thedrifter
05-19-09, 07:01 AM
Article published May 19, 2009
New benefits coming for vets
By Peter Hirschfeld VERMONT PRESS BUREAU
BURLINGTON – Thousands of Vermont veterans will soon be eligible for new college and health care benefits under federal legislation set to take effect this summer.
Sen. Bernard Sanders urged past and present Vermont servicemen Monday to avail themselves of the new benefits to which they're now entitled.
"I think it is no secret that many veterans … believe the government did not keep its word to them – that promises were made to them that were not kept," Sanders said during an afternoon press event at his Church Street offices Monday.
While the education and health care provisions spotlighted Monday make good progress toward realizing those promises, Sanders said, they mean little unless soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines actually take advantage.
"One of the frustrations I have is whatever we do in Washington, it doesn't matter if people don't take advantage of it," Sanders said.
The updated GI bill, approved by Congress last year, will pay tuition expenses for any post-9/11 veteran up to the cost of the most expensive in-state school. That amounts to about $14,000 per year in Vermont, and enrolled veterans can also get up to $1,700 per month in housing allowances. Under certain circumstances, veterans can also transfer those benefits to people in their immediate family.
"Many people are going to be able to go to college virtually for free," Sanders said.
An expansion in eligibility thresholds for VA benefits also could help thousands of lower-income veterans struggling to afford health care. Sanders called the $350 million initiative an attempt to remedy the harm done in 2003, when the VA stopped providing health care for many veterans whose injuries or conditions were not service-related.
"Many of them can have incomes as low as $28,000 a year and still not get into the VA for health care," Sanders said. "This opens the door for those pushed out of the VA."
Jacqui Carlomagno of the Vermont Office of Veterans Affairs said veterans need to be their own advocates if they hope to benefit from the new perks.
"Not only is it a very generous benefit, but it also is enormously complex," Carlomagno said of the GI bill. "… Study your options, ask questions, so you can become your own expert."
Ellie
New benefits coming for vets
By Peter Hirschfeld VERMONT PRESS BUREAU
BURLINGTON – Thousands of Vermont veterans will soon be eligible for new college and health care benefits under federal legislation set to take effect this summer.
Sen. Bernard Sanders urged past and present Vermont servicemen Monday to avail themselves of the new benefits to which they're now entitled.
"I think it is no secret that many veterans … believe the government did not keep its word to them – that promises were made to them that were not kept," Sanders said during an afternoon press event at his Church Street offices Monday.
While the education and health care provisions spotlighted Monday make good progress toward realizing those promises, Sanders said, they mean little unless soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines actually take advantage.
"One of the frustrations I have is whatever we do in Washington, it doesn't matter if people don't take advantage of it," Sanders said.
The updated GI bill, approved by Congress last year, will pay tuition expenses for any post-9/11 veteran up to the cost of the most expensive in-state school. That amounts to about $14,000 per year in Vermont, and enrolled veterans can also get up to $1,700 per month in housing allowances. Under certain circumstances, veterans can also transfer those benefits to people in their immediate family.
"Many people are going to be able to go to college virtually for free," Sanders said.
An expansion in eligibility thresholds for VA benefits also could help thousands of lower-income veterans struggling to afford health care. Sanders called the $350 million initiative an attempt to remedy the harm done in 2003, when the VA stopped providing health care for many veterans whose injuries or conditions were not service-related.
"Many of them can have incomes as low as $28,000 a year and still not get into the VA for health care," Sanders said. "This opens the door for those pushed out of the VA."
Jacqui Carlomagno of the Vermont Office of Veterans Affairs said veterans need to be their own advocates if they hope to benefit from the new perks.
"Not only is it a very generous benefit, but it also is enormously complex," Carlomagno said of the GI bill. "… Study your options, ask questions, so you can become your own expert."
Ellie