Family talks of need for caregiver benefits

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Family talks of need for caregiver benefits
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Nov 10, 2009 14:04:30 EST

A North Carolina family whose lives were forever changed by an October 2005 roadside bomb explosion in Iraq are being held up by Senate Democrats as a prime example of why the government needs to improve benefits — not just for disabled veterans, but also for the families who provide them around-the-clock care.

Ed Edmundson, the father of retired Army Spc. Eric Edmundson, said he sold his business, and cashed in his savings and retired pay so that he and his wife could move in with Eric and Eric’s wife and child to help. But financial circumstances — which stem partly from the fact that Ed Edmundson and his wife, Denise, have no health insurance — may force him back to work.

Ed is recovering from pneumonia, with his medical bills being partly paid by the Wounded Warrior project. Denise recently broke an ankle, leaving the family with new bills.

“My wife and I are fearful of what this is going to mean to Eric and his and family in the future,” Ed Edmondson said at a Tuesday news conference organized by Senate Democrats to call attention to a bill that would provide health care benefits, a small living stipend and other benefits to family caregivers. The bill is being blocked from consideration by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., who objects mostly to its cost.

Coburn said Monday that some existing programs would help people like Eric Edmundson by providing up to $2,600 a month in additional pay, called aid and attendance benefits, that would help cover the cost of assistance to help him carry out daily activities without having to be institutionalized.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/11/military_caregiver_benefits_111009w/