You do --- if you own the following assets you need a will in order that the assets may pass to those you wish to inherit your property:
• Real Property, including mineral interest and surface rights
• Bank or brokerage accounts, CDs, stocks and bonds
• Automobiles
• Tangible Personal Property
• Money Is Owed to You (you are the person writing the will)
• Intellectual property which generates royalties

If you do not have a will at the time of your death the State will determine how and where your estate assets are to be divided.

In a community property state, such as Texas, you cannot dispose of your spouse's half of any community property.

You may ask yourself -- why should you create a will? This is your Last Will and Testament. You are stating to whom, how much, and what assets are to be distributed upon your death.

If you die without a will the State and the courts will determine how your assets are to be distributed. You can make it easier on your heirs by designating who is to receive from your estate.

As I have dealt with probate issues, money and wealth can bring out the worst in people. Using the Christmas classic, Charles Dickens --- A Christmas Carol, as an example Mr. Scrooge’s possessions were taken and sold by various people. Ebenezer Scrooge was not at all pleased on how his assets were distributed.

Although the State provides laws for those who die without a will (intestate) the best way to provide for your heirs is to have a Last Will and Testament to be complied.

Make sure that you have a will.

Tinnitus is commonly referred to as "ringing in ears," but may sound to the veteran like popping, old test tube equipment, electrical sounds, clicking, or another noise in the ears or head of the veteran.

The VA provides a 10% disability rating for veterans having this disability as long as the tinnitus is recurrent. The maximum amount is 10%, regardless of if the tinnitus is in one or both ears, or the head.

If the veteran is granted 10%, that is the maximum allowable for this disability. However, tinnitus may be combined with another disability such as hearing loss, unless the tinnitus supports the other disability.

Texas Property Code §92.108 states “a tenant may not withhold payment of any portion of the last month's rent on grounds that the security deposit is security for unpaid rent.”

The penalties are clear -- the tenant can be liable up to 3 times the rent wrongfully withheld and liable for payment of the landlord’s attorney fees for any suit to recover the rent.

Therefore if you are a tenant seeking the return of your security deposit after you move out. As a minimum do the following: provide 30 days notice, a forwarding address, make sure the rental property is clean and undamaged, do not break your lease, and pay your last month's rent on time.

For complete details please visit the website listed below or read the material copied from the site in the continued reading section.

From http://www.tdhca.state.tx.us/homeownership/fthb/mort_cred_certificate.htm#veteranmcc

How much of a tax credit can be issued under the MCC program? The size of the annual tax credit will be 30% of the annual interest paid on the mortgage loan. However, the maximum amount of the tax credit shall not exceed $2,000 per year. The credit cannot be larger than the annual federal income tax liability, after all other credits and deductions have been taken into account. MCC credits in excess of the current year tax liability may, however, be carried forward for use in the subsequent three years.

MCC Example: MCCs are issued directly to qualifying Applicants who are then able each year to take a tax credit equal to a specified percentage of the interest paid on their mortgage not to exceed $2,000. The Mortgage Credit Certificate Rate is 30 percent. Thus, an Applicant with a $121,000.00 mortgage (30 year fixed with equal monthly installments of principal and interest) would realize the following savings:

MCC Example
Mortgage Amount: $121,000.00
Interest Rate: 6.0%
Total Interest Paid First year: $ 7,260.00
Mortgage Credit Certificate Rate: X .30
Tax Credit Amount: $2,178.00
$2,000 (max)

During the first year of the Program, this Applicant would be entitled to a tax credit of $2,000.00. Based upon such entitlement, he or she would be able to file in advance a revised W-4 withholding form taking into consideration this tax credit and have approximately $167.00 per month in additional disposable income. Additionally, taxpayers who file itemized returns may take a deduction for their mortgage interest paid each year, less an amount equal to the tax credit taken. (In the above example, the additional interest deduction would be $7,260.00 less $2,000.00, or $5,260.00)

MCC Program Criteria / Requirements: All mortgage loan types are eligible. The mortgage loan, available through a network of participating lenders, must be underwritten according to FHA, VA, USDA/RHS or conventional loan criteria and will be at prevailing market rates. New and existing single family homes, townhouses, condominiums and manufactured housing (with certain restrictions) are eligible properties. Purchase price and income limits, adjusted by household size apply. The homebuyer must also occupy the property as their principal residence.

