(This post about our amazing veterans and Law ElderLaw’s dedication to helping them receive the benefits they deserve was first published in October of 2008. I am reposting this today in the hopes that it will help more veterans and their families find the aid they need.)

“Most of the men who hit the beach with me that day now lie under little white crosses. Some news guy wrote that if you landed on Iwo Jima in the first wave and you were not hit by machine gun fire, that it was as unlikely as running through a thunderstorm and not getting wet. There was nowhere to hide on that rock. It was like fighting on the moon. No trees, nowhere to find cover. There were so many of us that every time the Japanese fired, somebody got hit. During the first three days that I was on the island, I got a bullet-hole through my shirt, my helmet, and my pants.”

These are the words of my client Fred as he described to me the experience of going up against the Japanese forces who manned the island of Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945. Many of my veteran clients have amazing stories to tell from their days in the service.

As an attorney who is focused on the issues of the elderly, an important part of my practice is to assist wartime veterans who are now over 65 and disabled. We often assist them (pro bono) by securing a veteran benefit to help pay for care for themselves and/or their disabled spouses. I am honored to have the opportunity to serve those who have served their country so well.

Fred was in my office that day to discuss how he was going to pay the over $8000 a month cost of care for his wife, who suffered her first debilitating stroke eighteen years ago and has needed care ever since.

Fortunately for Fred, a wartime veteran does have the possibility of receiving some assistance through a VA Special Monthly Pension. It’s important to understand that Aid and Attendance or the Survivor Spouse VA benefit is only available to those who meet very stringent limitations related to medical necessity for care, and financial need as determined by both income and asset limitations. It is my job as an attorney to be able to assist individuals to evaluate what, if any, VA Aid and Attendance benefits may be available to them. This VA benefit can make all the difference in helping a wartime veteran or widowed spouse maintain their dignity, home, and lifestyle.

For more information click here to download any of our .pdf guides about VA Benefits.

(“Brown water” means service in the rivers and delta areas of Vietnam)

Even though elder law attorneys are primarily focused on nursing home benefits for wartime veterans who may be eligible for “Aid and Attendance” (a long term care benefit which helps to pay for in-home care, assisted living care, and nursing home care), we are also keenly interested in veteran’s benefits for Vietnam-era veterans.  This post has important information that should be forwarded to anyone who served in Vietnam during the Vietnam Conflict.

One of the ongoing scandals of our country is our failure to fairly compensate Vietnam war era veterans who were exposed to the poison called dioxin that was in the herbicide referred to as “Agent Orange” (AO).  Many vets have been denied legitimate claims when trying to receive disability compensation for delayed diseases due to their exposure to AO.  Agent Orange is still killing Vietnam veterans from all of our service branches.

We belong to an organization called the Veteran’s Advocates Group of America (VAGA), which provides educational materials and communication for those who are concerned about VA issues.  It was reported to us last week by Karen McIntyre, president of VAGA, that  the VA has just announced that veterans serving on certain ships in the waters of Vietnam during the Vietnam Conflict are now eligible for Agent Orange presumptive service compensation benefits.  This also opens the door for surviving spouses, dependent children, and dependent parents who may possibly get death benefits due to the death of their Vietnam veteran spouse, parent, or child.

This decision to compensate “brown water” Vietnam veterans opens the door for VA health insurance as well.  In the past, an Agent Orange claimant had to prove that he/she was a veteran who had “boots on the ground” in Vietnam before the VA would award service-connected compensation.  But this recent “brown water” ruling finally opens the door for many of these deserving veterans and their dependents to get much-needed benefits as well.

It’s important to remember that there are many who served in Vietnam who have already died as a result of an Agent Orange condition—so it is not too late for survivor spouses or dependents to file for benefits.

I have attached a .pdf document at the bottom of this post (entitled “BrownWaterClaims”), which you can click on and download for information about Vietnam naval ships which worked in the inland waterways known as the “brown water” rivers and delta areas of Vietnam.  This is a  huge step forward for many of our veterans who were serving on “blue water” naval vessels but who also conducted operations in “brown water.”  Individuals who served on these ships may be presumed to have had exposure to Agent Orange and its deadly herbicide called dioxin.  Please forward this communication to all Vietnam war veterans and/or surviving spouses.

