Trump Is Eliminating VA Pensions - Whaaat ?

[debbiedowner]

Next up he wants to completely privatize the VA.

Yes, Trump is privatizing the VA

New proposals announced by the Trump Administration and Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin should dispel any doubt about the administration’s intentions to privatize the Veterans Health Administration. ......

That's what we elected him for, woo hooooo!!!

Well, it's just a proposal so don't get your hopes up.

It could save money and help vets, but I lean more on the side it will cost much more money. Private medical providers for the choice program are now hard to find in some areas. The reimbursement is going to turn many off. Hell, in my area where there are several military bases and retired vets on Tricare are finding it hard to find any mental health providers that will even accept Tricare. I suspect this will be the case (finding enough providers) if the VA privatizes. I just hope whatever way they go they don't screw up any of us receiving are disability payments.

 

[protectionist]

VA Secretary backs off plan to cut elderly vets' benefits

Big sigh of relief, but just that they even thought about doing this, changes my perspective on Trump and the GOP.

I might cancel my GOP registration, and go back to being an Independent.

 

[boedicca]

This sounds like something Obama would do. It is hard to comprehend. After all the talk about helping and protecting the veterans, we're going to get shafted like this ? Unreal. Hopefully, this is just another one of Trump's deal making MOs >> start high, work your way down to what you really want to do.

For now, I'm looking at it on its face value, and I don't like it one bit. I get $861/month for Social Security. I get another $267 from my VA pension. This is a total of a measly $1128/month. And I'm supposed to sit back and say OK to reducing that to $861/month, for my total income ?

For the first time, my support of Trump in is major jeopardy. I might even discard my Republican registration, and go back to being an Independent. Yikes. Trump better reconsider this, big time.

Trump's big VA budget request comes with proposed trims to vets benefits

Did you even bother to read the article? The VA funding is increasing overall with more funding for health care. The cut is to remove the double dip of unemployability benefits once veterans are eligible for Social Security payments.

 

[protectionist]

Whew, no one saw this coming...

I didn't see it either, but I kind of felt like it would happen. You just don't mess with the veterans, or the senior citizens. Too many votes involved.

Lots of veterans groups raised a lot of cain over this. Let's not lose sight of the fact that we have a rookie president. He's learning.

 

[protectionist]

Did you even bother to read the article? The VA funding is increasing overall with more funding for health care. The cut is to remove the double dip of unemployability benefits once veterans are eligible for Social Security payments.

Double dip, my ass. If your total monthly income is less than $1200/month, including your VA pension, you just don't get it taken away. The Trumpers know that now. They revised their proposal.

You're a little late. We're already past the point of the OP. Here's what you apparently missed >> VA Secretary backs off plan to cut elderly vets' benefits

 

[Theowl32]

Did you even bother to read the article? The VA funding is increasing overall with more funding for health care. The cut is to remove the double dip of unemployability benefits once veterans are eligible for Social Security payments.

Double dip, my ass. If your total monthly income is less than $1200/month, including your VA pension, you just don't get it taken away. The Trumpers know that now. They revised their proposal.

You're a little late. We're already past the point of the OP. Here's what you apparently missed >> VA Secretary backs off plan to cut elderly vets' benefits

So you admit you were wrong? It should scare the ever living shit out of you when guno starts liking or agreeing with your posts.

Just remember that.

 

[Moonglow]

VA Secretary backs off plan to cut elderly vets' benefits

Big sigh of relief, but just that they even thought about doing this, changes my perspective on Trump and the GOP.

I might cancel my GOP registration, and go back to being an Independent.

I canceled both parties many years ago when I noticed that they were not for the little guy in the US..

 

[boedicca]

Did you even bother to read the article? The VA funding is increasing overall with more funding for health care. The cut is to remove the double dip of unemployability benefits once veterans are eligible for Social Security payments.

Double dip, my ass. If your total monthly income is less than $1200/month, including your VA pension, you just don't get it taken away. The Trumpers know that now. They revised their proposal.

You're a little late. We're already past the point of the OP. Here's what you apparently missed >> VA Secretary backs off plan to cut elderly vets' benefits

Unemployment insurance is not supposed to carry into retirement.

