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MOORE COUNTY VETERAN'S SERVICES
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302 Monroe St., Carthage, NC 28327 (map and directions)
Phone: (910) 947-3257 Fax: (910) 947-3334
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George N. Hunt-Director ghunt@moorecountync.gov 910-947-7150
Quick Reference:
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Disability Compensation:
Monetary benefits, called disability compensation, are paid to veterans who are disabled by injury or disease incurred or aggravated during active military service. The service of the veteran must have been terminated through separation or discharge under conditions that were other than dishonorable. Disability compensation varies with the degree of disability and the number of dependents, and is paid monthly. The payment of military retirement pay and separation incentive payments known as SSB and VSI (Special Separation benefits and Voluntary Separation Incentives) also affects the amount of VA compensation paid . You may also visit VA's website at www.va.gov and look at benefits
Pension:
Veterans with low incomes may be eligible for monetary support if they have 90 days or more of active military service, one day of which was during a period of war. The discharge from active duty must have been under conditions other than dishonorable. The veterans must be permanently and totally disabled for reasons not traceable to willful misconduct. Payments are made to qualified veterans to bring their total income, including other retirement or may be reduced by unreimbursed medical expenses. Pension is not payable to those who have assets that can be used to provide adequate maintenance.
Education and Training
Montgomery GI Bill (Active Duty):
The Montgomery GI Bill (Active Duty) provides a program of education benefits to individuals who enter active duty for the first time after June 30, 1985, and receive an honorable discharge. Active duty includes full-time National Guard duty performed after Nov. 29, 1989. Members of the Army and Air Force National Guard who enlisted between June 9, 1985, and Nov. 29, 1989, had to decide before July 9, 1997, to participate in the Montgomery GI Bill (Active Duty). To receive the maximum benefit, the participant must serve for three years. An individual also may qualify for the full benefit by initially serving two continuous years on active duty, followed by four years of Selected Reserve service, beginning within one year of release from active duty.
Eligibility:
To participate in the Montgomery GI Bill, service members have their military pay reduced by $100 a month for the first 12 months of active duty. This money is not refundable. The participant must have a high school diploma or an equivalency certificate before the first period of active duty ends. Completing 12 credit hours toward a college degree also meets this requirement. Individuals who initially serve a continuous period of at least three years of active duty, even though they were initially obligated to serve less, will be paid the maximum benefit. Benefits under this program will end 15 years from the date of the veteran’s last discharge or release from active duty, but some extenuating circumstances qualify for extensions. A veteran with a discharge upgraded by the military will have 10 years from the date of the upgrade. |
Home Loan Guaranties:
VA guarantees loans made to service members, veterans, reservists and unremarried surviving spouses for the purchase or refinancing of homes, condominiums and manufactured homes. VA guarantees part of the total loan, permitting the purchaser to obtain a mortgage with a competitive interest rate, even without a down payment if the lender agrees. VA requires a down payment for the purchase of a manufactured home. VA requires a down payment for the purchase of a manufactured home. VA also requires a down payment for a home or condominium if the purchase price exceeds the reasonable value of the property or the loan has a graduated payment feature. With a VA guaranty if the borrower fails to repay the loan. A VA loan guaranty can be used to:
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Buy a home. |
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Buy a residential condominium. |
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Build a home. |
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Repair, alter or improve a home |
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Refinance an existing home loan. |
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Buy a manufactured home with or without a lot. |
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Buy and improve a manufactured home lot. |
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Install a solar, heating or cooling system, weatherize or other improvements. |
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Purchase and improve a home. |
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Refinance an existing VA loan to reduce the interest rate. |
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Refinance a manufactured home loan to acquire a lot. |
Vocational Rehabilitation:
A disabled veteran may receive employment assistance, self-employment assistance, training in a rehabilitation facility, and college and other training. Severely disabled veterans may receive assistance to improve their ability to live independently.
Eligibility:
Veterans and service members are eligible for vocational rehabilitation if:
- They suffered a service-connected disability or disabilities in active service, and are receiving at least 20 percent compensation or would do so but for receipt of military retirement pay. Veterans with a 10 percent disability also may be found eligible if they have a serious employment handicap.
- The were discharged or released under other than dishonorable conditions or are hospitalized awaiting separation for a service-connected disability.
- They need vocational rehabilitation to overcome an employment handicap caused by their service-connected inability.
Period of Rehabilitation Program:
The veteran must complete a rehabilitation program within 12 years of receiving a service-connected disability rating. This period may be extended if a medical condition prevented the veteran from training or if the veteran has a serious employment handicap. Disabled veterans may receive services until they have reached their rehabilitation goal, up to 48 months. VA may provide counseling, job placement and post-employment services for up to 18 additional months.
