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Veterans benefits lagging, especially for education and women, Lincoln says Wednesday, May 28, 2008 By Doug Thompson Arkansas News Bureau FAYETTEVILLE - Years of rising college costs mean the federal GI Bill now pays only a fraction of higher education expenses, Sen. Blanche Lincoln said Tuesday. The effect of inflation on educational benefits for veterans is particularly serious because of the high proportion of reserve troops in the armed forces who need higher education to get back in the work force to support their families, Lincoln said. Lincoln toured the Fayetteville Veterans Nursing Home and held a question-and-answer session at the U.S. Veterans Administration Hospital here Tuesday. The senator is sponsoring legislation that would increase education benefits and expand veterans programs, particularly in rural areas. One measure that would allow the Veterans Administration to contract with community health centers in areas that are remote from administration facilities. "I wanted to put them all in one big bill, but decided I stood a better chance if I made them separate proposals," she said in an interview. Lincoln said veterans from previous wars who entered the service as unmarried teenage draftees got all their college expenses paid, including an allowance for room and board, while veterans who are family bread winners in today's military get only a portion of their expenses covered. Women veterans, meanwhile, are finding specialists they need are not available in enough numbers in the Veteran's Administration medical system, the senator said. This is particularly true for mental health services involving sexual abuse of women in the armed forces, she said. Veterans complained to her that different states have different response times and even different responses to the same requests in different states. Former U.S. Army paratrooper Birch Farley said he applied for a change in benefits while he lived in Louisiana and waited for months before it was denied. He filed the same application after moving to Arkansas and was approved quickly. Federal benefits veterans receive should not vary depending upon the state where they reside, Farley said during the question-and-answer session. At the nursing home, Lincoln said veterans living in rural areas have a particularly difficult time getting health care. She spoke of one case in which a veteran living in Monticello has to travel to Little Rock for care. His travel expenses are reimbursed at a rate of 11 cents per mile, a rate that has not changed in years, she said. Disability claims also are being rejected on claims that the disability existed before enlistment, Lincoln said. "They find a bad grade in some science class you took in junior high school and claim you were disabled all along," she said. "Well, if they were healthy enough and bright enough to sign them up (for enlistment,) they deserve the benefit." |
