Editor's Note: Following are typical questions answered daily by VA counselors. Full information is available at any VA office.
Q: I read on the Internet that VA's budget is being cut. With a new generation of combat vets coming into the system and older vets needing medical care, this doesn't make sense.
A: VA's budget has not been cut, although wrong information continues to circulate on the Internet and on the opinion pages of some newspapers.
President Bush's proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 has an 8 percent increase in VA health care spending. VA's budget for health care has increased 32 percent since President Bush took office.
Q: I'm a 20-year military retiree whose retirement pay is cut by the amount I receive from VA for disability compensation. I read the military soon will begin making up this offset. How can I make sure I receive this?
A: The military services will make case-by-case decisions if military retirees are eligible for the new program, which is called "Combat-Related Special Compensation." It is for veterans rated at least 60 percent disabled because of armed conflict or certain other conditions, such as hazardous duty, training exercises, or mishaps involving military equipment. VA will provide the military information from veterans' files that may help determine eligibility.
Veterans may download DD Form 2860 and obtain more information at https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/crsc. They may also call their branch of service for more information: Army, 866-281-3254; Navy and Marine Corps., 877-366-2772; or Air Force, 866-229-7074.
Q: We hear all the time that veterans are dying at an increasing rate and national cemeteries are running out of burial space. What is VA doing about this?
A: VA is developing five new cemeteries in metropolitan areas that now have neither national nor state cemeteries with burial space available. These new cemeteries, plus expansions planned for several existing cemeteries, will advance VA’s goal to have 85 percent of veterans living within 75 miles of casket and cremation burial space by 2007. Beyond that date, VA has identified other metropolitan areas that do not have veterans burial space or that will run out of space by 2020 in order to begin planning to fill that need.
For further information about VA financial payments, call 1-800-827-1000. For information about VA health care, call 1-877-222-8387. Or visit VA’s web-page at <www.va.gov>.