YOU MUST APPLY with your respective service no later than October 30, 2010, and apply using the following sites or e-mail addresses:

Stop Loss contact information:

Air Force: http://www.afpc.randolph.af.mil/stoploss/

Army: https://www.stoplosspay.army.mil
or email: RetroStopLossPay@CONUS.Army.Mil

Marine Corps: https://www.manpower.usmc.mil/stoploss
or e-mail: stoploss@usmc.mil

Navy: E-mail : NXAG_N132C@navy.mil

There are requirements you must comply with, but the program is geared to assist you. For instance the Air Force requires a simple 2-page document be completed and attachment of your DD-214 and proof of Stop-Loss. The DoD, however, is allowing statements to be made by the veteran's chain of command to prove the veteran was retained.

For additional information please read Military.com, which cited the American Forces Press Service article by SFC Michael J. Carden at:
http://www.military.com/news/article/army-news/troops-to-be-compesated-for-stop-loss.html?wh=benefits

or the Army's release of the article by SFC Michael J. Carden at:

http://www.army.mil/-news/2009/10/22/29120-defense-department-to-begin-compensation-of-stop-loss-troops/

On October 13, 2009, the Department of Veterans Affairs in a news release announced the VA is extending VA benefits to Vietnam veterans who were exposed to the herbicide Agent Orange.

The October 13, 2009, VA news release states an “estimated 2.6 million” veterans were exposed to the herbicide commonly referred to as Agent Orange. Secretary Shinseki declared “Veterans who endure health problems deserve timely decisions based on solid evidence.” An independent study concluded these illnesses/diseases are directly related to Agent Orange exposure.

The significance of the VA including these 3 new illnesses as presumptive disabilities resulting from Agent Orange exposure, the veteran does not have to prove a connection between their military service and the resulting disease. The veteran, however, must have been exposed to Agent Orange. Therefore, a veteran who is exposed to Agent Orange, as proven by being in the Army and in country (in Vietnam), the veteran has been exposed to AO. Inclusion of the presumptive disease / illness means the veteran is presumed to have a service-connected disability if he has one of the presumptive diseases.

Service and exposure coupled with a current disability is now a service-connected disability.

The full list of presumptive diseases / illnesses associated with Agent Orange includes:
1. B cell leukemias;
2. Parkinson's disease;
3. ischemic heart disease;
4. Acute and Subacute Transient Peripheral Neuropathy;
5. AL Amyloidosis;
6. Chloracne;
7. Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia;
8. Diabetes Mellitus (Type 2);
9. Hodgkin’s Disease;
10. Multiple Myeloma
11. Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
12. Porphyria Cutanea Tarda
13. Prostate Cancer
14. Respiratory Cancers, and
15. Soft Tissue Sarcoma (other than Osteosarcoma, Chondrosarcoma, Kaposi’s sarcoma, or Mesothelioma)

The effective date is the original claim date the veteran filed the Claim for VA Benefits for one of these new presumptive diseases / illnesses. If you were previously denied VA benefits claim for a B cell leukemia, Parkinson's disease, or ischemic heart disease you have a current claim.

Suicide is not the answer, according to this clip. Unfortunately, many wounded and disabled veterans carry the burden of depression, loneliness, fear of the unknown future, and just want to give up. I understand all too well.

For the disabled veteran their world has turned upside down. They were active, strong, and had the future. Depending on the injury, event or disease that changed the veteran's life, the hope may be gone.

For me I sought counseling on how to deal with my loss and also how to deal with how people treated me now. I just recently went through a devastating loss when a fiancé left when she saw my vision during a low vision eye exam. I turned to counseling to find hope.

I try to think about all the military people who have given their lives, and wish they had the opportunity I have been given to live. Then I think of the good thing that happened today. I have learned to ask "What was the best part of your day?" Maybe it is sunny and feels good on my skin or maybe it is raining and the plants are drinking. Maybe it is listening to the kids play or just sit near me.

