NewsBytes August 26, 2022
In this issue:
Pending Concurrent Receipt Action
Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry
AIR Commission Implementation Blocked
PDBR Review of Disability Claims Continues
Pending Concurrent Receipt Action
In the House concurrent receipt legislation, the “Major Richard Starr Act” (H.R.1282) currently has more than 290 co-sponsors. House rules allow a member of Congress to file a motion with the House Clerk to place their legislation on the Consensus Calendar once their legislation has accumulated 290 cosponsors. If the legislation maintains at least 290 cosponsors for 25 legislative days, and the committee of jurisdiction does not report the legislation to the House floor, it will be placed on the Consensus Calendar allowing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to bring legislation to the House floor for a vote.
The Senate Armed Services Committees has approved the Senate version of the annual NDAA (S.4543). The Senate bill will go to the Senate floor for approval. Senators Jon Tester (Mont.) and Michael Crapo (Idaho) will file a Senate floor amendment to add a provision to expand concurrent receipt to this “must-pass” bill. The FRA claims that retired pay is for years of arduous military service paid by the Department of Defense while disability pay is for lifelong injury paid by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). To reduce retirement pay because of a disability is an injustice.
Members can use the FRA Action Center to ask their Representative to vote for H.R.1282 and to ask their Senators to support the amendment to the Senate NDAA.
Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry
The FRA wants to encourage all veterans who served in eligible areas to complete the Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pits Registry. Participation in the registry is very important as it will allow the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to track burn pit exposure and provide data regarding associated adverse health effects. Exposure to burn pits may be linked to respiratory conditions such as asthma, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder. The VA recently added asthma, rhinitis, and sinusitis as presumptive conditions related to particulate matter exposure.
Legislative Update: AIR Commission Implementation Blocked
A bipartisan group of senators, including a majority of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee members, blocked the confirmation of the nine-member Asset and Infrastructure Review (AIR) Commission that would have considered closing or eliminating services at hundreds of VA facilities nationwide.
As first reported in the March 18, 2022, NewsBytes, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) released a reorganization plan (AIR-Assets and Infrastructure Report) that would have close three medical centers (Northampton, Mass., Brooklyn, N.Y., and Chillicothe, Ohio) and several other VA facilities. The VA claims the reorganization is needed to reflect the changing needs of modern health care and to close aging offices and centers that are no longer near where large numbers of veterans live. The plan also provides for construction of dozens of new health care and community living facilities. The VA claims the reorganization will put nearly 200,000 more veterans within a 30-minute drive of mental health care.
The plan calls for 35 VA Medical Centers in 21 states to be closed or completely rebuilt, while 14 new VA hospitals and 140 new multi-specialty outpatient clinics would be added to the system. Seven of the 17 sites listed for closure are in the Northeast. VA officials claim this reflects the fact that more of the veteran’s population has moved out of that region to resettle in the Midwest and Southwest.
In related news the recently enacted veterans toxic exposure legislation (Public Law 117-168, S.3373-“PACT Act”) provides for the setup of 31 VA medical clinics across America and the hiring of thousands more claims processors and health care staff.
PDBR Review of Disability Claims Continues
The Physical Disability Board of Review (PDBR) was created by an FRA-supported provision in the FY2008 Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that reassess the accuracy and fairness of combined disability ratings of 20 percent or less for service members who were separated from service, rather than medically retired because of medical conditions.
To be eligible for a PDBR review, service members must have been medically separated between Sept. 11, 2001, and Dec. 31, 2009, with a combined disability rating of 20 percent or less and found ineligible for retirement. According to Military.com only 19,000 of the more than 71,000 eligible have requested a review of their claim. The PDBR claims that more than half of the reviewed claims have been upgraded to a disability rating of 30 percent or more.
The review panel is authorized to recommend an increase in a disability rating, uphold the previous finding or issue a disability rating when the previous board did not assign one. The board, however, is NOT able to recommend a lower rating. Eligible veterans can request a board review by submitting a Department of Defense Form 294, Application for Review of Physical Disability Separation from the Armed Forces of the United States.
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