Online learning can be a flexible, affordable way to earn a college degree, which may be why more vets than ever are looking at online education.

U.S. News & World Report has released its most recent listing of top online education programs for military vets. Almost fifty percent of vets return from service looking to further their education by enrolling in post-secondary schools. A large percentage of those vets, according to Student Veterans of America, attend online programs as a way to meet family and work obligations.

Vets are attending college as never before, in large part perhaps due to the U.S. unemployment numbers. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployment for vets between the ages of 18 and 24 was 30 percent in 2011, while unemployment was just 18 percent for ages 18 to 24 in the general population.

The online schools listed by U.S. News include a number of educational programs that award college credit for eligible students who have military experience. There were also schools listed that focus on flexibility for students who are taking courses with more than one school or program. U.S. News also ranked programs based on their graduation rates and the amount of debt students faced after graduation. Their ranking, said a U.S. News spokesperson, was not just based on the benefits of each program, but also based on overall quality of the program offerings.

The ten top online programs offering bachelor degrees in terms of quality, affordability and program selection, according to U.S. News, are offered by: Pace University; Charter Oak State College; Brandman University; Bellevue University; Regent University; University of Nebraska – Omaha; California Baptist University; Post University; Ball State University, and Fort Hays State University.

The ten top online Master of Business Administration programs, according to U.S. News, are offered by: Central Michigan University; West Virginia University; Washington State University; Temple University; University of Nebraska – Lincoln; University of Mississippi; University of Colorado – Denver; University of Memphis (Fogelman); Ball State University (Miller); and Columbia College.

The revised G.I. Bill covers college tuition of $280 per unit and three years of full-time school, and includes a book allowance of $500 as well as a basic housing allowance of up to $1,500 per month. The housing allowance is based on the cost of living in the nearest military installation. Vets with extended years of service can often transfer their own education benefits to be used by their immediate family members.

Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC fights for veterans rights. We fight to make sure you get the benefits you deserve from the Department of Veterans Affairs. To learn more or contact a veterans lawyer, visit http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com/ or call 800.693.4800

Jim Fausone
Veterans Disability Attorney

One of the upcoming problems for veterans is understanding how their VA health care and Obama Care fit together.  Since no one seems to understand how the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act  (Obama Care or PPACA) will work come January 2014, it seems a little bit of a stretch to think veterans can figure out how to coordinate these different federal health care programs.   Roughly 40 percent of the 22.3 million military veterans receive health care services from the VA.  Some veterans are eligible for both VA health care and Medicare, Medicaid or Tricare. About half of veterans have private insurance.  Approximately one in 10 veterans younger than 65 are uninsured.   About 4 in 10 uninsured veterans are covered by Medicare. How will all this work.  Again no one is exactly sure and how a veteran will get good advice is unclear.  The article below provides some insight.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/for-veterans-health-care-law-offers-new-options–and-struggles/2013/05/03/c8fc6e8c-b29e-11e2-bbf2-a6f9e9d79e19_story.html

Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC fights for veterans rights. We fight to make sure you get the benefits you deserve from the Department of Veterans Affairs. To learn more or contact a veterans lawyer, visit http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com/ or call 800.693.4800

Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC fights for veterans rights. We fight to make sure you get the benefits you deserve from the Department of Veterans Affairs. To learn more or contact a veterans attorney, visit http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com/ or call 800.693.4800

Kristina Derro
Veteran Advocate

The federal government, in an attempt to address its long-term debt problem, has proposed changes to the way it calculates inflation for VA disability payments. Currently, government benefits (ex. VA disability benefits, Social Security benefits, etc.) are adjusted according to inflation. In an attempt to save some money, the government has endorsed using a slightly different measure of inflation to calculate Social Security benefits. This would allow the benefits to still grow, but at a slower rate.

The conventional Consumer Price Index (CPI) measures changes in retail prices of a constant market of goods and services. The Chained CPI (the variation that the government wants to utilize) considers changes in the quantity of goods purchased, as well as the prices of those goods. So, for example, if the price of steak goes up, many consumers will buy chicken, a cheaper alternative to steak, rather than buying less steak or going without meat.