I think of how God is good. I think of what Pope John Paul II stated when asked by parents of terminally ill children why their child? He replied why not, and the other people will watch how you handle the situation. For me this reminds me I am glad I was the one hurt and I am glad others were not hurt.

It gives me hope again to think that my disability has given me a new opportunity. I can help veterans with their disability claims. I ask you to find your hope and new future.

None of this, however, will be possible if suicide becomes the answer. If you know someone hurting spend time with them, make sure they are OK. Just be with them, be kind.

I hope this helps, suicide is not the way out. Let us disabled veterans show our nation how we handle our disabilities and continue to help protect those who have not served.

The objective of VA benefits is to help you to compensate for any service-connected disabilities that limit your earnings.

I can state you need to take charge of helping yourself receive your disability payments or Vocational Rehabilitation to achieve your post-military objectives. You need to act to receive VA service-connected disability payments or help.

For a VA benefit that you earned to be awarded to you, the VA first has to know about you. You must apply for VA benefits through a "526" at your VA regional office. Each day you prolong is a day the VA does not know you have a disability. This is a day you will never be paid for your service-connected disability.

My advice to you is immediately upon separation or retirement, apply for your VA benefits. Do not wait. The date you apply, establishes your “effective date.” Think of this date as analogous to your enlistment date, this is the date that the Department of Veterans Affairs will use to calculate the monies owed to you once your Disability rating is established.

I understand, you may want nothing to do with the military or VA, but the VA folks are not mind readers, they cannot know you have a claim until you file. The law prevents them from granting you an effective date, you thought about filing --- you must apply for your benefits.

Next, within the FIRST year of separation or retirement any disabilities noted and claimed to the VA are considered to be within the presumptive period indicating this is a service-connected disability. Again ANOTHER REASON TO FILE SOON.

As our previous blogs have pointed out you need 3 things to receive a service-connected disability, the first of which is a disability in service, followed by a current disability, and finally a connection or nexus between these 2 disabilities.

Trying to "tough it out" and not let the VA know until 20 or 30 years later allows the VA to search for other alternatives to your disability. You may very well have a current disability, but the VA may use an intervening event (your involvement in a car crash) as the actual cause of the disability. Therefore there is not a connection between your in-service disability and the present disability. Plus, you lose all those years where you could be paid for your service-connected disability.

That is why timely filing establishes the fact that you have an in-service disability. Therefore, just as you were vigilant while in service to accomplish the unit’s mission, you need to be proactive with your objective of receiving a service-connected VA disability claims, and file today.

Happy Memorial Day --- Thank you for your service to our country.

I also believe military leaders are faced with a social expectation problem because we recruited and retained on a promise to provide military retirees and their dependents health care for life. It's not in Title 10. It's not funded. But there is not an ounce of doubt in my body that we recruited and retained based on that [promise].

Lt. General Roadman’s statement illustrates the notion that this budget tension is not a new problem. What is new is the current and anticipated rise in health care expenditures to 12% of the DoD budget by 2015. This Title 10 deficiency noted in 1997 by Lt. General Roadman is reiterated today in other proposed findings of H.R. 579 that point out previously passed laws prohibited this fee shifting:

(13) The Department of Defense has chosen to count the accrual deposit to the Department of Defense Medicare-Eligible Retiree Health Care Fund against the Department of Defense's budget, contrary to the amendments made by section 725 of Public Law 108-375.

(14) Department of Defense leaders have reported to Congress that counting such deposits against the Department of Defense's budget is impinging on other readiness needs, including weapons programs, an inappropriate situation which section 725 of Public Law 108-375 was intended expressly to prevent.

Congress clearly states retiree health care is to be funded — it is unfair to continuously pit the needs of active-duty personnel against the needs of those whose service is ended.

5. Difference between civilian and military retirees.
An argument often heard as a statement to justify increasing the burden on military retirees is that civilians pay more for health care. This is a flawed argument. Civilian and military careers are not comparable. Military members accept hazardous and physically demanding positions with considerably less pay than paid to their civilian private sector counterparts. This lifetime of lower pay affects the ability to fund personal retirement plans, and, in acknowledgment, low cost or free health care promised as an offset to accepting military duty.

