WASHINGTON - Amy Clark of Bartow knows her husband is going to die within months from cancer lin... Families Take Case to Hous
WASHINGTON - Amy Clark of Bartow knows her husband is going to die within months from cancer linked to his exposure to Agent Orange when he was in Vietnam.
Making matters worse, she told a House subcommittee on Tuesday, was the cold and bureaucratic maze she and her husband, Russell, have attempted to navigate for medical care and disability benefits at the Department of Veterans Affairs since his diagnosis on their wedding anniversary in January.
She said Russell Clark, 59, may very well die before a disability claim for post traumatic stress disorder has been settled more than 20 years after first being filed.
"Yes, the VA offers you a book of benefits that you may be entitled to," Clark told the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs. "But just try and get those benefits. It's ridiculous … The paperwork is overwhelming."
The panel heard from Clark, 47, and three other families of military veterans who told tear-jerking stories of financial stress and frustration with systems for collecting benefits owed survivors, spouses and children.
Two witnesses are caring for their grandchildren after their daughters were killed in Iraq, a war that has put unprecedented numbers of female troops in harm's way.
One Iowa grandmother, Susan Jaenke, explained that the military's $100,000 death benefit intended for 9-year-old Kayla is locked up in a trust fund under federal rules, while Jaenke struggles financially to care for the child. Jaenke lost two cars, fell behind on house payments, and at times couldn't afford groceries.
Matthew Heavrin and his wife, of California, are caring for their 2-year-old grandson. A man their daughter married before deployment who is not the child's father apparently received the $100,000 death gratuity and $400,000 in life insurance but hasn't offered a penny to support his wife's child, Heavrin said.
Members of the subcommittee vowed to make changes in the disbursement of death benefits from the Pentagon and to streamline procedures for obtaining disability benefits and health care from the VA.
"On behalf of your government, I want to apologize to you," said Rep. John Hall of New York, the Democratic chairman of the panel, whose sentiment was echoed by other members on both sides of the aisle.
The obstacles described are enduring features of the dual-track systems that veterans, spouses and survivors have navigated for many years. The Department of Defense handles some benefits and aspects of disability and health care before the VA takes the cases and new procedures begin. Some military benefits are subtracted from veterans' benefits, further angering military survivors.
The Gold Star Wives of America, which represents widows of service members, advocates the creation of a joint office for survivors that would assist family members through the defense and veterans systems. Subcommittee members said they liked that idea.
Congress is paying especially close attention to such concerns since the scandal at Walter Reed Army Medical Center revealed poor treatment of wounded veterans and led to broader scrutiny of inequities and delays in the VA system that allocates disability benefits.
The complaints came as a task force involving nine agencies and executive offices, created by President Bush in response to uproar over the Walter Reed scandal, unveiled 25 recommendations for improving delivery of benefits for veterans. Some members of Congress said the report would help.
The VA's backlog of disability claims and the sometimes decades-long battles over decisions also have attracted more attention. Clark said her husband filed a claim for post-traumatic stress disorder in the late 1980s and has been fighting for it ever since.
Asked outside the hearing whether she was encouraged by the pledges of help from lawmakers on the subcommittee, Clark nodded toward the large wooden doors and said dryly: "That's talk."
Clark received help from the office of her congressman, Bartow Republican Rep. Adam Putnam, in obtaining disability status and other benefits related to her husband's service-connected cancer. Still, she said, "he's not getting what he deserves."
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