Supporters of Chained CPI argue that it’s a truer indication of inflation. However, it tends to be less than the conventional CPI. Under the conventional CPI, disability payments increased 1.7 percent this year. Under Chained CPI, the disability payments would have only increased 1.4 percent.

There has been talk by the government to apply this alternative inflation measure to VA disability payments for nearly 4 million veterans, as well as pension payments for 500,000 low income veterans and surviving families. However, veterans groups are rallying together to fight any potential change in the calculation. The argument is that the veterans have already suffered through their wounds and sacrifices while in service, and now they would be unduly burdened while they are trying to recover from those wounds. The groups are complaining that the government is attempting to balance a budget on the backs of disabled veterans, which is absurd given the administration’s history of generous funding for the VA.

Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC fights for veterans rights. We fight to make sure you get the benefits you deserve from the Department of Veterans Affairs. To learn more or contact an attorney about your Post Traumatic Stress, Traumatic Brain Injury, Mental Health, Sexual Assault, Hearing Loss and Tinnitus, Total Disability Based on Individual Unemployability, Medical Malpractice, or Aid and Attendance claim, visit http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com/ or call 800.693.4800

Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC fights for veterans rights. We fight to make sure you get the benefits you deserve from the Department of Veterans Affairs. To learn more or contact a veterans attorney, visit http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com/ or call 800.693.4800

Jim Fausone
Veteran Advocate

 To help further protect their veterans, lawmakers in Nevada have put forth a bill that makes veteran disability pay untouchable in divorce proceedings.

 The bill, AB271, was presented to members of the Assembly Judiciary Committee on Tuesday and specifies that during divorce settlements, judges cannot consider veteran disability pay when dividing assets.

Supporters of the bill state that disability pay is not taxable income and is given to the veteran to compensate them for their physical sacrifices during service. Under this view, the pay is not to be looked at as ‘earned income’ for divorce purposes, but instead as strictly a compensatory payout. 

Opponents of the bill state that disability income is intended for caregivers (potentially spouses) as well as veterans and that the pay should be considered as part of the couple’s overall financial situation.

Despite the fact that in the end no action was taken by the committee, no veterans testified in opposition to the bill.  This is an idea to keep an eye on in Nevada and maybe in other states.

To see the original article or learn more about the bill, please visit: http://ap.stripes.com/dynamic/stories/N/NV_XGR_VETERANS_DISABILITY_NVOL-?SITE=DCSAS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-04-02-13-32-56

Winchester Consulting Group is a full service government relations company.  Winchester Consulting Group is looking for opportunities to work with and promote Vet-centric groups.  They are currently working with The Veteran Advocate LLC, an SDVOB/Woman owned business run by Brigadier General Carol Ann Fausone (ret.) regarding assisting veterans in Wayne county.  Winchester Consulting Group is a related entity to Fausone Bohn, LLP which is the law firm that began Legal Help for Veterans.

To view the contents on www.hometownlife.com, go to:
http://www.hometownlife.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201304180650/NEWS12/304180405

Kristina Derro, Esq.
Veteran Advocate

The water at Camp Lejeune, a Marine base that began operating in 1941, isn’t just bad – it’s unprecedented, according to a new federal report.

The study, conducted by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, created a historical model to estimate the levels of carcinogens in the drinking water from 1953 to 1985.  To accomplish this, the scientists examined data from tens of thousands of federal and state documents during the period when the water wasn’t tested.

The results of the study, which are considered highly reliable, are staggering.  Certain carcinogenic substances are believed to have reached levels 33 to 153 times higher than what federal regulators consider safe.  These toxic chemicals came from several potential sources, including industrial solvents used at the base.

While it has been known for years that the water at Camp Lejeune was contaminated, the release of this report renews serious health concerns for the more than 1 million people that lived and worked on the base from 1953 to 1985.

Richard Clapp, an epidemiologist who peer-reviewed the study, said that the findings are dramatic and that Camp Lejeune is the most highly contaminated drinking water in the U.S. that he is aware of.  Residents of the base have reported a wide range of types of cancers, including more than 80 instances of men diagnosed with a rare form of breast cancer.