Conclusion.
Part 2 of the DoD Plan for Covering Military Retiree Health Challenged by GAO Blog discusses Sustain the Budget. The GAO report casts doubt on Sustain the Budget saving $1.9 billion for FY 2008. It is certain, Sustain the Budget will affect military retirees, with some retirees leaving TRICARE but not in the numbers required to balance the DoD budget. The question remains whether Sustain the Budget is the best plan for the nation to meet the escalating health care expenses within DoD. Unfortunately, Sustain the Budget does not answer where retirees will get health care coverage nor does the GAO agree with DoD’s estimates on the budget savings the DoD anticipates by retirees leaving TRICARE.

The escalating health care costs for retirees leave Congress with a dilemma. Congress clearly must choose from differing options. The options include either funding additional health care within the DoD budget, allowing the Sustain the Budget proposal to go into effect and affect retirees’ health care, or pass H.R. 579 and its companion Senate Bill to protect retirees’ health care and affect the DoD budget.

The 110th Congress proposed protecting retirees’ health care in H.R. 579, but Congress must decide on the path to follow and act. Precedent was set in 1986 when Congress stopped hospitals from avoiding emergency patients by passing the Emergency Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA). Military retirees deserve no less protection — an act of Congress to prevent avoiding of veterans and the removal of military retiree health care funding from DoD.

However, the future of H.R. 579 is not bright. H.R. 579 referred to the Subcommittee on Military Personnel on February 1, 2007, where it continues to flounder. No further action has occurred on this bill even with 178 cosponsors. This bill appears headed for death in subcommittee.

Congress’ decision rests upon, does Congress believe a military retirees’ health care is not merely a benefit, but an entitlement, bought and paid for through decades of service protecting this country. Or does Congress believe the fiscal needs to control DoD health care costs and agree with the Bush Administration that military retirees’ health care should be aligned with general civilian health care plans as the cost containment measure for reducing the escalating health care of retirees.

Retirees have earned their “universal health care” and stopping DoD from changing retirees’ health care is best achieved by passing H.R. 579 and its companion Senate Bill. Congress must act now to protect retiree avoiding and the cutting of retiree health care funding from the Department of Defense.

23. Suzann Chapman, What's up, Doc?, A.F. Mag., Aug, 1997 Vol. 80, No. 8, available at http://www.afa/org/magazine/aug1977/0897doc.asp, (last accessed September 8, 2006).

24. GAO, supra note 5.

25. Chapman, supra note 21.

26. H.R. 579, supra note 5.

27. H.R. 579, supra note 5.

28. H.R. 579, supra note 5. (In H.R. 579, the proposed findings supporting the different demands between the private sector and military service are : (2) The extent of these demands and sacrifices is never so evident as in wartime, not only in today's Global War on Terrorism, but also during the last 6 decades of hot and cold wars when today's retired service members were on continuous call to enter into harm's way when and as needed.
(3) The demands and sacrifices are such that few Americans are willing to accept them for a multi-decade career.
(4) The primary offset for enduring the extraordinary sacrifices inherent in a military career is a system of extraordinary retirement benefits, including health care coverage considerably better than that afforded civilian workers, whom a grateful Nation provides for those who choose to subordinate much of their personal life to the national interest for so many years.).

My commentary on the 2007 H.R. 579 "Military Retirees Health Care Protection Act" and DoD.

Rapidly rising health care costs are forcing changes to health care plans throughout the nation. Even the Pentagon budget is not immune. Military retiree health care is once again at risk as the Pentagon forages for sparse money to buy future weapons systems. The Bush Administration proposed a $22.5 billion Pentagon budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2008. Although a large budget, this budget does not adequately fund retiree health care. In response to the rising health care costs, the Pentagon zeroed in on military retiree health care benefits as the target to aid their budget needs. The FY 2008, Department of Defense (DoD), “budget counts on a $1.9 billion savings by raising TRICARE fees for military retirees next year.” For the Pentagon to achieve the Administration’s desired cost control measures, 500,000 military retirees must leave TRICARE. Both the Senate and House reacted loudly. First, Congress directed the Government Accounting Office (GAO) to analyze the DoD budget plan pertaining to military retirees. Secondly, Congress proposed bills in both the House and Senate aimed to protect military retirees from DoD budgeters. However, to date the House and Senate have failed to pass the legislation affording retirees’ protection.