This expansion of coverage still leaves our “blue water” servicemen and women who served on naval ships at sea without adequate compensation.  Despite the fact that it is now well known that Agent Orange was toxic to anyone who handled it, the federal government and the VA have continued to deny full coverage to many of our servicemen/women.  The next big step is for our government to admit that anyone serving in the Vietnam theater of operations may well have been poisoned by Agent Orange.  Nonetheless, let’s celebrate this victory and the extension of benefits to “brown water Vietnam veterans.”   Hooray!

BrownWaterClaims

Shown left to right: Linda Drake, Herb Holderman, Tammy Anderson, and Steve “Scooter” Scoughton

This is a story about heroes who serve heroes—our veterans of the armed forces.

I first met the dedicated warriors of the Veteran’s Assistance Commission of DeKalb County, Illinois (DeKalb VAC) when they visited our law firm, Law Elder Law LLP recently.  The DeKalb VAC provide a full range of services related to veteran’s benefits.  I wanted to get to know them, because we need a knowledgeable source of VA benefit information in order to serve our clients with excellence.  We deal with an important “sliver” of the VA benefits panorama; we often provide free advice to  wartime veterans who are over 65 regarding the VA “aid and attendance” long term care benefit.

Interestingly, even though the State of Illinois has authorized counties to create Veteran’s Assistance Commissions, most counties  have not provided funds to actually fulfill that all-important task.  Here in the Chicago metro area we are fortunate to have several county veteran’s assistance commissions.  Herb Holderman, Steve “Scooter” Scoughton, Linda Drake, and Tammy Anderson are the knowledgeable and caring team who  help “needy and/or disabled veterans” at the DeKalb VAC.

Today, the DeKalb VAC serves several hundred veterans every year—but it has not always been there for veteran’s needs.  The story of the founding of the DeKalb VAC is a testimony to the power of democracy, a great idea, and the focused persistence of honest men and women with servant’s hearts.  Herb Holderman and other community leaders worked together to bring the organization into existence.  Herb is now the superintendent—but he worked behind the scenes for years and was the driving force that brought life to the DeKalb VAC.   After many years of trying to convince the political powers that there should be a Veteran’s Assistance Commission there, in 2003 Herb and the grassroots group were finally allowed to file a special tax referendum.  The goal was to create a taxing district which would fund the veteran’s service organization.  As you can imagine, the likelihood of passing a new tax seemed remote.  Yet with the help of local veterans’ groups and other concerned citizens, they raised the  battle flag and fought for support.  The idea proved to be so popular that the referendum passed by a 76%  “yes vote”—what a victory!

Today, only a few years later, they work to serve veterans from World War II through Iraq and Afghanistan.  Their job is to help provide veterans with shelter assistance, food, utilities, transportation to medical appointments, and information about educational and vocational rehabilitation benefits.

When I asked what they thought was the most important part of their work, each one had a different perspective.  Scooter responded that he enjoys creating close personal relationships with veterans and those who work at the VA hospitals and other principal service providers. That is his way to providing veterans with even greater access to benefits.  Tammy shared that she believes that it’s her goal to be both a helper and a listener; she wants to provide the veteran with both patience and compassion.  Tammy added, “The Vietnam veterans were treated really badly.  I tell them that I am here to fight for them.”  Veterans Service Officer Linda loves her job, and her only regret is that she is not a veteran herself.  She feels honored to be doing the job of helping brave men and women with VA benefit assistance.  Then Herb, the superintendent summarized this way: “Our veterans are proud, and they want to be able to stand on their own.  When it gets to the point that they might lose their home, they come in to see us with tears in their eyes.  Our job is to help them so that they can keep it all together.” Then he quietly stated, “Unfortunately, this year, due to the times, the needs of the veterans have doubled.”

Even though the needs have doubled,  this is a story which has many happy endings.  It is my privilege to have you meet Herb, Scooter, Tammy, and Linda.  Every day they make life better for our United States Armed Forces veterans.  I salute you!

