Blog: News & Insights

I previous blogs, we have written about the regulations governing what is now called Gulf War Illness (GWI).  As prescribed in regulation, the terms of art “undiagnosed illness” and “medically unexplained chronic multi-symptom illness (MUCMI)” are little understood and difficult for veterans and physicians to understand.  In handling claims involving exposure to...

A few days ago, the VA’s own blog, VAndage Point, published a retrospective article concerning the infamous 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC), St. Louis.  The article can be access at http://www.blogs.va.gov/VAntage/22133/the-nprc-records-fire-of-1973/. As the article explains, the fire “destroy 80 percent of Army personnel records for soldiers discharged...

As we have previously blogged about, there are special rules for effective dates of award that may apply to veterans with service in Vietnam (colloquially referred to as “boots on ground”) for presumptive conditions related to Agent Orange listed under 38 C.F.R. § 3.309(e).  The rules are encompassed within 38 C.F.R. § 3.816 (regulation concerning effective dates of award under the...

If you’ve been an advocate for a person who enters the hospital for treatment and then is discharged to a nursing home several days later, you know that after a three-day hospital admission, Medicare Part A can pay for up to 100 days of skilled nursing and physical/occupational/other therapy in a subacute or rehabilitation facility, provided that the patient requires that level of...

Over the years, I have commented how the informal process of “reconsideration” of an initial VA Rating Decision simply does not exist in regulation or statute.  I previously commented, “This practice has permeated through some of the Regional Offices  . . . but with no predicate in law and, therefore, little protection for the veteran.” While the notion of...

Special Needs Trusts are established with the assets belonging to a disabled person, and if they are properly structured and properly administered, the assets won’t be countable as “resources” and the distributions won’t be countable as “income.” This is particularly important when the beneficiary depends on Medicaid, SSI, DDD and other means-tested...

Laws change. Sometimes, federal law stays the same and state laws implementing it change. State statutes may remain the same but the state regulations change. State regulations may stay the same, but the executive branch agency issues advisory memoranda which change the procedures. That’s what occurred back in 2001 when the State of New Jersey Division of Medical Assistance and health...

On August 3, 2015, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) released a press release entitled, “VA Expands Review of Chemical Exposure in Drinking Water at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.”  The link to the press release can be located at http://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=2720. In short, the VA is considering adding three conditions as presumptive for service at Camp...

Growing old doesn’t mean that people stop taking care of their family members and think only about themselves. Families expand. Children may enter second marriages. The grandchildren get married. A child  may run into financial trouble, lose their job  or become medically disabled. Loving families support each other and that often means that people will share their home with the next...

Justice in Aging  is a national nonprofit agency which advocates for seniors and pursues litigation involving unlawful practices that affect large classes of the population who are aged or have disabilities. I have previously written about nursing home practices in this space and am glad to tell you that the 2015 updated guidebook  20 Common Nursing Home Problems and How to Resolve Them...