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Insurance:
Two regular and two disabled insurance programs are currently open for new policyholders. Service members’ Group Life Insurance is open to active-duty ,members of the uniformed services. Veterans’ Group Life Insurance is available to individuals released from active duty after Aug. 1, 1974, and to reservists. Service Disabled Insurance is available for veterans with service-connected disabilities. Veterans’ Mortgage Life Insurance provides mortgage life insurance for veterans granted specially adapted housing grants.
Life Insurance:
Two regular and two disabled insurance programs are currently open for new policyholders. Service members’ Group Life Insurance is open to active-duty ,members of the uniformed services. Veterans’ Group Life Insurance is available to individuals released from active duty after Aug. 1, 1974, and to reservists. Service Disabled Insurance is available for veterans with service-connected disabilities. Veterans’ Mortgage Life Insurance provides mortgage life insurance for veterans granted specially adapted housing grants.
Burial Benefits:
Burial in National Cemeteries - VA Cemeteries:
Burial benefits in a VA national cemetery include the gravesite, a headstone or marker, opening and closing of the grave, and perpetual care. Many national cemeteries have columbaria or gravesites for cremated remains. Veterans, service members and dependents are eligible for burial in a VA national cemetery. An eligible veteran must have been discharge or separated from active duty under conditions other than dishonorable and have completed the required period of service. Persons entitled to retired pay as a result of 20 years creditable service with a reserve component are eligible. A U.S. citizen who served in the armed forces of a government allied with the United States in a war also may be eligible. A 1997 law bars any veteran convicted of a federal or state capital crime from being buried or memorialized in one of the VA national cemeteries or in Arlington National Cemetery. Headstones or Markers for Memorial Plots To memorialize an eligible veteran whose remains are not available for burial, VA will provide a memorial headstone or marker. The headstone or marker is the same as that used to identify a grave except that the mandatory phrase "In Memory of " precedes the inscription. The headstone or marker is available to memorialize eligible veterans or decreased service members whose remains were not recovered or identified, were buried at sea, donated to science, or cremated and scattered. The memorial marker may be provided for placement in a cemetery other than a national cemetery. In such a case, VA supplies the marker and pays the cost of shipping, but does not pay for the plot or the placement of the marker. Only a relative recognized as the next of kin may apply for headstones and markers.
TRICARE:
TRICARE is the name of the Defense Department’s new regional managed health care program for service families. Under TRICARE, you’ll generally have three choices of ways in which to get your health care: Here’s a brief look at each of the three options:
TRICARE Prime:
This is a voluntary health maintenance organization-type (HMO) option. If you decide to get your health care through TRICARE Prime, you’ll pay an annual enrollment fee (except for active-duty families, who may enroll free) and enroll for a year at time. Normally, you’ll receive your care from within the Prime network of civilian and military providers. You’ll either choose or be assigned a Primary Care Manager (PCM) from within the contractor’s network or at your nearest uniformed services medical facility, who will furnish most of your care and will manage all aspects of your care, including referrals to specialists. The Health Care Finder (HCF) assists in finding the appropriate specially care for you. Covered services will be like those of regular CHAMPUS (now known as TRICARE Standard), plus additional preventive and primary care services that aren’t covered under TRICARE Standard or TRICARE Extra. For example, period health promotion/disease prevention surveillance screenings (most people think of them as routine physical exams) are covered at no charge under TRICARE Prime. Prime also covers certain immunizations, as well as examinations for various cancers and infectious and cardiovascular diseases, and other screenings, with certain age and frequency limitations.
TRICARE Extra:
In this option, you don’t have to enroll or pay an annual fee. You do have to satisfy an annual deductible for outpatient care, just as you do under TRICARE Standard. (See the section on TRICARE Standard below. The deducible and cost-sharing works the same way under TRICARE Extra. On a visit-by visit basis, you can seek care from a provider who’s part of the TRICARE Extra network, get a discount on services, and have reduced cost-shares-five percent less than under TRICARE Standard. Also, you generally won’t have to file any claim forms. You pay annual deductibles for outpatient care before government cost-sharing starts, as you do under TRICARE Standard. You can get a list of the TRICARE Extra providers by contacting one of the TRICARE service-centers.
Eligibility:
Applicants must have a good credit rating, have an income sufficient to support mortgage payments, and agree to live in the property. To obtain a VA certificate of eligibility, complete VA Form 26-1880, "Request for Determination of Eligibility and Available Loan Guaranty Entitlement," and submit it to the nearest VA regional office. |
TRICARE Standard:
This option is the regular CHAMPUS program with a new name. It pays a share of the cost of covered health care services that you obtain from an authorized non-network civilian health care provider. There’s no enrollment in TRICARE Standard. You’ll pay the normal TRICARE Standard deductibles for outpatient care, and your cost-sharing percentages will be the same as for regular CHAMPUS.