Will Rogers once said, “We can’t all be heroes. Some of us get to stand on the curb and clap as they go by.”

I am proud to say that our client Richard Reimer is an American hero.  He served his country in the United States Navy between 1943 and 1946 in the Pacific Theater during World War II.  One of the great blessings of our elder law practice is assisting our wartime veterans with VA long term care benefits.  Richard and his wife Virginia live at Alden of Waterford.  They are provided live-in care by a beloved caregiver named Jean.

Despite age-related obstacles, Richard (“Dick” to his longtime friends) joined 79 other veterans and 70 volunteers for the April 15, 2009 Chicago to Washington, D.C. Honor Flight.  Honor Flight’s noble objective is “bringing Chicago veterans to DC – with honor.”  Their goal is to get our surviving World War II veterans to Washington so they can experience “their memorial.”

Dick told me that he knows that this memorial belongs to the people. He got involved early, and he personally wrote twenty checks over the years to help fund the project.  He showed me his donor certificate.

As a member of the April Honor Flight, Dick was thrilled to hear again the music of the Andrews Sisters as presented by the Legacy Girls.  What a day he had! It was 23 hours from start to stop.  He got to the assembly area at 2:00 a.m. and did not stop until he got back home at 12:01 a.m. the next morning. Although it was a gray, rain-filled day, Dick visited the World War II memorial and the Illinois pillar.  Each state has a pillar with veterans’ names available via a computer monitor built into the pillar.

Richard Reimer at the WWII Memorial in Washington D.C.

Dick was accompanied by his proud daughter, Susan Reimer, R.N.  Susan served the Honor Flight as a volunteer nurse and had to pay her own way.

Susan Reimer with her father Richard

One of the great things about the day was the veteran group was meeted, feted, and greeted at both ends of the flight by bands, cheering crowds, and lots of love.  When I asked Dick to describe what he felt was the most important thing about the Honor Flight, he responded with this: “I am just grateful that after 60 years someone cared.  You know, the first group of guys that got home [from the war]—they they got cheers and bands, but the rest of us… just came home. After the war, I left Hawaii on a liner to go to Treasure Island in California.  Then I took a train from California to Chicago.  From there I went to Great Lakes Naval Station.  At Great Lakes I got discharged.  They gave me the cash they owed me and some car fare and I went home to Elgin.  That was it.”

So after 60+ years, Honor Flight of Chicago is providing a way for our World War II veterans who “just came home” to be treated to the welcome that they truly deserve.

The Honor Flight needs both funds and volunteers to help more veterans to have their chance to see the World War II Memorial.  Our own Rick Niksic, who serves as the education and outreach director for Law ElderLaw, will serve as a volunteer on the Wednesday, July 15, 2009 flight.

For more information about how you can help the Honor Flight program, see www.honorflightchicago.org or e-mail Mary Pettinato at mpettinato@introncorp.com.

P.S.  It costs about $48,000 per flight to cover the entire cost for 80 veterans from Chicago to Washington, D.C.

A substance known as Agent Orange (AO) is still killing Vietnam veterans after all these years.  If you know and love a Vietnam War veteran, this post has important information that should be forwarded to everyone who “had boots on the ground” in Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

In June I was speaking in Atlanta at the “Advanced VA Benefits Course.”  Because of my concentration in the area of elder law, I was able to unveil some of the secrets about a special VA benefit to pay long term care expenses.  Benefits may be available for the over-65 wartime veteran and/or spouse of a veteran who is burdened with long term care costs due to Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, or other age-related long term disabilities.  This benefit helps pay for home care, assisted living facility care, and nursing home care.

After my speech, I eagerly awaited the next presenter, Karen McIntyre, a nationally known VA-accredited agent.  Her topic was “Presumptive Diseases Linked to Agent Orange Exposure.”  For me, that is one hot topic.  Within the last twelve months I have served two Vietnam vet clients who have died of cancers which they felt were caused by their wartime service.  Unfortunately for them and their surviving spouses, the Veterans Administration had rejected the benefit claims that they had submitted through a Veterans Service Organization (VSO).