1. Administration’s Budget Shortage
First, the Pentagon’s health care expenses are real and require payment. The escalation in health care expenses are verified by the GAO that reports “the fact that [DoD] health care spending more than doubled from 2000 to 2005 and continues to escalate….” As a result of this increase by 2015 DoD estimates health care costs will consume 12% of its budget compared to 7.5% in 2005. Of particular concern is the rising expense to pay for military retiree health care. “According to calculations by DoD officials, retirees and dependents under age 65 paid for approximately 27 percent of their overall health care costs in 1996 and about 12 percent of these costs in 2005.” In an attempt to slow rising health care expenses, DoD included the proposal “known as Sustain the Budget” in the DoD FY 2008 budget.

The Bush Administration budget submission incorporates Sustain the Budget and states that the “Administration is committed to ensuring that service members and their families have access to high quality medical care throughout the world. To support these efforts, the Budget provides $22.5 billion in the Defense Health Program (including $1.9 billion in anticipated beneficiary cost sharing).” Sustain the Budget proposes reducing the rising DoD health care costs by not funding a portion of the retirees’ health care. Stated differently Sustain the Budget proposes reducing the rising DoD health care costs by reducing the funding for retirees’ health care and raising premiums on retirees to pay for the shortfall. The DoD’s assumption is that retirees will either leave TRICARE or pay more for enrollment fees and co-payments to remain in TRICARE.

2. Number of Veterans to be “Avoided.”
The premise of Sustain the Budget in the President’s 2008 budget is that the proposed deficit of $1.9 billion “aligns military health care premiums and co-payments for retirees under 65 years of age with general health care plans.” This realignment counts on the $1.9 billion deficit being made up for by charging military retirees higher enrollment fees with an expectation of driving up to half-a-million former troops from the TRICARE rolls. Fewer retirees in the TRICARE system equates to reduced health care expenditures for DoD. Secondly, higher fees to retirees also reduce DoD expenditures. Two examples of the fee shifting to retirees can be seen in increased enrollment fees and higher co-payments. Enrollment fees for Officers and their families would rise from $460 to $1,400 while retired junior enlisted family fees would rise from $460 to $650. DoD would also raise co-payments for prescription drugs.

In response to Sustain the Budget, the House reacted in January 2007 through Congressmen Edwards (D., TX) and Jones (R., NC), who sponsored H.R. 579, “Military Retirees Health Care Protection Act” as the legislation to protect retiree’s health care from the DoD.

After introducing H.R. 579, Congress directed the Government Accounting Office to evaluate and report on the Administration’s proposed budget and its effect on military health care. The GAO published their report in May 2007. The GAO report cites the DoD’s plan to save $9.8 billion over five years depended “largely on the assumption that the increased fees and deductibles will result in approximately 500,000 retirees and dependents under age 65 either leaving or choosing not to enroll in TRICARE — collectively referred to as avoided users....” However, the GAO report disagrees with the DoD assumptions and estimates the number of “avoided” retirees to be more likely 100,000 retirees. This 400,000 person difference is due to the other 400,000 retirees being unable to get civilian health insurance and likely remaining or trying to remain on TRICARE rolls. Therefore, the GAO states the DoD anticipated $1.9 billion savings in FY 2008 is unlikely, which in-turn affects the $9.8 billion five-year savings.

The House, through the Military Retirees Health Care Protection Act, proposes a prohibition on increases in charges under contract, increases in cost-sharing pharmacy benefits and patient care, and increases in TRICARE premiums. Specifically, the bill calls for a prohibition after April 1, 2006 for such increases in co-payments, deductibles, or premiums. Similar bills have been filed in the Senate including, S 1547, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 and S.C.R. 21, the Fiscal Year 2008 Budget Resolution.