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Outpatient / Hospitalization:
In October 1996, Congress passed Public Law 104-262, the Veterans’ Health Care Eligibility Reform Act of 1996. The legislation led the way for the creation of Uniform Benefits Package, a standard health benefit plan available to all veterans. The package not only opens up services to veterans, but simplifies the process by which veterans can receive the services. For the first time, VA can offer enrolled veterans a Uniform Benefits Package that emphasizes preventive medicine and primary care, and that provides a comprehensive healthcare benefit plan including inpatient and outpatient treatment. The law has simplified the rules for providing healthcare to veterans. It has also streamlined the process by which veterans present themselves for care the enrollment process. These changes will make it easier for veterans to receive care than ever before.
| Priority Group 1 |
Veterans with service-connected conditions rated 50 percent or more disabling
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| Priority Group 2 |
Veterans with service-connected conditions rated 30 to 40 percent or more disabling
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| Priority Group 3 |
Veterans who are former POWs Veterans with service-connected conditions rated 10 or 20 percent disabling Veterans discharged from active duty for a disability incurred or aggravated in the line of duty Veterans awarded special eligibility classification under 38 U.S.C. , Section 1151
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| Priority Group 4 |
Veterans who are receiving aid and attendance or housebound benefits.
Veterans who have been determined by VA to be catastrophically disabled
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| Priority Group 5 |
Nonservice-connected veterans and service-connected veterans rated zero percent disabled, whose in come and net worth are below the established dollar thresholds
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| Priority Group 6 |
All other eligible veterans who are not required to make co-payments for their care, including:
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World War I and Mexican Border War veterans |
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Veterans solely seeking care for disorders associated with exposure to a toxic substance, radiation, or for disorders associated with service in the Persian Gulf |
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Compensable zero percent service-connected veterans
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| Priority Group 7 |
Nonservice-connected veteran and zero percent non-compensable service-connected veterans with income and net worth above the statutory threshold and who agree to pay specified co-payments |
Nursing-Home Care:
Nursing care in VA or private nursing homes may be provided for veterans who are not acutely ill and not in need of hospital care. If space and resources are available in VA facilities, VA may provide nursing-home care. Veterans who have a service-connected disability are given first priority for nursing-home care. The following may be provided nursing-home care without an income eligibility assessment: veterans with service-connected disability, veterans who were exposed to herbicides while serving in Vietnam, veterans exposed to ionizing radiation during atmospheric testing or in the occupation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, veterans with a condition related to an environmental exposure in the Persian Gulf, veterans of the Mexican Border period of World War 1 and veterans who are eligible for Medicaid.
Nonservice-connected veterans and zero percent, noncompensable, service-connected veterans requiring nursing-home care for any Nonservice-connected disability must submit an income eligibility assessment form, VA Form 10-10F, to determine whether they will be billed for nursing-home care.
Domiciliary Care:
Domiciliary care provides rehabilitative and long-term, health maintenance care for veterans who require minimal medical care but who do not need the skilled nursing services provided in nursing homes. VA may provide domiciliary care to veterans whose annual income does not exceed the maximum annual rate of VA pension or to veterans the Secretary of Veterans Affairs determines have no adequate means of support.
Readjustment Counseling:
Readjustment counseling is provided at Vet Centers to help veterans resolve war-related psychological difficulties and to help them achieve a successful post-war readjustment to civilian life. Assistance includes group, individual and family counseling. Eligible for counseling are veterans who served on active duty in a combat theater during World War !!, the Korean Conflict, the Vietnam Era, the Persian Gulf War, or the campaigns in Lebanon, Grenada, Panama or Somalia. Veterans who served in the active military during the Vietnam Era are eligible, even if they were not in a combat theater. Veterans may also be placed with non-VA agencies for counseling.
One common readjustment problem is post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. This refers to such symptoms as nightmares, intrusive recollections or memories, flashbacks, anxiety or sudden reactions after exposure to traumatic conditions. Readjustment difficulties may affect functioning in school, family or work. Counseling also is provided veterans for difficulties due to sexual assault or harassment while on active duty. In areas distant from Vet Center or VA medical facilities, veterans may obtain readjustment counseling from private-sector professionals who are on contract with VA. To locate a contract provider, contract the nearest Vet Center.
PERSIAN GULF
Town Hall Meetings:
The Special Assistant for Gulf war Illnesses holds regularly scheduled town hall meetings nationwide in order to meet with veterans face-to-face. In 1997, we conducted 13 town hall meetings, and attended four national conventions to update veterans on the progress of our investigation. The tentative schedule will posted on GulfLINK and published in GulfNEWS.
