Vets may be unaware they qualify for benefits

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Vets may be unaware they qualify for benefits
By Judy Keen - USA Today
Posted : Wednesday Jan 9, 2008 7:44:36 EST

CHICAGO — Many veterans never receive the federal and state benefits to which they’re entitled because they’re unaware they qualify for health care, tax breaks and other compensation, local liaisons to former troops say.

“They’re entitled to these benefits. They just don’t know they exist,” said veterans service officer Darlene McMartin, who works in a county-funded office in Council Bluffs, Iowa. McMartin said she encounters veterans every day who don’t know about her office and the services they provide.

There are 25 million veterans, the Department of Veterans Affairs said. In fiscal year 2006, it provided disability pay to 2.6 million of them, pensions to 320,000, education benefits to 500,000, guaranteed home loans to 180,000 and health care to 5.5 million. It provided insurance to 4.5 million veterans and active-duty personnel.

VA gives briefings and booklets about benefits to military personnel before they are discharged and sends each a “welcome-home” packet with reminders and toll-free numbers. Still, veterans often don’t know they can get financial or medical help or increases in disability pay, said Jim Golgart, a veterans service officer in Le Center, Minn.

“A lot of veterans from all eras do not understand or know about their benefits,” said John Scocos, secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs. He wishes the federal VA would give outreach grants to state agencies.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/01/gns_vetbenefits_080109/