Passage of H.R. 579, would remove the DoD’s option to increase the retirees’ health care funding. The needs of the DoD and retirees are diametrically opposed. The DoD is required to pay the retiree’s health care from its fiscal year budget. Not insignificantly, the retiree’s need for health care does not end when a person leaves the military. This difference is illustrated through H.R. 579’s proposed findings that note:

(12) The significant majority of the savings the Department of Defense associates with the proposed fee increases is expected to come from deterring a large portion of TRICARE beneficiaries from using their earned military health benefits.

Avoiding 500,000 retirees is required for the DoD to pay for the $1.9 billion deficit included in their FY 2008 budget. The GAO reports this reduction of 500,000 retirees is unlikely and thus the DoD budget submission contains a shortage that must be paid for through some other cuts in the budget or an increase of funding from Congress.

3. Older Veterans may find health care coverage in the private market hard to obtain.
The GAO supports their lower number of retirees leaving TRICARE and disputes the optimistic assessment of the DoD in achieving the removal of 500,000 retirees from TRICARE based on the age and health of retirees. Specifically, the GAO found that “[m]any beneficiaries in this group [military retirees], [are] particularly older and sicker individuals, are unlikely to have lower-priced health insurance options available to them and would therefore be likely to continue to use TRICARE.” The DoD’s Sustain the Budget is premised on retirees leaving TRICARE, an assumption the GAO disputes. Simply, if retirees do not leave TRICARE, DoD will have a multi-billion dollar deficit within the five-year budget.

The current budget dilemma has DoD leadership searching for creative means to find funds to buy new weapon systems and to pay for the Global War on Terror (GWOT). With the DoD budget too small to cover all the requirements, the retiree health care budget is an increasingly attractive source of unprotected funds, ripe for the picking. Sadly, this nation is fighting a global war with a peacetime defense budget. The military retiree’s escalating health care is the line-item the Pentagon seeks to control as a means of paying for current active duty budget shortfall.

2. Office of Management and Budget Department of Defense, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2008 available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2008/defense.html (last accessed September 29, 2006).

3. Id.

4. Susan Basu, FY’ 08 TRICARE Fee Proposals Come Under Fire Again From Military Groups and Congress (March 2007), available at http://www.usmedicine.com/article.cfm?articleID=1522&issueID=97 (last accessed September 8, 2006).

5. Government Accounting Office (GAO), Report to Congress Military Health Care: TRICARE Cost-Sharing Proposals would help Offset Increasing Health Care Spending but Projected Savings are likely Overestimated (May 2007).

6. H.R. 579, 110 Cong. (2007) available at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.R.579, (last accessed September 8, 2006).

7. GAO, supra note 5.

8. Id.

9. Id.

10. Id.

11. OMB, supra note 2.

12. OMB, supra note 2.

13. Id.

14. H.R. 579, supra note 6.

15. GAO, supra note 5.

16. Id.

17. Id.

18. H.R. 579, supra note 6.

19. Id.

20. H.R. 579, supra note 5.

21. GAO, supra note 4.

22. Philpott, supra note 1.

Sec. Gates and the Department of Defense are reported to have learned their lesson from the attempts to raise TRICARE fees under the Bush administration. See Part 2 and 3 of this Blog is my analysis of the previous administration plans to raise TRICARE fees in 2007.

Mr. Philpott reports a Louisiana Air National Guard Lt. Colonel at the Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama on April 15, 2009, stated “[i]t occurs to me that TRICARE takes advantage of a community that is unwilling and unused to complain[ing].” This is absolutely the case.

One of the great things about being in the military is the camaraderie and ability for a military unit to pull together to get the impossible done. You work as a team. Complaining is OK, but opposing orders is not, thus the Lt. Colonel is correct DoD is attacking the easiest means to get more money for current operations. The means to get more money for DoD - - tell retirees they must pay more and claim “the civilian health care costs more.”

Because of the prohibition against military members actively being involved in politics while in uniform, military members do not organize to fight a bureaucratic decision. One fact is all military members are veterans. A second fact is a smaller percentage of military members become military retirees. The only way a military retiree is going to be able to protect their rights earned through 20+ years of military service is to become organized and oppose TRICARE fee increases.