Agent Orange was an herbicide which was liberally sprayed all over Vietnam to defoliate the tropical forest.  It was believed that defoliation was necessary so that enemy troops infiltrating from North Vietnam would be more visible from the air.  Unfortunately for our servicemen, servicewomen, and the civilian Vietnamese population, our government chose to buy the “cheap stuff” which was filled with dioxins.

I asked Wayne Tomlinson, an expert in agrichemicals, to explain Agent Orange to me.  He responded, “Actually, Agent Orange is very similar to some commonly used agricultural herbicides and  brush killers known as 2,4,D and 2,4,5,T.  In its proper form it is harmless to humans. I have been totally immersed in both 2,4,D and 2,4,5,T and it has never caused me any harm.  These chemicals been used extensively within the United States on roadsides, pastures, and parks.  Within the United States the dioxins have been removed from the final product. Unfortunately, I guess that when some government purchasing agent asked for the lowest price bid for this substance to be delivered as a weapon of war, they did not specify that it needed to be dioxin-free.”

Due to the presence of dioxins and the passage of almost 40 years, there are now many diseases that have now been conclusively linked to AO exposure.  When contracted by a Vietnam War veteran, they are now presumed to have been caused by AO.  A Vietnam vet must prove that he or she “had boots on the ground” in Vietnam to receive these medical and monetary benefits.  The benefits can be of assistance to both the veteran and the surviving spouse.  The list of diseases is scattered throughout the official government documents and the VA regulations.  I have consolidated a list of diseases which are presumed to have been caused by Agent Orange exposure.  Click here to find this information: vietnam-vet-conditions-list

If you need to find an attorney to assist a veteran please click here.  In addition, Veterans Service Organizations are available to assist you.

P.S.  Many of our Marines and Special Forces units did have “boots on the ground” in Vietnam, but their service record shows they were stationed outside of Vietnam on ships or in other countries.  The veteran can prove his or her presence in Vietnam by supplying an affidavit from a fellow service person.  This is called a “Buddy Statement.”

The growing popularity of the Veterans Administration (VA) Aid & Attendance program has been fueled by financial services organizations promoting their products with the enthusiastic cooperation of long-term care facilities.  On the surface, it seems to be a great partnership, in that both the financial service organizations and the facilities are helping veterans obtain a benefit that helps pay for their care—right now. Unfortunately, these organizations may fail to take into account the probable long-term Medicaid issues of veterans, as well as the tax and investment-related issues associated with obtaining VA benefits. This short-sightedness could result in a care facility having some liability to a resident for future loss of eligibility for Medicaid benefits. This is what I call the “Medicaid Time Bomb.”

It is common for financial service organizations, under the guise of “supporting aged veterans,” to suggest that excess assets be given away to the veteran’s adult children and then placed in annuities. This is done to meet VA asset limitations.  Unfortunately, if within the next five years the veteran should require long-term custodial care in a nursing home, he or she soon discovers that the rules for obtaining Medicaid benefits are quite different than the rules for obtaining VA benefits.  The veterans can be denied Medicaid benefits and penalized for a period of time, largely due to the gifting of money to their children.

How can the Medicaid penalty situation be resolved?  The only cure is to have the annuities cashed in and returned to the veteran. But wait!  Cashing in an annuity often triggers substantial early-withdrawal penalties.  Due to these early-withdrawal charges, even if the gifted annuity is cashed in, the family will not have enough money from the annuity to cure the Medicaid penalty. When a veteran’s family realizes that the veteran has lost money and may still be ineligible for Medicaid benefits, they are understandably at the loss of both assets and Medicaid benefits. That is what I mean by the Medicaid Time Bomb.

Elder law attorneys owe a fiduciary duty (that’s a high duty of loyalty and protection) to their clients.  When we as elder law attorneys analyze a veteran’s overall situation, we must look at the best interests of our client both today and tomorrow.  We know that an annuity may be an important tool to use in both VA and Medicaid planning. 

