Newsbytes July 26, 2024

In this issue:
VA Budget Shortfall Update
Mental Health Program Fails to Reach Most Enrollees
Legal Services for Homeless Veterans
Korean War Armistice Day

FRA Staff Discuss VA Budget Shortfall with VA
DLP John Davis participated in a conference call with Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) budget staff regarding the budget shortfall noted in last week’s Newsbytes. The chief financial officers from the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) and Veterans Health Administration (VHA) informed the House Veterans Affairs Committee (HVAC) that they anticipate a $2.88 billion shortfall for the remainder of fiscal year (FY) 2024 related to compensation and pension and readjustment benefit payments, and an $11.97 billion shortfall in FY 2025 primarily related to increased hiring and pharmaceutical costs. This represents by far the largest budget shortfall the VA has experienced.

VA staff noted that the shortfall was largely due to more benefits being paid to more veterans than anticipated. The VA staff assured FRA that the VA is in communication with Hill staff and White House staff to provide the VA with supplemental appropriations for the current fiscal year (FY 2024) and FY 2025. Without additional funding, benefits will be delayed as early as October 1, 2024. The VA claims that there has been a 39% increase in claims since FY 2022 and that 1.9 million claims have already been processed in FY 2024. In addition, VA staff has increased by 33% since October 2023.

Other contributing factors to the budget shortfall include the implementation of the comprehensive veteran’s toxic exposure law (PACT Act), increased cost of drugs, and the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision (Rudisill v. McDonough) expanding education benefits noted in the May 3, 2024 Newsbytes.

GAO: DoD Mental Health Program Fails to Reach Most Enrollees
A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report (GAO-24-106189) found that a Pentagon program designed to cover a “vulnerable” mental health period for military members failed to reach 70% of those enrolled. The program, named inTransition, is charged with connecting service members leaving the military or returning from deployment with mental health services. However, the program often waits 2 or 3 months to initiate contact with members and made contact with less than 1-in-3, the Government Accountability Office report found.

The GAO found that the program didn’t connect with more than 70% of automatically enrolled service members in 2022 (roughly 65,500 out of 91,000) because of its limited outreach strategy using telephone calls. Program officials called cold calls “an outdated form of communication” but said that they are required to use telephone calls as a primary contact method and that email or text required a policy change. The GAO also said that the program could benefit from expanding to email, text, or location services to reach more enrollees. However, the contractor did not have plans to incorporate texting into its outreach strategy.

Part of the problem, the GAO found, may be that the joint Defense Department and Department of Veterans Affairs committee in charge of overseeing all transition activities does not assess “the effectiveness of these efforts overall.” The GAO recommended that the committee start a tracking system for better service member outcomes. The VA agreed with the GAO’s recommendation to track these services and said joint DOD-VA subcommittees would establish plans of action, milestones, and metrics “to identify gaps or duplicative efforts.”

According to the contractor that runs inTransition, its workers call service members up to three times to ask if they want to remain enrolled or use the program’s services. When they fail to connect with the service member, they mark the case as “unresponsive” and disenroll them from the program. A GAO analysis of 2022 data showed that 66% or nearly 60,000 service members were unenrolled this way. The GAO also found that in some cases, the contractor was unable to make the three phone calls because the DOD did not have accurate contact information. In 2022, more than 5,700 people who were automatically enrolled could not be contacted.

The Defense Department and Department of Veterans Affairs have instituted a slew of programs aimed at connecting service members coming home from deployment or leaving the military with mental health services. The DOD’s inTransition program is aimed at military members whose duties and careers are in transition, either after deployment, a PCS, or separation. Though open to all, troops are automatically enrolled in the program if they received mental health or traumatic brain injury care in the year prior to their separation.

VA Awards Grants for Legal Services for Homeless Veterans
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) awarded $26.8 million in legal services grants to 108 public or non-profit organizations, with the goal of increasing access to legal services for eligible veterans experiencing or at risk for homelessness. These funds, made available as part of VA’s Legal Services for Homeless Veterans and Veterans At-Risk for Homelessness Grant Program, more than double the total dollars and mark a 37% increase in grantees over last year’s inaugural grant cycle. “Every veteran deserves access to safe, affordable, and permanent housing, and we know that legal support is among the most needed services by veterans experiencing or at risk for homelessness,” said VA Secretary Denis McDonough. “Through these grants, we are working hard to ensure veterans’ unique civil legal needs are met and drive towards our ultimate goal of ending homelessness for all veterans and their families.” Legal services are one way VA is working to eliminate veteran homelessness and meet the goal of placing at least 41,000 veterans experiencing homelessness into permanent housing this year. The number of veterans experiencing homelessness has fallen by nearly 5% since early 2020 and by more than 52% since 2010. The FRA advocates that the VA and other government agencies should enhance and invest in efforts to ensure that veteran homelessness is rare, brief, and nonrecurring.

In related news, the House passed (408-10) the HOME Act (H.R. 3848), sponsored by Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (OR), to help lift veterans out of homelessness. The HOME Act would increase the per diem rate the VA pays nonprofit organizations, such as the Salvation Army, that assist veterans with short-term transitional housing. The per diem rate would also continue to adjust for inflation every year. The HOME Act also creates a stipend that veterans experiencing homelessness can use to purchase necessities such as food, shelter, clothing, and hygiene items; transportation services; or communications equipment such as smartphones so the veterans can maintain contact with health care providers, prospective landlords, and family members. Members are urged to use this Action Center to ask their Senators to support the bill at: https://www.votervoice.net/FRA/Campaigns/110027/Respond.

Korean War Armistice Day
Each year, both America and South Korea observe National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day on July 27. This day was started to commemorate and recognize the treaty that triggered a ceasefire in a long-standing war in 1953. The Korean War is a significant chapter in American history in which approximately 50,000 American troops died in the conflict, over 100,000 were wounded, and thousands of others were held captive as prisoners of war. On National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day, we should take some time for reflection on the service and sacrifices of American troops during this conflict.