The Marine Corps has not yet commented on the results of this study.  Former residents are hopeful that the government will conduct a cancer incidence study to determine if the contaminated water has caused abnormally high cancer rates.  Unfortunately, without legislation, a study is unlikely to occur.

To read the original article, please visit:
http://www.tampabay.com/news/report-camp-lejeune-water-contaminated-at-unprecedented-levels/2108929

If you are a veteran with questions about obtaining government benefits, contact Legal Help for Veterans, a practice group of Fausone Bohn, LLP, in Northville, Michigan at 800-693-4800 or online at www.legalhelpforveterans.com.

Jim Fausone
Veteran Advocate

Nursing assistants at The Grand Rapids Home for Veterans have been given their pink slips.

In Michigan, almost 150 nursing assistants working in a state-run home for veterans have been told they are being laid off. The Grand Rapids Home for Veterans, one of two state-run hospitals for veterans, currently cares for more than 700 veteran residents.

Governor Rick Snyder has approved the privatization of the nursing assistant jobs as a way to save an estimated $4 million each year for the state of Michigan. Other services provided to the home such as laundry and security are already outsourced to   private companies.

“Quality care for our elderly service members should always be a priority over cost savings,” commented veterans disability lawyer James Fausone. “And the concern of some individuals is that cost-cutting measures may mean that quality care is being sacrificed.”

One of the vet residents filed a lawsuit regarding the privatization, alleging that he and his fellow residents were facing “significant injury… abuse and neglect at the hands of a private company.” A judge ruled in favor of the vet and halted the plans, but the case was dismissed last month and the privatization implementation plans are now moving forward.

Michigan’s Department of Military and Veterans Affairs has stated that it is providing proactive job hunting help to the nursing assistants in the form of a rapid response workforce development team. The nursing assistants have also been informed that they can apply for their former jobs under the new management. In addition, a three-judge panel stated that several allegations of contract works who provided inadequate care did not mean every contracted worker would provide substandard care, and that no veterans were required to live at The Grand Rapids Home for Veterans and if any vets felt they were receiving substandard care, they were free to leave.  The Governor’s Deputy Press Secretary issues a statement that the privatization would allow for “the best possible health care” while saving theU.S.  taxpayers significant money.

Sources
http://michiganradio.org/post/state-issues-pink-slips-144-nursing-assistants-home-veterans
http://www.michiganradio.org/post/state-appealing-ruling-against-privatization-home-veterans
http://www.michiganradio.org/post/court-appeals-says-governor-can-privatize-nursing-assistants-home-veterans

James G. Fausone
Veteran Advocate

More than one out of every 12 U.S. service members who died during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were found during autopsy to have early signs of heart disease. While none of the service members were diagnosed with heart disease prior to their deployments, all of them were found to have plaque buildup in the arteries around their hearts. How did such a young, fit group of people “pass” health screenings when they had early-stage heart disease?  Many heart diseases such as plaque build up are asymptomatic in the early stages, showing no sign of trouble down the road.

In the civilian population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, heart disease accounts for roughly one-in-four deaths each year, or approximately 600,000 U.S. residents.

Autopsies performed on service members who died in combat or from other injuries between 2001 and 2011 were originally done to give an accounting of how they died to their family members. The results were studied, not unlike research on autopsy results performed on vets from the Korean andVietnamwars. Those studies found that as many as 75 percent of the vets had heart disease at the time of death. Those findings were considered critical in helping the medical community recognize that coronary disease could start at a younger age than previously thought, and stay “silent” or asymptomatic for longer than had previously been assumed.

The autopsy results for service members from theVietnamand Korean wars are not considered directly comparable to that of theIraqandAfghanistanservice members, as researchers believe the draft may have affected the healthier versus less healthy individuals who enlisted voluntarily. Researchers also believe the lower number of service members found with heart disease is likely a strong indicator of a decline in heart disease throughout theU.S.

Researchers looked at more than 3,800 autopsies; 98 percent were men. Of the 9 percent who were found to have plaque buildup in their coronary arteries, roughly 25 percent were found to have severe blockage. Those who had been obese or had high blood pressure or high cholesterol when they began service were far more likely to have excessive plaque buildup. Researchers hypothesized that the lower percentage of heart disease they found was due in large part to improved, early treatment of high blood pressure and cholesterol as well as a drop in smoking among today’s service members. Ongoing concerns for heart disease risk include obesity and diabetes, which researchers say still need to be addressed in our country.

