VA budget numbers just don't add up

The Department of Veterans Affairs' proposed budget for 2017 is $182 billion. That's roughly broken down as follows: $78 billion for discretionary spending, of which $68 billion is for health care, and $103 billion for benefits such as compensation and pensions.

Somewhere in the $182 billion budget is $12 billion for care in the community, $1 billion for telehealth, $515 million for women's health care, $836 million for new health-care facilities and $900 million for new cemeteries.

The budget includes $54 million for 300 employees for claims processing. (That comes to $180,000 per employee.) And because it can take upward of five years for an appeal to reach completion, VA officials are requesting $156 million for 922 full-time employees. (That's $169,000 per employee.)

Also buried in there is $180 million for the electronic claims processing system and $143 million for VCIP, the program that converts medical records to digital images. It also requires $4.3 billion for cybersecurity and info technology.

Although the numbers of homeless have come down, officials are asking for $1.6 billion for programs.

The Choice Act, giving veterans fast access to care in the civilian community, needs $5 billion for in-house staff and $10 billion for a temporary Choice program. (Which is confusing because Choice is a done deal, not temporary.) In another place, the budget explains that they'll need $1.4 billion and $853 million to hire 9,700 medical staff for Choice. In yet another place it mentions taking $969 million from the 2014 Choice Act.

Confused yet?

If you've run these numbers as you've read down the column, you'll see that they don't really add up. And if you want to take a sharp look at the details, go online to www.va.gov/budget and look for the FY2017 budget request. Then look at the official press release at www.va.gov (search for news release 2746) and compare the numbers.

Blue Water sailor wins Agent Orange benefits

It took six years and an aggressive attorney, but a Blue Water Sailor has finally been given full benefits for Agent Orange exposure.

When the sailor first applied in 2010 for benefits for ischemic heart disease due to AO exposure, the response was typical: The VA said no because he'd been on a carrier out at sea. He continued to appeal. And appeal. And appeal.

The VA finally told him to either go away or go to court. Naturally he chose court and got an attorney. The VA was ordered to take another look at the facts and finally decided that 100 percent disability for ischemic heart disease due to AO exposure was appropriate, backdated to when symptoms first appeared, many years earlier.

If you were on a ship near Vietnam, the questions to consider are: If you were assigned to a ship and were flown out to it, where had the plane been? Was the plane contaminated and bringing AO every time it landed on a carrier? Did you unload cargo from those planes or work on them? Did the ship ever bring on fresh fruits and vegetables? Did the ship ever dock? Did it take on water for distillation inside the 12-mile limit? Did your mail and supplies sit on the runway near the AO storage area in Da Nang?

Meanwhile, the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act (HR-969) was recently introduced in the House of Representatives. The legislation will give AO presumptives to sailors and Marines who served in offshore waters of Vietnam.

If you're fighting the VA, go online to The Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program (www.vetsprobono.org). You can hook up with a specially trained attorney – for free – who will take your case. You'll pay nothing unless you win back entitlement.

(c) 2016 King Features Synd., Inc.