VA will pay more family members to care for wounded soldiers

WASHINGTON — Reversing itself, the
Department of Veterans Affairs said Tuesday that it will pay thousands
of family members who care for severely wounded soldiers at home under a
new and expanded program approved by Congress last year.

A year
ago, President Barack Obama signed a groundbreaking law that created the
caregivers program, which serves service members who were injured after
Sept. 11, 2001.

But the program has been a disappointment for
military families, late in getting started and excluding many who
thought they would qualify.

Some of the loudest complaints had
come from members of Congress, led by Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of
Washington state, the chairwoman of the Senate Veterans Affairs
Committee.

She expressed satisfaction Tuesday that the pressure had worked.

“This is an important turnaround for family members of severely wounded
veterans who have dropped everything to care for their loved ones,”
Murray said. “The administration realized their mistake in limiting and
delaying this benefit and is taking steps to fix it, and to fix it
quickly.”

According to Murray, Congress wanted the law to
serve at least 3,500 caregivers, but the VA was prepared to serve only
840 caregivers. That number will now more than quadruple, going to
3,596, according to estimates provided to Murray’s committee.

The program is expected to cost $777 million over five years.

“The bottom line is that because we held them accountable, the VA will
make a larger investment” said Murray, who had personally lobbied
President Barack Obama on the issue.

She called caregiving “a cost of war that for too long has gone unaccounted for and one we can no longer ignore.”

Stipends for caregivers are expected to vary in geographic regions and
to be comparable to the salaries of commercial caregivers.

In
addition to receiving a stipend, eligible caregivers will receive mental
health services and health care insurance, if they’re not already
enrolled in a plan, according to the VA.

“I know many
veterans and their family caregivers have been waiting anxiously for
this day and I urge them to get their applications in as soon as
possible so they can receive the additional support they have earned,”
Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki said in announcing the expanded
program.

Congress had given the department an original
deadline of Jan. 30 to get the program up and running. But the VA said
it will now begin receiving applications May 9.