Female veterans look for better health care
Dozens of female veterans recently voiced out their concerns for better medical health care to US Senator Mark Warner. According to Vietnam veteran and retired nurse Brenda Hale, many female veterans just don’t know that they can actually take advantage of available benefits. The Roanoke Times reports:
In many instances, veterans are stuck in the middle because those handling benefit eligibility say a person needs a medical diagnosis and those charged with treating veterans aren’t in a position to provide it, Towes said.
C.J. Dickerson shared the same concern with Warner. Dickerson, an Army veteran and a national service officer with AMVETS, said many veterans from current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are falling through the cracks.
Warner has taken a particular interest in helping female veterans. He sponsored an amendment, that was signed into law through the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2010 in December, directing the Veterans Affairs inspector general to examine the gender differences in the prevalence and diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury and other combat-related conditions.
Warner said he expects a report by the end of the month to help determine what might improve services in that area.
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Veterans: health care noticeably improves
For the many veterans who are appealing to the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Rio Grande, the fight for better health services is far from over. The veteran leaders, however, think the medical care showed a lot of improvement. The Brownsville Herald has more:
Ray Molano, commander of Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 856, said his group and others in the Valley Veterans Alliance plan to keep pressure on federal officials to build a full veterans hospital.
“We’re still pushing to get a hospital,” Molano said. “We have the Winter Texans coming down for five or six months a year or even becoming permanent residents.”
A high number of Winter Texans served in World War II, Korea or Vietnam, he said.
“We’re also getting a lot of people back from Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress disorder and other illnesses and injuries,” he said.
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La Salle Veterans Home population shoots up
The La Salle Veterans Home recently announced that its population capacity of 200 veterans is about to be maximized, given that the number of the current residents reaches almost 150. The Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs is set to help. My Web Times reports:
The Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs, which oversees the veterans home in La Salle and three others in the state, is in the process of hiring additional personnel to bring the La Salle home’s staff to full strength, said department spokeswoman Sabrina Miller.“There is no formal timeline, but certainly it is a priority to get the staffing levels up and admit all the residents we can,” Miller said.
The expansion was paid for with a combination of state and federal money, and the state expects to soon receive an $8 million reimbursement from the federal government.
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Obama administration announces changes to HAMP
As part of its continuous effort to improve housing relief conditions, the White House issued a statement a few days ago that changes have been made to the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). In addition to this, there’s also a new Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to take effect. Free HAMP Report has more:
HAMP Improvements1. Temporary assistance for unemployed homeowners while they search for re-employment
- Mortgage payments reduced to affordable level for a minimum of three months, and up to 6 months for some borrowers, while eligible homeowner looks for new job. Via forbearance, month housing payment is set at 31% of monthly income while borrower is unemployed. A temporary assistance plan to be offered to unemployed borrowers. Servicers required to offer assistance to unemployed borrowers who meet specific criteria. Treasury says forbearance will not cost taxpayers anything.
2. Requirement to consider alternative principal write-down approach and increased principal write-down incentives
- All servicers required to consider alternative modification approach that emphasizes principal write-down for HAMP eligible borrowers who own more than 115% of current appraised home value.
- Pay for Success Structure: Alternative principal reduction allows some underwater homeowners to reduce principal balance of their mortgage in steps over three years, if they remain current on payments.
- Servicers will initially treat the write-down amount as forbearance and will forgive the forborne amount in three equal steps over three years, as long as the homeowner remains current on payments
- For borrowers who have already received a permanent modification, or who are in a trial modification, and are still current on payments at the time the alternative modification approach is operational (later in 2010), servicers will be required to retroactively consider extinguishing an amount of principal balance in the same amount that would have been forgiven under the new alternative approach.
- Increased incentives to servicers and lenders, including increased incentives for extinguishment of subordinate liens, to encourage more short sales and other alternatives to foreclosure
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VA promises to improve health care for Gulf War veterans
Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki recently made an announcement that the VA Department will make a conscious effort to guarantee that the veterans deployed during the Gulf War two decades ago would get nothing but the best health care. To help with the said outreach outreach program, the Veterans’ Illnesses Task Force strongly suggested to have a more organized date-sharing with the Defense Department. The Department of Defense reports:
The new recommendations come on the tail of a VA proposal announced last month to presume nine specific infectious diseases to be service-connected for anyone who served in Southwest Asia after Aug. 2, 1990, or in Afghanistan after Sept. 18, 2001.
That ruling, once adopted, will impact veterans who deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. It will relieve those suffering from the designated diseases from the burden of proving their ailments are linked to service in the Persian Gulf or Afghanistan to receive VA health care and disability payments.
The nine diseases are: brucellosis, Campylobacter jejuni, Coxiella burnetii (Q fever), malaria, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, nontyphoidal Salmonella, Shigella, visceral leishmaniasis (kala-azar) and West Nile virus.
During an interview with American Forces Press Service, Shinseki called the proposed ruling a positive step in taking care of Gulf War veterans suffering numerous symptoms and diagnoses yet to be pinpointed to any specific exposure.
“We can’t historically go back and decide what actually caused [Gulf War Illness],” he said. “We spent $350 million trying to find the cause, and we haven’t arrived at a clear answer.”
Rather than simply waiting for researchers to come up with a cause-and effect solution, Shinseki pressed VA to come up with a plan to compensate affected veterans now.
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Is a VA funding fee added to the loan at closing tax deductible?
The guys over at http://blog.oregonlive.com bring up an important question to consider.
Q: Is a VA funding fee added to the loan at closing tax deductible?
A: The following information comes from IRS Publication 936:
Mortgage Insurance Premiums
You can treat amounts you paid during 2009 for qualified mortgage insurance as home mortgage interest. The insurance must be in connection with home acquisition debt, and the insurance contract must have been issued after 2006.Qualified mortgage insurance.
Qualified mortgage insurance is mortgage insurance provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Federal Housing Administration, or the Rural Housing Service, and private mortgage insurance (as defined in section 2 of the Homeowners Protection Act of 1998 as in effect on December 20, 2006).
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