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Welcome to The Veterans Disability Nexus, where we provide unique insights and expertise on medical evidence related to VA-rated disabilities. Leah Bucholz, a US Army Veteran, Physician Assistant, & former Compensation & Pension Examiner shares her knowledge related to Independent Medical Opinions often referred to as “Nexus Letters” in support of your pursuit of VA Disability every Tuesday & Wednesday at 7AM Central.
Take control of your medical evidence related to your benefits and visit https://podcast.prestigeveteranmctx.info/veteran/ for more information and to connect directly with us!
Guys, it's Leah Bee from Prestige Veteran Medical Consulting. I'm a US Army veteran, physician assistant, and former compensation and pension examiner. Today, I wanted to have our awesome attorney that's been on several times for those of you that know her, Rebecca Deming from ProVet Legal on to go over a really important topic. But quickly, for those of you who don't know you, Rebecca, do you wanna tell them a little bit about yourself?
Rebecca Demming:Sure. Hi, Leah. Thanks for having me on again. Rebecca Deming. I'm an attorney, a VA accredited attorney, and veteran spouse.
Rebecca Demming:And I have worked with military for well over a decade and love working with veterans here in the disability sphere.
Leah Bucholz:Okay, awesome. So we thought it would be good to go over some just some information about how to basically maximize VA benefits for dependents. So what are some of those programs that are out there basically that dependents may or may not know about because there are some really amazing, you know, education, health care, all kinds of stuff. And and we wanted to just capture some of those things in this video so that you guys can, you know, dive into them a little bit deeper and let us know if you wanna hear more about them in the future individualized. But this is just gonna be a general overview of just some great benefits and some, things that dependents can, spouses and children can benefit from.
Leah Bucholz:So just to start things off, can you tell us, do veterans get additional benefits if they have dependents? Just a basic overview of who gets them. Yes, so veterans get additional monthly compensation if they are 30% disabled or more. So if you're zero, you get
Rebecca Demming:no money anyway. But if you're 10 or 20%, you don't get a bump up for having dependents. But once your disability rating hits that 30% level, VA, and they've got kind of a chart that happens, I think a couple $100 more per month depending on how many, if you have a spouse and how many children or dependent parents you have.
Leah Bucholz:Okay, awesome. So that 30% is sort of that magic number. Who qualifies as a dependent?
Rebecca Demming:So the veteran's spouse qualifies the minor children, and when it's minor children, it could also be adopted children and stepchildren qualify. They don't have to be the biological children. We get that question a lot. Children who are 23, if they're still in school, and you just have to do that verification of school attendance form, which sometimes takes VA a while to process. I'll say in general, adding dependence to a benefit does take VA while to process.
Rebecca Demming:So you just have to have some patients. We're seeing pretty significant delays in this area, but they are getting processed. And then there's some adult children if they've been basically permanently disabled, permanently incapable of self support since before their eighteenth birthday. So that's usually children that either had major birth defects or learning disabilities where they're basically never going to
Leah Bucholz:be able to leave the home or support themselves independently. So I know this is sort of one I see a lot and I think I know the answer to it but I think it's worth touching on. If a veteran is married to someone for twenty plus years and they have a stepchild that they basically raise with that spouse and then they get divorced, is that stepchild that's not blood related to them, even though they raised them their whole life, are they still eligible to any of those benefits once they're no longer legally a stepchild?
Rebecca Demming:No, unfortunately, yeah, there's no legal relationship there, then they wouldn't be able to access those benefits.
Leah Bucholz:Yeah, I think that's a really tough one, but one question I've seen quite often in a lot of the forums online, you know, especially the I think there's a chapter 35 benefits group on Facebook, and a lot of people ask that question over and over again. And it is really unfortunate and sort of sad, especially in those cases where, you know, maybe you know, raised this child since they were two years old and then something doesn't work out. It's just it it is important to note that, you know, stepchildren of previous marriages would not be considered. Right?
Rebecca Demming:Right. And along that line, one of the things that we see a lot, you know, well, obviously ex spouses aren't entitled to benefit. I mean, I say obviously, but I do get that question a lot. Ex spouses are no longer entitled to most of these benefits. And you have to be legally married.