A qualified elder law attorney concentrates his or her practice in the areas of estate planning, disability planning, Medicaid, VA benefits, guardianships, and elder abuse issues. Call our office to learn how you can avoid the Medicaid Time Bomb.

Have you been wondering if the proposed Obama-Biden “plan to lower healthcare costs and ensure affordable, accessible, health coverage for all” would provide long-term skilled nursing home care for frail seniors?  The short answer is…no! 

The key features of the plan focus on providing access to healthcare to “over 45 million Americans—including over 8 million children” who lack health insurance.  The Obama-Biden Plan has five main strategies: 

1. Invest in electronic health information technology systems
2. Improve access to prevention and proven disease management programs
3. Ensure that health providers deliver quality care
4. Lower drug and insurance costs
5. Reduce insurance costs for catastrophic illness coverage

Here is the principal goal as highlighted on the Obama website:  “Barack Obama and Joe Biden will guarantee affordable, accessible healthcare coverage for all Americans.”  Despite the presence of the seemingly straightforward words “healthcare coverage” and “all” in the sentence above, it’s critical to understand the definition of those words.  When it comes to healthcare and politics, even simple words may not have a common-sense meaning.  “Healthcare coverage” means “payment for acute healthcare costs.”  Acute care is the type of care given to recover from short-term diseases and accidents. 

In the United States, public healthcare payers, such as Medicare and Tri-Care (for retired military) and the private healthcare insurers, reimburse healthcare providers only for acute care and acute illness rehabilitation.  These payers specifically exclude long-term care in a skilled care nursing home.  Care in a skilled care nursing home is defined as chronic care.  Neither Medicare nor private health insurance pay for chronic care in assisted living facilities or nursing homes.  Unfortunately, the bottom line for America’s frail seniors with a long-term illness is that the word “all” (as defined in the Obama-Biden Healthcare Plan) does not include them. 

Sadly, this means that under our current healthcare program and the Obama proposals, the majority of America’s seniors have no alternative but to pay their own nursing home bills.  If you have Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, or another long-term illness—you are still on your own.  Even if Obama-care is enacted, you will be required to pay your own tab for long-term healthcare until you are impoverished enough to qualify for Medicaid.

But there are ways to prevent the impoverishment required to qualify for Medicaid, if you plan far enough ahead.  We recommend that boomers and seniors seriously consider long-term care insurance.  And to avoid some of the worst outcomes, please contact an elder law attorney who can help you plan today for better long-term healthcare tomorrow.

“Most of the men who hit the beach with me that day now lie under little white crosses. Some news guy wrote that if you landed on Iwo Jima in the first wave and you were not hit by machine gun fire, that it was as unlikely as running through a thunderstorm and not getting wet. There was nowhere to hide on that rock. It was like fighting on the moon. No trees, nowhere to find cover. There were so many of us that every time the Japanese fired, somebody got hit. During the first three days that I was on the island, I got a bullet-hole through my shirt, my helmet, and my pants.”

These are the words of my client Fred as he described to me the experience of going up against the Japanese forces who manned the island of Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945. Many of my veteran clients have amazing stories to tell from their days in the service.

As an attorney who is focused on the issues of the elderly, an important part of my practice is to assist wartime veterans who are now over 65 and disabled. We often assist them (pro bono) by securing a veteran benefit to help pay for care for themselves and/or their disabled spouses. I am honored to have the opportunity to serve those who have served their country so well.

Fred was in my office that day to discuss how he was going to pay the over $8000 a month cost of care for his wife, who suffered her first debilitating stroke eighteen years ago and has needed care ever since.

Fortunately for Fred, a wartime veteran does have the possibility of receiving some assistance through a VA Special Monthly Pension. It’s important to understand that Aid and Attendance or the Survivor Spouse VA benefit is only available to those who meet very stringent limitations related to medical necessity for care, and financial need as determined by both income and asset limitations. It is my job as an attorney to be able to assist individuals to evaluate what, if any, VA Aid and Attendance benefits may be available to them. This VA benefit can make all the difference in helping a wartime veteran or widowed spouse maintain their dignity, home, and lifestyle.

For more information click here to download any of our .pdf guides about VA Benefits.