Sources
http://bit.ly/JjFzqx Journal of the American Medical Association, online December 25, 2012
http://medcitynews.com/2012/12/autopsies-of-soldiers-killed-in-combat-show-almost-9-had-clogged-heart-arteries/#ixzz2K3pGjZUN

The House of Representatives has passed HR 4057, a new bill designed to help student veterans. HR 4057 will allow post-9/11 student vets to have a comprehensive place online where they can find information about their applications for various colleges, and track any issues that may arise. The bill has instructed the Veterans Administration to launch a website for this purpose and also to offer educational counseling to the student vets.

The bill includes education counseling, extensive information about schools, programs, financing, school enrollment and graduation rates, transfer credit opportunities, and what academic, technical and support services are available. The overall plan to make the Post-9/11 GI Bill easily accessible to all who qualify for it.

The Post-9/11 GI Bill also includes education and housing monetary support for military personnel with 90 or more days of service starting after Sept. 10, 2001, and for individuals who were discharged after 30 days of service with a service-connected disability. Students must have been honorably discharge in order to receive the benefit. The benefit covers as much as three years of expenses if they are education-related and approved, and can be used as late as 15 years after active duty has ended.

Another veterans-based bill sent to the President is the Dignified Burial and other Veterans Benefits Improvement Act of 2012, which allows provisions for burials for veterans who leave behind few or no resources and no family members to oversee their burial. The bill includes instruction for a registry to track the service-related illnesses and symptoms experienced by vets who were exposed to toxic contaminants while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Both bills have been designed to provide support for veterans, from educational opportunities to comprehensive civilian transition programs to services that allow them burial with dignity.

The Dignity bill authorizes the VA to: provide a casket or urn, if needed; follow the wishes of next of kin regarding the funeral or memorial service; claim unclaimed or abandoned veteran remains for proper burial; use $5 million for a military cemetery in the Philippines; and establish an “open burn pit registry” to track vets who were exposed to probable toxic materials from Middle East open burn pits, and track their ongoing health concerns and explore treatment options. Additionally, the bill authorizes the VA to provide transportation of vets to and/or from counseling, vocational and rehabilitation treatment and care.

James G. Fausone is a Veterans disability lawyer and Veterans attorney with Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC. Learn more at http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com.

Jim Fausone
Veteran Disability Lawyer

President Obama and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) pledged in 2010 to work together to end homelessness among veterans within five years.

A report which was released to Congress in December 2012 by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) found that the number of homeless vets has, indeed, dropped.

According to the report, a 2011 assessment was done by the Department of Housing and Urban Development that found 67,495 veterans were homeless in January 2011 during a one-day count. That number was a 12 percent decrease from the same sort of one-day count a year ago, in January 2010. The USICH report points to an increase of funds for homeless assistance programs and an unusual level of cooperation and collaboration between multiple federal agencies as essential reasons for the lower numbers of homeless vets.

“Any decline in the number of homeless vets is a reason to applaud,” said veterans lawyer James Fausone. “Here’s hoping the joint efforts continue to help homeless vets and the numbers continue to decrease.”

Studies indicate that higher concentrations of homeless vets are found inCalifornia,New York,FloridaandTexas, in the urban areas of those states. Numbers for how many homeless vets reside in rural areas are harder to come by, as fewer services are available in rural areas and those homeless vets may less visible for any census undertaking.

The 2010 Annual Homeless Assessment Report found that homeless vets who are  Native American make up a large demographic; while Native Americans make up just 0.7 percent of the total number of U.S. veterans, they account for 2.5 percent of the veterans who are homeless.

Female veterans are also at a high risk for homeless, the study found. Women vets may return to civilian life that includes additional challenges, such as raising children as single parents, and some suffer from PTSD from military sexual trauma.  The VA has services geared specifically for women vets who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, including Supportive Services for Veteran Families Program (SSVF), which awards grants to private nonprofit organizations and consumer cooperatives offering support to low income veterans and veteran families who live in or are transitioning to live in permanent housing.