Rebecca Demming:And so there's a lot of people that are in long term loving relationships. We also have people who were married for a while and with PTSD or whatever's going on in their relationship, they get divorced and then they reconcile and they move back in together, they don't get remarried again. We really only recognize this legal marriages. There are some loopholes to show a common law marriage, but it's important to kind of understand that these just they're not looking at the nuances of your living situation and your family life. They're looking at whether you're legally married.
Leah Bucholz:Sure. Sure. That makes a lot of sense. So when we talk about spouses as dependents, can you talk a little bit more about like, what if that spouse works and they make a really good living? What if they're making a lot more than the veteran is making?
Rebecca Demming:Right, so when it comes to spouses and the term dependent, it does not actually mean the patriarchal system that we think of where that spouse is literally dependent on the veteran for life support. It could be, but the spouse could be working, the spouse could be making more money than the veteran. It's just if there's an additional person in the household who you're married to, you get that bump up for them as dependent.
Leah Bucholz:Okay. So what if you have two veterans that are married to each other? Because I know that's, I mean, that's pretty, me and my husband are married to each other, right? And we're both veterans.
Rebecca Demming:Right. And we get that question a lot too, and both of you can claim the other one as a dependent. So you would both, assuming you both have disabilities, would both get that extra bump up for having a dependent spouse.
Leah Bucholz:Okay. And they can both claim their children as well, correct? Yes. As far as, you know, what they Right.
Rebecca Demming:It's not like your taxes where you're like, I claim you one year and you claim me one year. Now it's, you would both get the bump up when VA is calculated how much money this veteran gets. It's how many dependents you have. And yes, if you're married, you kind of one of the few areas where you get to double dip.
Leah Bucholz:And what about access to healthcare for dependents?
Rebecca Demming:So veterans have the access usually through the VA and then if they're retired, they have TRICARE. And you're retired, your, dependents would have access to TRICARE as well. There is a program called CHAMPVA, which is it's not a free program for healthcare, but once the veteran hits 100, it's a subsidized program that might be a good option for some people depending on if they have employer sponsored healthcare options or what other options they have. I think it generally offers pretty good coverage comparable with TRICARE and the premiums subsidized. So they're a lot lower than what you're going to find on the open economy.
Leah Bucholz:Yeah, and I heard something recently also, I have a friend that works with the CHAMPVA department and you may not know this or you may know this that two veterans that are married to one another, if they both are 100% disabled will actually qualify for CHAMPVA as well. Going back to our last question, that while they can both receive VA health care, right, they can also be falling under one another for CHAMPVA so they can get that care in the community as their dependent situation.
Rebecca Demming:You know what I mean? Yeah, I think that's a great option for some people. I mean, there's a lot of really great VA hospitals, and if you live near one and you're getting good care there, then why pay money to get an additional health insurance? But if you have certain conditions that VA doesn't cover well, if you live in certain areas where access to a VA hospital is more challenging or the VA hospitals in your area aren't quite as good, that'd be a great option to look into to get supplemental healthcare.
Leah Bucholz:Yeah, or maybe you just really like your doctor in your town that you've been seeing, but I've said this before and I get a little hate for it sometimes. I actually have really good experience with my VA healthcare. I know not everybody does, lot of people I hear horror stories all the time. But at least here in the San Antonio area, we get good access to care, they're good with telehealth, all those things. But there's just options.
Rebecca Demming:Right, yeah, we're in the Tampa Bay area and I pretty much consistently hear really good things about, you know, obviously with any healthcare system, there's gonna be some doctors that are better than others or some offices that are better than others. But both Bay Pines and, James A. Haley are really good. We did not have as good experience when we were up in Virginia. So I don't know if the one in the Hampton Roads has changed, but when we were there, it was really challenging to access the care there.
Leah Bucholz:Yeah. Yeah, I hear it's sort of dependent wherever you go. I agree. So let me see. I have some more.
Leah Bucholz:I have some little questions here for you jotted down. How about education benefits? Education benefits is
Rebecca Demming:one of my favorite topics. So obviously there's the GI Bill benefits and I think most people while they're active get trained on what the requirements are, who's eligible. Usually you have to transfer benefits over to your dependent while you're still active for them to be able to access them. Sometimes you can alter how many months go to each beneficiary, but you kind of have to lock it in while you're active for them to access those benefits. It's the veteran has a cap on how many months of education they have.