 

[protectionist]

So you admit you were wrong? It should scare the ever living shit out of you when guno starts liking or agreeing with your posts.

Just remember that.

It doesn't scare me when he likes my posts. I rarely agree with him (LOL), but there actually are a few other things I might agree with him on. Like BIG tax increases on the rich. That is: certain categories of the very rich. Like for example >>

 

[protectionist]

Unemployment insurance is not supposed to carry into retirement.

I'm talking about VA pensions, not unemployment insurance. You get it because you served your country, and now you're old. Is that too much to understand ?

 

[protectionist]

This wasn't Trump.

Paul Ryan has been going after our veteran benefits for a very long time. I've discussed these attacks over the years at length.

I don't trust Paul Ryan. I think he had inclinations to cut Social Security too. Maybe now he's learning where the political 3rd rails are.

 

[protectionist]

Repubs voting against their own interests is a fairly common thing nowadays. They really are that desperate. And repubs will fuck you people over because they know you're too stupid to vote democrat.

This is a pothole along the political pathways, but I'm sorry - nothing is dumber than voting democrat (unless you're an Islamist, an illegal alien, a gun grabber fool, an affirmative action suck-up, or a welfare leech).

 

[protectionist]

it's not you protectionist,

but it is still very wrong wrong wrong for them to cut this service benefit once they receive social security....

for these unemployable individuals, their social security retirement benefit is going to be very little, because they were never able to gain full employment after their service related disability....they will need the unemployability benefit to compensate for their social security retirement being so little!



VA » Veterans Benefits Administration » Compensation » Special » Individual Unemployability

Compensation
Individual Unemployability
Individual Unemployability is a part of VA's disability compensation program that allows VA to pay certain Veterans disability compensation at the 100% rate, even though VA has not rated their service-connected disabilities at the total level.

Eligibility Requirements:

• You must be a Veteran
• You must have at least one service connected disability rated at least at 60%, OR
• Two or more service connected disabilities at least one disability ratable at 40 percent or more with a combined rating of 70 percent or more.
• You must be unable to maintain substantially gainful employment as a result of service-connected disabilities (marginal employment, such as odd jobs, is not considered substantial gainful employment for VA purposes).

Evidence Requirements:

• Evidence of at least one service connected disability AND
• That the service-connected disability or disabilities are sufficient, without regard to other factors, to prevent performing the mental and/or physical tasks required to get or keep substantially gainful employment AND
• That one disability is ratable at 60 percent or more, OR
• If more than one disability exists, one disability is ratable at 40 percent or more with a combined rating of 70 percent or more.

Under exceptional circumstances this benefit may be granted with a lower disability rating than noted above provided the evidence shows the service-connected disability or disabilities present such an exceptional or unusual disability picture, due to such factors as marked interference with employment or frequent periods of hospitalization, that applying the normal disability requirements is impractical.

Example 1
A Veteran has a service-connected heart condition evaluated as 60% disabling. She has been able to work without difficulty until last year, when she began to experience chest pain with any exertion.

Her physician recommended that she retire as soon as possible. She subsequently filed a claim for increased disability compensation. Evidence regarding the Veteran's work history and education were reviewed by the Rating Team. As it confirmed the Veteran was "individually unemployable" due to her service-connected disability, entitlement to compensation at the rate payable to a 100% disabled Veteran was granted.

Example 2
A Veteran served as a medic in Vietnam and stepped on a land mine severing his right leg below the knee. He wears a prosthesis that allows him good mobility.

He had a great deal of difficulty readjusting to civilian life and was recently diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. Service connection was established for both disabilities. The ratings for these disabilities are 40% and 50%, respectively. The combined disability rating is 70%.

He applied for individual unemployability because he has not been able to maintain gainful employment for many years. His only income during the last two years has come from a neighbor who pays the Veteran to watch his dogs while he's out of town. The evidence established that his service-connected disabilities render him unemployable.

Based on this finding, the Rating Team granted entitlement to compensation at the rate payable to a Veteran rated 100% disable.

How to Apply

• Apply online using eBenefits, OR
• Work with an accredited representative or agent, OR
• Go to a VA regional office and have a VA employee assist you. You can find your regional office on our Facility Locator page.

For more information on how to apply and for tips on making sure your claim is ready to be processed by VA, visit our How to Apply page.

