Veteran Voice

Charles Einarson
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Welcome to Veteran Voice, the go-to podcast for veterans, first responders, and their families. We bring you the latest news from the Veteran Administration, updates on veteran health issues, and important topics that affect the brave men and women who have served and sacrificed for our country. From benefits and policies to mental health resources and stories of resilience, we cover the subjects that matter most to our veteran community. Join us for expert interviews, inspiring stories, and practical advice to stay informed and empowered. veterannews.substack.com

  1. 6d ago

    Congress Has the Signatures to Pay Combat Retirees. The Bill Is Not on This Week's Schedule.

    All four of this week’s main stories turn on a date or a piece of paper rather than on whether a veteran qualifies. The clearest case is in the House. A discharge petition reached the 218 signatures needed to force a vote on full retirement pay for combat-injured retirees on Sept. 15. The House comes back Monday. The weekly floor schedule its leaders published does not list the bill. That pattern repeats. Veterans behind on a VA-backed mortgage can now ask for a partial claim. Servicers have until Nov. 28 to add it to their systems, so the answer today depends on who services the loan. VA’s own appeals numbers show that about 35 percent of higher-level reviews last year found VA had skipped its duty to help gather evidence. Which form a veteran files decides whether anyone goes back and fixes it. In the Tri-Cities, a state veterans cemetery waits on a land transfer, a state budget line and a federal application, not on whether the area needs one. The end of the issue has the practical parts. A Bremerton food distribution is Tuesday, Nov. 10, and its list of who qualifies is narrower than the name suggests. A nonprofit will put a free lawyer on a federal appeal of a Board denial. That clock runs 120 days from the date the Board mailed the decision. And a 21-year-old from Lynn, Massachusetts, who was killed in Burma in 1944, was buried at home on Nov. 5. Combat Retirees Face Two Versions of the Star Act. One Caps the Payment. A bill that would restore full retirement pay to combat-injured retirees has the signatures to force a House vote, and two versions of it are on the table. The standalone bill, H.R. 2102, pays military retired pay and VA compensation in full, with no cap. Section 101 of a larger package, H.R. 9237, carries the Star Act but caps the payment at the lesser of two amounts. DAV National Commander John Donovan called the packaged version scaled down in the Everett Daily Herald on Oct. 24. The Congressional Budget Office counted about 255,000 Chapter 61 retirees with fewer than 20 years of service whose retired pay was reduced in September 2025. The average reduction was about $1,650 a month. CBO’s figure of about $1,450 more a month applies to the roughly 59,000 of them drawing Combat-Related Special Compensation, not to all 255,000. Eligibility turns on a combat-related disability determination. The package also pays for its benefits in part by rewriting the tinnitus and sleep apnea ratings. Section 108 applies only to claims filed after the bill becomes law, so a veteran already rated for either condition keeps that rating. The House rejected a motion to recommit the package on July 16 by 210 to 211, and it has not come back to the floor since. The forced vote is not automatic. Discharge Petition 22 reached 218 signatures on Sept. 15, when Rep. Nancy Mace signed, and the Clerk’s record shows 213 Democrats and five Republicans. A signer still has to announce from the floor an intent to offer the motion, and no floor vote on the bill has been scheduled. The weekly schedule the House Republican Cloakroom posted on Nov. 8 lists neither bill, and it says additional legislative items are possible. The one veterans bill on Monday’s suspension calendar is H.R. 8552, the Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2026. Signing the petition is a procedural step, not a recorded vote on the bill. SourcesU.S. House Clerk, Discharge Petition No. 22: https://clerk.house.gov/DischargePetition/2026052122GovInfo, H.R. 2102, Major Richard Star Act, text as introduced: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-119hr2102ih/html/BILLS-119hr2102ih.htmGovInfo, H.R. 9237, Take Care of America’s Veterans Act, Sections 101 and 108: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-119hr9237ih/html/BILLS-119hr9237ih.htmCongressional Budget Office, cost estimate for H.R. 2102, March 23, 2026: https://www.cbo.gov/publication/62237House Republican Cloakroom, weekly floor schedule for the week of Nov. 9, 2026 (re-checked Nov. 8): https://repcloakroom.house.gov/leader_weekly/11906/U.S. House Clerk, Roll Call 249, motion to recommit H.R. 9237, July 16, 2026: https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2026249John Donovan, DAV national commander, Everett Daily Herald, Oct. 24, 2026: https://www.heraldnet.com/2026/10/24/congress-should-keep-its-promise-to-combat-injured-veterans/ VA Cut a Mortgage Rescue Program. Servicers Must Add Its Replacement by Nov. 28. VA shut down the Veterans Affairs Servicing Purchase program, or VASP, in 2025. Circular 26-25-2 says VA stopped taking new submissions on May 1, 2025. Active trial payment plans could finish by Aug. 31, 2025, and VA issued no payments after Sept. 30, 2025. The circular gives no reason for ending it. NPR reported on Oct. 30 that it reviewed more than 40,000 VA loan modifications from May 2025 through September 2026. NPR said 63 percent of the veterans who got one came out with a higher payment. NPR put that figure at 2 percent on loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. NPR reported more than 26,000 veterans paying more each month, more than 15,000 of them by at least $150, and more than 700 by $1,000 or more. VA told NPR it helps veterans keep their homes through forbearance, modifications and repayment plans. A VA spokesperson told NPR that “many leading voices in Congress supported the termination of VASP, which put the entire VA home loan program at risk.” Congress authorized a replacement, and it has a date on it. VA opened the partial claim for submissions on June 15, 2026. VA’s page for veterans says servicers have until Nov. 28, 2026 to add partial claims to their systems. A servicer that cannot do one for you today has until then to be able to. The partial claim carries no interest and no monthly payment. Chapter 22 of VA’s servicer handbook puts the repayment obligation on the borrower. It falls due at loan maturity, payoff, loan termination or transfer of title. You have to finish a three-month trial payment plan first. The amount cannot exceed 25 percent of your unpaid principal balance, or 30 percent if you missed a payment between March 1, 2020, and May 1, 2025. It covers primary residences only, and an active bankruptcy, an active foreclosure or an earlier partial claim on the same loan disqualifies you. VA tells veterans to call their servicer first, and VA loan technicians take calls at 877-827-3702, option 6, weekdays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern. NPR reported that the partial claim will not help the 26,000 or more veterans who already have a modified loan with a higher payment. SourcesVA, Circular 26-25-2, wind-down of VASP, April 23, 2025: https://www.benefits.va.gov/HOMELOANS/documents/circulars/26-25-02.pdfVA, Trouble making payments on your VA-backed home loan (re-checked Nov. 8, 2026): https://www.va.gov/housing-assistance/home-loans/trouble-making-payments/VA, Partial Claims and Loss Mitigation Waterfall FAQs for Servicers: https://www.benefits.va.gov/HOMELOANS/partial-claims-servicer-faqs.aspVA News, VA launches Partial Claim Program to help veterans avoid home foreclosure: https://news.va.gov/press-room/va-launches-partial-claim-program-to-help-veterans-avoid-home-foreclosure/VA, Servicer Handbook M26-4 Chapter 22, VA Partial Claim: https://benefits.va.gov/HOMELOANS/drafting-table/draft-documents/m26-4-chapter-22-partial-claim-draft.pdfHouse Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, VA Home Loan Program Reform Act signed, July 30, 2025: https://veterans.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=7758NPR, Trump’s VA killed a home loan program. Thousands of veterans are paying the price, Oct. 30, 2026: https://www.npr.org/2026/10/30/nx-s1-5995628/trump-va-home-loan-program-veterans-payingLiveNOW from FOX, reporting NPR’s investigation, Oct. 30, 2026: https://www.livenowfox.com/news/trump-administration-veterans-loan-changesKTVU, reporting NPR’s investigation: https://www.ktvu.com/news/trump-administration-veterans-loan-changesNote on sourcing: every figure above attributed to NPR comes from NPR’s own investig… Get full access to Veteran Voice at veterannews.substack.com/subscribe

