On April 24, the House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs held a hearing entitled, “Helping Those Left Behind: Are We Doing Enough for the Parents, Spouses and Children of Veterans?”
In his opening statement, Chair John Hall (D-NY) noted the tendency to “assume that the veteran is a male and the children live with both biological parents; however, this is not always the case. The current military is made up of many so-called mixed or blended families, in which children do not necessarily live with one or both of their biological parents. Furthermore, the population of women serving in the military continues to grow. More than 160,000 women have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. As of February 2007, over 143 single parents have died in Iraq and the vast majority were women. As a result, we are witnessing a new phenomenon of grandparents raising grandchildren that have been orphaned by the Iraq War.”
Rep. Tom Latham (R-IA), who testified as a member of the first panel, described legislation (H.R. 1115) he introduced that “would allow service members the option of voluntarily designating a parent, brother or sister who would have custody of the service member’s children, as the recipient of all or part of the death gratuity.” He explained, “Many of our nation’s service members are single parents who rely upon grandparents or other relatives to care for their children while they are deployed…Under current law, the $100,000 gratuity paid upon a soldier’s death must go to any surviving children if there is no surviving spouse. If the surviving children are minors, the money is put into a trust account according to the laws of their state, which they cannot access until the age of 18. This oversight in the original law excludes grandparents or other relatives from access to the benefit of this payment to help raise the service member’s children, even if that was the service member’s wish.”
The next panel included grandparents trying to support grandchildren following the deaths of their daughters, who served in the Navy and Army. Susan Jaenke recounted the difficulties she experienced after her daughter, a Navy Corpsman, was killed last year. Ms. Jaenke, who is disabled, was not able to access her daughter’s death gratuity provided by the Department of Defense and struggled for four months before receiving funds from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Matthew and Barbara Jean Heavrin testified that, following the death of their daughter in Iraq, where she served as an Army quartermaster, they have not received any funds for the support of her first child. Their daughter’s death gratuity and group life insurance funds went to their son-in-law, who does not provide for his wife’s child from a former relationship.
Kimberly Hazelgrove, a widow of an Army helicopter pilot killed three years ago, described the challenges she faced. Ms. Hazelgrove made several recommendations, including increased training and resources for personnel who support a casualty’s family; additional health care coverage under TRICARE PRIME, the military health care program for active duty servicemembers; and the elimination of the VA Dependency Indemnity Compensation (DIC) offset to the Department of Defense (DoD) Survivor Benefit Plan’s (SBP) payments. Ms. Hazelgrove explained, “My full entitlement a month as a surviving spouse is $1,166. The dollar for dollar offset generated by the income I receive from the VA’s Dependency Indemnity Compensation (DIC) reduces my entitlement by over $1,000 a month…I would like this panel to realize the entire scope of inequity of this offset. Disabled military retirees, federal retired annuitants and their survivors receive their full benefit without offset of VA benefits. I ask you here today, how is the military survivor any different?”
“Let me be clear from the start. We are NOT doing enough,” said Rose Elizabeth Lee, Government Relations Committee Chair of the Gold Star Wives of America. Ms. Lee urged Congress to eliminate the DIC benefit offset; allow surviving spouses “to retain DIC on remarriage at age 55” instead of age 57; extend the $250 child DIC to survivors of deaths after October 7, 2001, instead of January 1, 2005; and allow an active duty widow to use education benefits from her deceased husband without having to resign from the military.
Patricia Montes Barron, deputy director of government relations at the National Military Family Association (NMFA) reviewed Survivor Benefits provided by the DoD, VA, and Social Security Administration. Ms. Barron stressed the need for expanding TRICARE coverage to include bereavement or grief counseling, stating, “While some widows and surviving children suffer from depression or some other medical condition for a time after their loss, many others simply need counseling to help in managing their grief and helping them to focus on the future. Many have been frustrated when they have asked their TRICARE contractor or provider for ‘grief counseling’ only to be told TRICARE does not cover ‘grief counseling.’ Available counselors at military hospitals can sometimes provide this service and certain providers have found a way within the reimbursement rules to provide needed care, but many families who cannot access military hospitals are often left without care because they do not know what to ask for or their provider does not know how to help them obtain covered services.” Noting that “appointing a guardian for a minor child after the death of their single service member parent may cause a delay in accessing the death gratuity,” Ms. Barron said, “NMFA would support legislation to allow the designation of a service member’s parent or sibling as the recipient of a portion of the death gratuity payment if there is a guarantee the payment would be used as that financial bridge for the minor child until other benefits are awarded, with the remainder placed in trust for the child.” She also voiced NMFA’s support for ending the DIC offset to the SBP.
Department of Veterans Affairs Associate Deputy Under Secretary for Policy and Program Management Jack McCoy detailed VA benefits for “surviving spouses, dependent children, and dependent parents of deceased servicemembers and veterans.” These include the services of casualty assistance officers to help families apply for benefits, the Survivors Benefits website, Dependents’ Educational Assistance benefits, educational and vocational counseling, home loan assistance, as well as DIC benefits and life insurance. Regarding DIC benefits, Mr. McCoy stated, “The goal is to process all in-service death claims within 48 hours of receipt of all required documents. At the time of the initial visit, family members are in an acute stage of grief and are not always able to absorb and understand the full range of benefits available to them. To ensure that surviving spouses and children are aware of all benefits, a six-month follow-up letter is also sent reminding them of the benefits and services.” He added, “Surviving spouses currently receive $1,067 a month, with additional amounts payable for children under the age of 18 or if the surviving spouse is in need of regular aid and attendance. A surviving spouse who has a child or children under the age of 18 and receives DIC is also entitled to a transitional benefit of $250 per month. The surviving spouse receives this additional benefit for two years after entitlement to DIC begins or until all of the surviving spouse’s children have reached 18 years of age, whichever is earlier. Surviving spouses may continue to receive DIC benefits upon remarriage if the remarriage takes place after the spouse’s 57th birthday.”