Rebecca Demming:If they want to share or gift a certain number of months, then that kind of cuts into their total allowance. There's another education program for dependence called Chapter 35 Dependence Education Assistance Program. And that one, once the so it's for dependence of. Veterans who have passed from service connected disabilities. Military, the dependence of people who died.
Rebecca Demming:On active duty and the dependence of people who are 100% total and permanently disabled. And so once you hit 100% total and permanent disability, your dependence can access this chapter 35 benefit, which covers a whole lot of it's a monthly stipend, so it doesn't necessarily cover the tuition. That money goes to the dependent. We can probably do a whole episode on how to access it and how to navigate that. What I like about it is you could have 10 kids and each kid is entitled to that benefit separately.
Rebecca Demming:It's not like the veteran is gifting the benefit to the child. And it's a decent number of months of benefit. Right.
Leah Bucholz:I think That that
Rebecca Demming:would be really helpful.
Leah Bucholz:Especially because it's my understanding, and again, we can do a separate video on this. I'm fairly certain they send the check right to the dependent, right, instead of some programs go to school, right? So you can use that money for housing or what I don't know all the rules again. We'll have to go over it, but
Rebecca Demming:my Right. The money goes to the dependent and I counsel veteran parents to have the talk with their children because that money could go to frat parties and poor decisions. So if you're covering the rent for your child while they're in school and you want this money to go towards the rent, like you need to have that conversation because the money goes right to their child and you have to have it. I mean, not gonna tell people how to parent their children, just want them to know that the money goes to the child without any kind of oversight or strings attached.
Leah Bucholz:And that can become challenging, especially if they're not finishing their semesters and opened a whole can of worms. How can a veteran spouse qualify for education benefits?
Rebecca Demming:So there are time limits on the spouse. I think they usually have to apply within ten years of being becoming eligible, but they can fill out the same form that the dependent children fill out and they can access higher education certificate programs on the job training. There's kind of a list of different benefits that they can use, which is really a great. I think the purpose of it is both to help pay for your children's education, but also to increase the family income. So by allowing the spouse to go get some more training or education.
Rebecca Demming:So it's a really great program.
Leah Bucholz:Yes, I agree 100%. So what does chapter 35 cover? Just the highlights maybe.
Rebecca Demming:Yeah. So chapter 35 is it's really just a monthly stipend. So it doesn't actually cover the tuition or. Room and board or whatnot. I think it's, I believe it's about $1,600 a month now and that amount.
Rebecca Demming:Don't quote me on the amount, but it's subject to adjustments with cost of living adjustments. But what it also does is it opens up the window for a lot of schools and it's state dependent and school dependent. A lot of states will waive in state tuition. If the dependent is accessing Chapter 35 benefits, you get free tuition and then you get the stipend on top of it. There's also the yellow ribbon program that a lot of schools have where, you know, if you're using the chapter 35, or the GI bill.
Rebecca Demming:Benefit and we should talk more about this on a separate episode about the actual eligibility criteria. But the yellow ribbon program is something worth looking into, because VA will match what certain private schools will contribute towards the tuition for certain eligible dependence. So it if you are a veteran and you think private schools are out of the question for your children, it's worth looking into which schools participate and how much they'll participate in the Yellow Ribbon program.
Leah Bucholz:Yeah, and I know we have like a ton of notes on different programs and we were going to launch into them today, but we're going to save them for individualized videos. But just from my perspective, I wanna give a shout out to the Hazelwood Act because I think because I'm a Texan right now. I'm I'm here in Texas. And so for those of you that are, that originated, joined the military in Texas, That is another benefit that your dependents can essentially get all these college benefits. I'm not even sure how many years, I think it's thirty six months also, but again we'll have to do a more lengthy video on this.
Leah Bucholz:And I didn't even know that we as a family qualified for this because I joined out of Florida, my husband joined out of North Dakota, but we did a few years in the reserves. And my husband got mobilized out of Texas while living here and that even counted. So he mobilized for greater than a hundred and eighty days and that, you know, going on active duty out of Texas. Again, we had a long period of active duty as well prior to that comp that combo too. But all of my kids, sort of like chapter 35, all of them get to benefit from Hazelwood, which I think is crazy and amazing.