The VA pays a monthly payment of varying amounts (based on % of disability) for service-connecteddisability. They also pay a monthly payment to veterans over 65, as a pension. One however cannot receive both simultaneously. The VA pays whichever one is the higher amount.

 

[protectionist]

But being the low-life shitbirds that they are, they would fuck with the veterans if they could.

I admit I'm seeing them in a somewhat different (more introspective) light, but they still are the better choice in light of the dangers/harms of Mexican imperialism, unbridled immigration, foreign workers, Islamization & Muslim terrorism, crime in general, gun policies.

 

[protectionist]

Did you serve 20 years or more?

If so, there is another benefit the GOP has been trying to take away from us. Tricare Prime.

The DoD is trying to kick retired vets off Tricare Prime and onto Tricare Standard. The idea is to eventually force us off Tricare for good.

I have a family member with a catastrophic illness. If I was on Tricare Standard instead of Prime, we'd be living in a cardboard box right now. I've had to go to my Congressman and Senators twice to get them to put us back on Tricare Prime.

I did not serve 20 years or more, but I do have a service connected disability, and I get a lot of medical care 100% free. I had 8 surgeries in 2014 and 2015, (+ numerous other treatments), and didn't pay a dime. I can't complain there.

 

[protectionist]

Congress fucks with us retired vets constantly.

We need to watch them closely. Thank God for the veterans groups.

 

[boedicca]

Unemployment insurance is not supposed to carry into retirement.

I'm talking about VA pensions, not unemployment insurance. You get it because you served your country, and now you're old. Is that too much to understand ?

What is it about an Unemployability benefit that you don't grok? If someone is getting retirement benefits, they do not also deserve unemployment/unemployability ones as well.

Under current policies, the Individual Unemployability program allows VA to award payouts at the 100-percent disabled rate to veterans who cannot find work due to service-connected injuries, even if they are not deemed 100-percent disabled. The number of program recipients has tripled since 2000, reaching almost 339,000 in fiscal 2016.

Trump has proposed stopping those payouts once veterans are eligible for Social Security retirement benefits, arguing the practice now amounts to “the duplication of benefits.” It would impact more than 225,000 veterans receiving the payouts today.

 

[protectionist]

Is this individual seriously delusional enough to believe that the GOP is the party that is anti-veteran?

I know he is pretty delusional, but wow. GOP practically consists of the veteran lobby and almost nothing else... dumb. As such it's also completely delusional to think the benefits are going to be cut. We will be cutting our own arms to feed the vets before that happens.

The OP didn't "think the benefits are going to be cut" It simply mentioned the proposal that was being waved, and how annoyingly negative it was. As far as what might happen, I would not discount anything nowadays. Nothing surprises me anymore.

Sure, some things are more likely than others, but as my old company commander captain used to say, "There is one thing you can expect. The unexpected." We older folks know that.

 

[protectionist]

What is it about an Unemployability benefit that you don't grok? If someone is getting retirement benefits, they do not also deserve unemployment/unemployability ones as well.

Under current policies, the Individual Unemployability program allows VA to award payouts at the 100-percent disabled rate to veterans who cannot find work due to service-connected injuries, even if they are not deemed 100-percent disabled. The number of program recipients has tripled since 2000, reaching almost 339,000 in fiscal 2016.

Trump has proposed stopping those payouts once veterans are eligible for Social Security retirement benefits, arguing the practice now amounts to “the duplication of benefits.” It would impact more than 225,000 veterans receiving the payouts today.

I disagree totally. They DO deserve a VA pension, based on the fact that they served their country, and now that they are over 65 years of age, they deserve something more from that, than the people who get Social Security, but did not ever serve in the military. Got it ?

 

[protectionist]

protectionist President Obama refused this for several years, just as he refused to sign on to making military pay for GI Bill. Do you know what Obama traded for this? No, of course you don't. Just like you didn't know

YOU VOTED FOR THIS. So quit whining.

What I voted for (Trump) was to stop Mexican and Chinese imperialism -21st century style(remittances + anchor baby racket), to stop Islamization, to stop the annihilation of the US by ISIS and the international jihad in general., to preserve gun rights, ..forget it. You wouldn't understand.