GulfLINK:
The DoD GulfLINK home page (http:/www.gulflink.osd.mil) is the primary vehicle by which we make information and reports immediately available to veterans and the American public. GulfLINK continues to contain reports, transcripts of press conferences, Congressional testimonies and declassified health related documents. News articles now provide a convenient way to keep up with
the activities of the Office of the Special Assistant, and an e-mail capability has been added. GulfLINK has been a great success. Typically, we received 60,000 home page "hits" in any given week during important times, such as when the results of our analysis of fallout from the explosions at Khamisiyah were announced. We are very proud that GulfLINK was recently awarded the Government Computer News Agency Award for excellence in the application of information technology to improve services delivery.
E-mail:
E-mail is especially helpful in enabling us to communicate with our service members and veterans overseas. Having this two-way method of communication enables our staff to provide more personal and timely responses. The informality and shortened response time encourages a continuous dialogue between our staff and the veterans. Since first initiated on March 29, 1997, we have received more than 2,600 e-mail inquiries as of January 1998. If you want to communicate directly with us by e-mail, just send your comments to Send Email
GulfNEWS:
We recognize that many veterans do not have Internet access and, to reach them, we developed a bi-monthly newsletter, GulfNEWS, with a current circulation of more than 7,000 and growing. GulfNEWS is produced by The Office of the Special Assistant for Gulf War Illnesses, 5113 Leesburg Pike, Suite 901, Falls Church, VA 22041. To be placed on the mailing list, write to the above address or e-mail Send Email
AGENT ORANGE:
On the basis of the March 14, 1996, National Academy of Science’s Institute of Medicine’s report. "veterans and Agent Orange: Update 1996", which provides information concerning the health effects of exposure to Agent Orange and other herbicides used in Vietnam during the Vietnam Era. Secretary Brown authorized the expansion of the current list of conditions that are presumed to be related to military service, now, veterans who served in Vietnam may qualify for compensation for prostate cancer and acute and sub-acute peripheral neuropathy based on exposure to herbicides. These two conditions will be added to the current list of conditions that we presume are the result of exposure to herbicides which includes coherence or other acne form diseases: Hodgkin's disease: multiple myeloma: non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma: porphyries cutanea tarda: cancer of the lung, bronchus, larynx or trachea: and soft-tissue sarcoma.
RADIATION
Radiation Exposed Veterans Presumptions: A veteran who while serving on active duty participated in a radiation-risk activity shall be service-connected for the following diseases if they become manifest at anytime after service.
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Leukemia (other than chronic Lympocytic Leukemia) |
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Cancer of the salivary gland |
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Lymphomas (except Hodgkin's Disease) |
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Cancer of the esophagus |
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Cancer of the bile duct |
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Cancer of the stomach |
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Cancer of the thyroid |
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Cancer of the urinary tract |
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Cancer of the gall bladder |
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Cancer of the small intestine |
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cancer of the breast |
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Lung cancer |
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Primary liver cancer (except if cirrhosis or hepatitis B is indicated) |
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Cancer of the pancreas |
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Multiple Myeloma |
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Skin cancer |
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Colon cancer |
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Kidney cancer |
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Posterior subcapsular cataracts |
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Nonmalignant thyroid modular disease |
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Ovarian cancer |
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Parathyroid adenoma |
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Tumors of the brain and nervous system |
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Bone cancer |
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Cancer of the pharynx |
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| CHAMPVA |
MEDICAL CARE FOR DEPENDENTS AND SURVIVORS CHAMPVA, the VA Civilian Health and Medical Program, shares the cost of medical care for dependents and survivors of veterans. If not eligible for CHAMPUS (the medical program for civilian dependents provided by the Defense Department) or Medicare, Part CHAMPVA.
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The spouse or child of a veteran who has a permanent and total service-connected disability. |
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The spouse or child of a veteran who died of a service-connected condition or was totally disabled from a service-connected condition at the time of death. |
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The spouse or child of a person who died in the line of duty, not due to misconduct, within 30 days of entry into active service. |
Beneficiaries age 65 or older who lose eligibility for CHAMPVA by becoming potentially eligible for Medicare, Part A, benefits on the basis of a disability may reestablish CHAMPVA eligibility by submitting documentation from the Social Security Administration certifying they are not entitled to or have exhausted Medicare, Part A, benefits . Persons under age 65 who are enrolled in both Medicare Parts A and B may become eligible for CHAMPVA as a secondary payer to Medicare. Apply to the VA Health Administration Center, P.O. Box 65023, Denver, CO. 802006 or call 1-800-733-8387.
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