteran. The President also announced a series of initiatives designed to give veterans additional career development support, including the Veteran Gold Card, which entitles veterans to six months of personalized case management, assessments and counseling, as well as the Veterans Job Bank, a tool to help veterans find job postings from companies looking to hire them.

In last week’s State of the Union address, the President proposed the creation of a Veterans Job Corps, which would help veterans find jobs as police officers or fire fighters. And just this week, the First Lady, Secretary Shinseki, and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis announced new rules that would make it easier for military families to take time off from their jobs to care for wounded service members.

In the State of the Union address, the President made clear that supporting our veterans ensures that “America is as strong as those who have defended her.” At the White House Initiative on AAPIs, we embrace this shared commitment, and will continue to ensure that AAPIs—including our brave and honorable AAPI service members and veterans—play an important role in an America “Built to Last”.

Chris Lu is Assistant to the President and Cabinet Secretary and serves as Co-chair of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisLu44.