At Pa. town hall, Shinseki pledges to modernize VA system, says veterans benefits are secure

September 25th, 2009 Shinseki: VA working to resolve GI Bill issuesWASHINGTON — Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki said Friday he's hopeful that many of the tens of thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans awaiting payment under the new GI Bill will get paid next month. Shinseki said veterans were right in complaining about delays under the newly enacted Post 9/11 GI Bill, which was the largest expansion of education benefits since World War II.

September 25th, 2009 VA to issue emergency checks for GI benefitsWASHINGTON — The Veterans Affairs Department said Friday it would begin issuing emergency checks of up to $3,000 to Iraq and Afghanistan veterans whose payments under the new GI Bill have been delayed. Tens of thousand of veterans from the recent wars have been waiting for payments under the newly enacted Post 9/11 GI Bill, which was the largest expansion of education benefits since World War II.

September 23rd, 2009 Report: Too many vets wait a year for claimWASHINGTON — Too many veterans' disability claims take more than a year to process, the Veterans Affairs Department's inspector general said Wednesday. An audit released by the VA showed that a year ago, 11,000 veterans had claims pending more than a year.

September 22nd, 2009 VA IG says suicide prevention programs implementedWASHINGTON — The Veterans Affairs Department appears to have stepped up its suicide prevention efforts. The agency's inspector took a look at 24 facilities and found they generally met new requirements like appointing suicide prevention coordinators to track high-risk veterans, according to a report released Tuesday.

September 15th, 2009 DAV seeks participates in online 'march'WASHINGTON — The Disabled American Veterans service organization is encouraging veterans and others to march in Washington — online at least. In what it dubs the "Million Claims March," the advocacy group is using social networking sites to encourage veterans to participate online in chats starting Tuesday about the backlog in disability claims at the Veterans Affairs Department and other veterans issues.

August 27th, 2009 Report: No oversight for $70M program at the VAWASHINGTON — Managers at the Veterans Affairs Department were aware of serious problems with a $70 million project to replace its hospital appointment system several years before the VA dropped the program, the agency's inspector general says in a new report. The VA announced the project in 2000 following complaints from veterans about long waits to make appointments.

August 27th, 2009 VA says 600 veterans wrongly told they had ALSCHARLESTON, W.Va. — The U.S.

August 17th, 2009 Veterans to routinely be offered HIV testsWASHINGTON — The Veterans Affairs Department on Monday began offering routine HIV tests to veterans who receive medical care. Under the new policy, veterans must verbally consent to the test, and they can opt to decline it.

August 17th, 2009 Obama: VA care not affected by health overhaulPHOENIX — President Barack Obama says a proposed overhaul of the nation's health care system is not going to change how veterans get their medical services. Obama on Monday told a convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars that no one in Washington is talking about taking away their benefits.

August 11th, 2009 What protests? Obama faces no town hall outburstsPORTSMOUTH, N.H. — So much for those spontaneous outbursts that have dogged lawmakers home on August recess.

June 23rd, 2009 Philly VA to research homelessness among vetsPHILADELPHIA — A new federal agency dedicated to eliminating homelessness among veterans has been established in Philadelphia. The National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans plans to provide data, research and analysis to policymakers in hopes of ending the problem within five years.

June 18th, 2009 Number of VA claims poised to hit 1 millionWASHINGTON — This isn't the same as getting a free duffel bag for being the millionth person to go through the turnstiles: The Veterans Affairs Department appears poised to have hit the 1 million milestone on claims it still hasn't processed. This unwelcome marker approaches as the agency scrambles to hire and train new claims processors, which can take two years.

June 18th, 2009 Bosnia agrees not to cut veterans' benefitsSARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — Veterans in wheelchairs and on crutches and the widows and children of slain soldiers protested Thursday in Sarajevo, forcing the government to abandon plans to cut their benefits 10 percent. Thousands had gathered in front of the government building to demand that the officials inside decrease their own salaries instead of saving at the expense of those who had lost family members or limbs during the 1992-95 Bosnian war.

June 16th, 2009 VA to face lawmakers' questions on colonoscopiesWASHINGTON — Lawmakers sharply criticized the Department of Veterans Affairs on Tuesday about why a national scare over botched colonoscopies earlier this year didn't prompt stronger safeguards at the agency's medical centers. House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Bob Filner said VA Secretary Eric Shinseki has pledged to take disciplinary action over the matter.

June 15th, 2009 VA expands health care eligibility for nondisabledWASHINGTON — The Veterans Affairs Department opened the doors of its health care system Monday to about 266,000 nondisabled veterans with moderate incomes, some of whom have been shut out of those benefits. The veterans eligible are from a category known as "Priority 8." They have no illnesses or injuries attributed to their military service, and they earn more than the average wage in their communities.