Leah Bucholz:And then one of my other favorites is the Folds of Honor scholarship, which we can go over separately as well. Folds of honor is something that you can use for college, your your dependents, and also for primary education. So for private school or or whatever if you're 90% or above. Okay? So if you guys haven't heard of either of those programs, if you joined out of Texas, check out Hazelwood.
Leah Bucholz:And if you are 90% or above, I believe it's about $5,000 per year that you can apply for a grant for, I don't know if it's really a grant or a scholar. Think it's a grant from that other program, right?
Rebecca Demming:That's awesome. Yeah, a lot of the benefits, there's some benefits that are nationwide and then there's a lot that are state specific. So, like I know in Virginia, Last I pulled it up and checked it was. Tuition was waived for dependence of 90% or above disabled veterans for. For universities and, you know, Virginia has a lot of really good universities.
Rebecca Demming:If you're a Virginia resident, if the student is a Virginia resident, I think if the veteran is a Virginia resident, it's really important to kind of dig into those nuances to figure out what you qualify and what you don't qualify. In Florida, it's free tuition if the veteran's 100%. So, you know, if you separate from the military and you've been moving around for a long period of time, you're figuring out where to put your roots down, some of these things might influence where you decide to settle down.
Leah Bucholz:Well, in a lot of the programs you can double dip on. Some of them you can't, Right? Like, I'm fairly certain chapter 35 and GI Bill, you cannot use concurrently. You can use them you can use them both, you just can't use them at the same time.
Rebecca Demming:Correct.
Leah Bucholz:But some of them you can use concurrently, maybe Hazelwood and Chapter 35. So it's just good things for you to look into for your dependents and for yourself.
Rebecca Demming:And if your dependent is using either GI Bill or Chapter 35, you can't you don't get that bump up for them. So remember, we said that children 23 who are still enrolled in school qualify as dependents for VA purposes. If they're using one of those benefits, VA is not going to pay you the extra couple $100 a month to have them as dependent because they're like, well, we're already covered their cost of living through these other programs. Well, we're
Leah Bucholz:going to get off. I know we could just go and go on education, there are also, I think it I don't know if it's coming to an end or there's some changes coming with it that even high school seniors that are over 18 can sometimes dip into that chapter 35 for if they're taking, dual classes, right, high school and taking some college. There's some specifics for that, but we'll have to get more details on that and do a class on chapter 35 at a later date. So roll rolling into DIC, I know we've done a lot of we I think we've done a couple videos on DIC, actually. But just for those of those folks out there that haven't seen our DIC videos, can you tell me about, like, what the DIC program is?
Leah Bucholz:Great.
Rebecca Demming:So DIC, Dependency Indemnity Compensation, is a program that pays a monthly stipend. And again, it's essentially a fixed amount. It's not dependent on how much the Veteran was getting paid for their disability. For the surviving spouses, minor children, and some dependent parents when the Veteran passes away. So, in order to qualify for it, usually the cause of death has to be determined to be service connected or the veteran has to have been 100% total permanent for a certain period of time, which depends on how recently they separated from service.
Rebecca Demming:So a lot of veterans, I I know we did a separate episode on this and if you have more questions about DIC, I definitely recommend going back and watching that episode. Maybe you can drop the link in the comments here to that one for people to search. The biggest thing, you know, I'll have a lot of veterans disabled, you know, there's other people out there that are more deserving of benefits than I am, or, you know, I know I qualify, but I don't want to take these benefits. You know, it's not. And one of the things that I.
Rebecca Demming:I'll counsel people on is that getting these benefits while you're alive is a certain amount of money while you're alive. And it's nice, but it could potentially set your spouse up for some protection if you pass, especially if you pass from a service connected condition or if a service connected condition contributes to your cause of death. So it's one factor to consider in terms of life insurance or end of life planning, and making sure that your loved ones are taken care of. So it's, I always recommend doing it now. A lot, it's not impossible, but it's a lot harder to kind of go back after the veteran passes and prove that they had a condition, it was service connected and that that condition that was service connected caused it to It's a lot easier if you get the legwork done while you're around to go to doctor's appointments.
