Legal Help for Veterans blog.
Employment, News and Press
The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs has assigned two vocational rehabilitation counselors to offer their services to veterans in colleges and universities around Michigan. Student veterans have access to expert advice from the VA about the best ways in which to use the benefits that are available to them. The counselors provide assistance on a […]
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Medical Issues / Disability, News and Press, Veterans Law
Nearly 100 veterans and their family members attended a community forum last week to get information on the effects of exposure to contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. From the 1950s to 1987, some 750,000 people were exposed to polluted drinking water, which contained harmful chemicals from spills, a dump site on the […]
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Claims Processing, News and Press
A four year battle with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) over whether Air Force Reservists who flew C-123 planes should get Agent Orange benefits is almost at an end. We have written previously on the inexplicable delays these reservists have experienced. But now, the waiting game is almost over as VA Secretary Robert McDonald […]
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News and Press
It has almost been one year since we last posted on Amir Hekmati, a Marine Veteran and Flint, MI resident, when he was approaching 1,000 days of imprisonment in Iran. Now, nearly 365 days later, Hekmati remains in captivity. The U.S. Senate called on Iran to immediately release the Marine veteran in a unanimously passed […]
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Claims Processing, News and Press, Veterans Law
Kristina Derro Veteran Advocate The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) filed a join lawsuit on May 6 against the VA to force it to change its submission procedure for new claims. The procedure, says the VFW, was created solely to benefit the VA and not veterans. The primary issue […]
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News and Press
Daniel J. Williams, Esq. In August of 2014, the Michigan Court of Appeals found that the governmental immunity protections provided in M.C.L. §691.1407(1) did not apply to state-run veterans homes, where the underlying claim was sounded from the medical care or medical treatment of the moving party Estate of Andrew Ball v. Grand Rapids Home […]
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Medical Issues / Disability, News and Press, Veterans Law
We want to thank the Blue Water Navy Awareness group for sharing with us two critical pieces of legislation that were recently introduced in Congress. The pair of bills relate to Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans and their ability to get service-connected disability benefits for diseases associated with Agent Orange and other herbicides used during […]
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Claims Processing, News and Press, Veterans Law
The Department of Veterans Affairs picked up another notch on their belt of scandals and mishaps earlier this month. USA Today recently reported that the VA has not publicly released the findings of 140 health care investigations going back to 2006. And so more problems for our veterans continued to fester without proper oversight, leaving […]
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News and Press
VA Secretary Bob McDonald testified to the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee that the department has 336 buildings nationwide that are less than half-occupied, many of which are completely unused. The combined maintenance cost for such sites totals above $24 million each year. Secretary McDonald also pointed out that 1,300 of VA facilities are at least […]
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Medical Issues / Disability, News and Press
Many veterans who qualify for health coverage from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) do not see the benefit in enrolling in Medicare when they become eligible. In the first place, some parts of the Medicare plan require the payment of a monthly premium. Additionally, many veterans have found their healthcare coverage from the VA […]
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