An obvious question is when Congress and the President passed the economic stimulus package in February why was the veteran and military retiree’ earned benefits not funded? As part 2 and 3 of DoD Plan for Covering Military Retiree Health Care Challenged by GAO Report points out the Department of Defense and military retirees’ positions on TRICARE are diametrically opposed.

A possible solution to protect military retirees’ earned benefits is military retirees must organize and oppose any TRICARE fee increases convincing Congress to protect retirees by stopping TRICARE fee increases. Military members and military retirees must write their congressional representatives and convince these members to oppose such fee increases. Even the veteran service organizations are not uniform in this approach according to the article by Mr. Philpott. Politicians respond to overwhelming opposition by their constituents.

One of Sec. Gates arguments is that TRICARE fees have not increased since 1995. The problem with this argument is that service in the military precludes a young man or woman from (1) pursuing a civilian career that offers a completely different economic package, (2) obtaining reasonable health care insurance at a young age, and military service (3) exposes the military member to dangers and hazards not allowable in the civilian world, (4) and depending on the injuries or disabilities received in the military health care insurance may be unattainable upon retirement because of the pre-existing condition (service connected disability) or prohibitive cost for the insurance. Finally, equity and fairness must consider promises of military health care when the military recruit was enlisting.

Maybe it is just me, but after “bailing out Banks and many other entities” in the United States in 2008 and 2009 you would think the United States would protect the veterans and military retirees who have answered the call to serve this great nation. Maybe all those speeches by the politicians calling for national service should look to the veterans and military members and understand they have answered the call to national service already. This really shows the lack of respect and understanding to the military members, their families and those of the military retirees and their families. Speeches are nice, but actions prove the intent of the politicians.

TRICARE should not be based upon comparisons to civilian health-care systems. The conditions and economic factors are not comparable between military service and civilian employment. Current military members and military retirees should oppose any TRICARE fee increases, and request Congress remove funding for TRICARE from the Department of Defense and fully fund TRICARE through appropriations not through taxing the veterans.

However, recent revelations about some employees at some VA Regional Offices destroying or hiding claims raises issues regarding how veterans can protect themselves from such unconscionable behavior. There are some things you can do to help make sure your claims are received and processed by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The easiest way to protect against lost or destroyed claims is by delivering the claim to the VA Regional Office directly. Deliver the claim directly to the VA and ask the VA employee accepting the claim to date stamp the claim as received and provide you with a copy. The VA employee should be glad to accommodate your request. If the employee is not willing to abide by your request, ask to see a Supervisor. Now you have a copy of the claim you filed with a VA date stamp showing the date it was received by the VA. If you later discover the claim has been lost or has otherwise not be processed by VA, you can provide them with a copy of what you have and insist they open the claim and begin processing. Remember the date of the claim should be the date shown on the copy VA provided to you. This date is important because most benefits granted are granted effective the date the claim was filed with VA. There are exceptions to this but the date of the claim is a very important date and it should be correct.

Next, if you can’t get to the VA Regional Office for some reason, the next best way to prevent lost or destroyed claims is to visit a Veterans Service Organization such as the Disabled American Veterans (DAV), American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) or your state veterans service organization. They can help you complete the claim paperwork and can submit the claim for you directly to the VA Regional Office. Make sure the organization you choose has procedures for filing the claim. Most veterans service organizations log claims filed for claimants into some type of database or tracking log to ensure the claim gets opened and processed by VA. Again you should ask the service organization for a copy of what they file on your behalf. Then if the claim gets lost or destroyed, you have proof the claim was filed supported by the service organization records of the claim.

Finally, if you have received a decision from VA on a claim that you don’t agree with, hiring an attorney can be a good idea. Most attorneys use certified mail, return receipt requested when sending claims, documents or other important paperwork to the VA. This ensures the VA receives what has been sent. The VA must sign for the submission and that signed receipt is returned to the attorney.

Remember, it’s your claim; take responsibility for ensuring everything that can be done, is done to make sure the Department of Veterans Affairs receives, opens and processes your claim for benefits. Whether you file your claim directly with the VA, through one of the veteran service organization or an attorney, make sure you’ve done all you can to ensure your claim is given the attention it deserves by the VA.