Leah Bucholz:For sure. So just one last question on the education piece. So what program, basically how can those children, veterans access education benefits? What program should they be looking for to sort of go research?
Rebecca Demming:So there's there's a whole lot and I would definitely talk to a VSO, get online, talk to the, you know, if you're already enrolled in a specific school, I would go to the financial aid office and most schools, some schools do it better than others. Most schools have a veteran specific or military specific person in their financial aid office that can kind of help navigate the different programs to make sure that you're maximizing what you're accessing. So, Dependent Education Assistance Program is really awesome if you qualify, if your parent is 100% totally disabled, or if you're surviving dependent of someone who passed in service or passed from a service connected disability. But like you had mentioned, there's a whole lot of different depending on what state you're in, depending on your specific circumstances, there's a lot of different eligibility criteria. And you can sometimes patchwork together a really good package that would make it possible for your child or if you are independent for you to go to schools that you might otherwise think are outside your financial reach.
Rebecca Demming:For sure.
Leah Bucholz:And I didn't even know about that, like this the out of state tuition kinda options for some of these programs, that's really cool. Like, if your kid wants to go, that can be really, problematic for some people to have to deal with. So I I'm definitely gonna look into that because I've got a kid a kiddo who has big dreams about going out of state for college, so we'll see about that. But, so what about health care, benefits? What should dependents know about that specifically that we haven't gone over?
Leah Bucholz:Just in a nutshell.
Rebecca Demming:In a nutshell, I'm not a healthcare expert and so understanding what's qualified and whether it's worth the premiums that you're going to pay once you qualify for CHAMPVA, I think it's worth finding a broker that you trust. You know, you definitely want to go online and just put your information in because you'll have all these kind of broker people calling you nonstop. But comparing the plans you get through an employer, if you don't have insurance at all, I'd say almost hands down opting into CHAMPVA is going be a good option for you.
Leah Bucholz:Totally. And who's a good resource, like first line of defense for trying to figure out some of these programs for veterans?
Rebecca Demming:The VSOs are have people that can help access this stuff, and I would probably you know, there's different offices. There's a lot of those that have offices attached in the VA itself, And I think those are often gonna be ones that are more you know, they're they're sharing office space with people that are granting these benefits or awarding these benefits. So if you have questions, would I would probably start there.
Leah Bucholz:Yeah. And remember too that you don't have to use a VSO that's in your town. Like some people don't realize that. I had a really amazing VSO and he was in New York and I was here in Texas. So like that doesn't mean somebody in New York is gonna be able to take you based on their volume that they're handling, but you're not if for some reason you don't have confidence in your local VSO, you can go to the town over and see the next VSO, you know, if you if you're not feeling comfortable, you want a second opinion or or whatever.
Leah Bucholz:You're not locked into that one person if there's some kind of conflict that you're not confident in, right?
Rebecca Demming:Right, and I mean, like lawyers, like doctors, like medical professionals, there's a wide variety of competency and personalities of VSOs. And unfortunately, of them are in the position and they either don't understand that, you know, they might be great at doing a VA disability claim, but just really not understand the education piece or something. But then there's going be others that are just rock stars at making sure that you're maximizing every education benefit or health care benefit that you're entitled to get.
Leah Bucholz:Well, and hopefully some of them can, you know, like other professions may say, hey, I'm not the best at burial benefits, but my friend in the next town over is and we collaborate with each other and help and, you know, things like that.
Rebecca Demming:Yeah, but don't be afraid to seek a second opinion if you're running up against a wall with the person that's closest to you. I think like Leah said, feel free to look out, go on to some of these veteran Facebook groups and say, hey, does anyone have a VSO that they love? Get a recommendation for someone someone who has experience in this area or that area because we're starting to navigate this as a family.
Leah Bucholz:Right. And and you can go on va.gov. I've got another video on this too where you can do the accreditation you can use the accreditation search tool to find someone, VSO, accredited claims agent, or an attorney in your local area. And, it doesn't have to be in your local area, but that that tool on va.gov will spit out, like, tons of information for you to just have different points of contact. So Go ahead.
Rebecca Demming:The final piece I wanna leave people with is pay attention to what VA is sending you and send in your dependent verification forms and your education verification forms on time. Those are really important. If you have a change in family situation, if you get a divorce, you want to let VA know. We have had cases where the veteran, you know, there's enough going on with the divorce, the veteran didn't remember to inform VA and they'd gotten paid for having a dependent for longer than they had. And now VA is going after for an overpayment.
