April 1, 2014, WASHINGTON - One year after the backlog of pending disability compensation claims peaked at over 611,000 in March 2013, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has reduced that number by approximately 44 percent to 344,000 claims - a reduction of more than 267,000 - while at the same time improving the accuracy of the decisions being made on Veterans’ … [Read more...]

FALLS CHURCH, Va., March 25, 2014 - Walk-in service at TRICARE service centers in the United States is ending April 1. TRICARE officials said the change reflects “the always growing number of TRICARE beneficiaries who most often now turn to a laptop or cell phone when they have questions about their health care.” TRICARE patients have a wide variety of secure, … [Read more...]

March 25, 2014, WASHINGTON - The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is eliminating the annual requirement for most Veterans enrolled in VA’s health care system to report income information beginning in March 2014. Instead, VA will automatically match income information obtained from the Internal Revenue Service and Social Security Administration. “Eliminating … [Read more...]

WASHINGTON, March 19, 2014 - Social Security claims from veterans with a Veterans Affairs Department disability compensation rating of 100 percent permanent and total have a new process that will treat their applications as high priority and issue expedited decisions. Carolyn W. Colvin, acting Social Security commissioner, said the new process is similar to the way the … [Read more...]

WASHINGTON, White House Office of Communications (January 14, 2014) - The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has announced the availability of up to approximately $600 million in grants for non-profit organizations and consumer cooperatives that serve very low-income Veteran families occupying permanent housing through the Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) … [Read more...]