Rebecca Demming:The flip side is true if they send you a form, I mean you might have been married to the same person for twenty years and you're like, yeah, we're stable, we're not, you know, why do I have to keep sending in verification forms? VA could go in and sever the benefit because you didn't send in the form. And like I said, right now we're seeing a huge delay in VA adding people back in. And so I get that question a lot. Like I've been, you know, they're in deers, they're, you know, we're established.
Rebecca Demming:It's not like it's a new marriage that they have to vet or a new baby or something. They should know that I'm married, why is it taking so long? They are havingat least right now they're having people individually check the forms and it's just, it's taking, I would say six to eight months, maybe up to a year. Once you hit that 30%, you file for a dependent or if you get married and get a new dependent, you want to add dependents to your award. It's taking a long time.
Rebecca Demming:VA will back pay you for it but it's one area that I see a lot of frustration so you're not alone if you're experiencing that.
Leah Bucholz:I just have a couple more quick questions before we wrap up because I think it's important to touch on hospitalization for one. So can dependents receive financial assistance during a veteran's hospitalization? So if I'm the primary caregiver, even if I'm not the primary caregiver and I'm the veteran, I get hospitalized and my family needs some assistance, is there something out there for them?
Rebecca Demming:There's two different programs. There's one through the VA Benefits Administration called Aid and Attendance. And so if the Veteran is requiring a family caregiver or someone to help them with activities of daily living, if they're hospitalized, they can apply for that additional benefit and then that goes, it gets paid to the veteran, but can be used for family expenses. There's another program that's run through the Veteran Health Administration called the Family Caregiver Support Program. And that one is specifically a benefit for.
Rebecca Demming:The caregiver and so if you are a family member who has a veteran spouse, or actually doesn't have to be a spouse. This is one of the areas where you don't even have to have like a familial relationship. Could be the best friend or the neighbor or, the girlfriend or boyfriend. If you're the person who is the primary caregiver, you still have to go through a whole social work vetting and whatnot, but VA will pay you for your time in being that caregiver. And they'll provide some social work, support in terms of counseling or group sessions, or some resources to kind of help you navigate being a caregiver for someone.
Rebecca Demming:And so there's different tiers and how much care you're providing for the person. But that is a resource that I strongly recommend if you're feeling like you're giving up a good portion of your week taking care of somebody that you're looking to.
Leah Bucholz:Okay. So my last two questions are sort of about veterans' ability to access VSOs. So what if can a veteran's can a dependent get help from a VSO? Like let's say it's even in a situation where the dependent has passed away, like can maybe they've passed away or maybe they haven't. Is the veteran entitled to accessing that VSO for assistance with VA programs and then to include even appeals?
Rebecca Demming:Yes, they are entitled to access VSOs. Know may be certain, I know there's American Legion and VFW and DAV and veteran. So the different organizations may have different eligibility criteria of who they help. And so some might specifically help people who family members of veterans who served in Vietnam, you know, so look into the different requirements, but yes, you should be able to get a to help you if you're a family member, even if you don't have a veteran, a living veteran in your family anymore.
Leah Bucholz:Well, and not even just VSOs, but attorneys as well. Accredited attorneys help dependents all the time with various issues depending on if it's within their scope of what they provide services for. Well, that's all the questions I have today on this. Like I said, I would really love to do another video, maybe definitely specifically on chapter 35, think would be really cool, and maybe we'll see if we can tie in a couple other education programs or maybe just do a whole series on education programs. But I hope this was helpful to you guys out there.
Leah Bucholz:Please drop us some comments. If you have any questions for Rebecca, I'm gonna put a link to her website at provetlegal so you guys can reach out to her and contact her. Also as always, I'll be monitoring the comments to try to provide any feedback. So let us know if you have any questions or if you have any experiences you wanna share. And Rebecca, thank you as always for joining us.
Rebecca Demming:Yeah, thank you Leah. Always happy to come on and talk with you about veteran benefits.
Leah Bucholz:Okay, all right guys. Thanks a lot for watching and please like and subscribe and we'll see you guys later.