  2. Nov 2

    VA Must Repay What a Fiduciary Steals. A Four-Word Bill Would Restore Another Protection.

    If a VA-appointed fiduciary steals a veteran’s benefit money, VA now has to pay it back. That has been federal law since December 2025. An indictment unsealed in Cleveland on Oct. 19 charges a law firm’s former office manager with taking $864,380 from 11 disabled veterans. VA had appointed that firm to manage their money. The charges are allegations and nobody has been convicted. Three of this week’s four main stories turn on the same question. Who has to prove what, and who waits while someone else decides. The fiduciary law answers it one way. VA pays first and chases the money afterward. The PACT Act now answers it the other way for male veterans with breast cancer. A presumption used to carry those claims, and two news outlets report that it no longer does. Two Northwest lawmakers introduced a four-word bill on Oct. 22 to put it back. In a veterans treatment court the question is who qualifies, and the answer is written county by county. A Justice Department grant deadline on Nov. 5 put those courts in focus this week. The fourth story is a calendar. TRICARE open season runs Nov. 9 to Dec. 8 for military retirees and their families. Dental and vision runs to Dec. 14, which is a different deadline. The 2027 prices were still not posted when we checked on Nov. 1. The September notice that said they were coming gets two of its own dates wrong. Mill Creek ended the week with good news and a wrinkle of its own. The city finished expanding its veterans monument, so there is physical room for names again. It has not reopened the application process. The monument page still says there is no additional space, and the city has posted no application, fee or deadline. A 2025 Law Makes VA Repay Veterans Whose Fiduciary Steals. 11 Ohio Veterans May Need It. Federal prosecutors in Cleveland say a law firm’s former office manager took $864,380 from 11 disabled veterans. VA had appointed that firm to manage their benefit money. An indictment unsealed Oct. 19 charges Darlene Toman, 64, of Beachwood, Ohio, with bank fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Prosecutors say she also took $77,051 from the firm’s pro bono account. That brings the alleged total to $941,431, and $864,380 is the part alleged taken from veterans. She pleaded not guilty and was released on a $20,000 unsecured bond. Her lawyer did not comment to cleveland.com, which first reported the case. The firm’s owner told cleveland.com she hoped the case would resolve quickly and that her clients would get full restitution. The charges are allegations and Toman has not been convicted. The VA-appointed fiduciary was the firm, not the office manager who is charged. The useful part for other families is a law from last December. The Veteran Fraud Reimbursement Act of 2025, Public Law 119-56, rewrote 38 U.S.C. 6107. When a fiduciary misuses a benefit, VA now has to pay the beneficiary or a successor fiduciary an amount equal to what was taken. VA then has to make a good faith effort to recover it. VA may not hold that payment back while it decides whether its own negligence caused the loss. Under the older rule, some cases went through a negligence test first. VA still cannot repay more than the amount misused. VA’s regulation at 38 CFR 13.410 has not caught up. The electronic Code of Federal Regulations listed Title 38 as current through Oct. 22, 2026, and the old language is still there. It still sends misuse by an individual fiduciary who served fewer than 10 beneficiaries in a month of misuse to a VA official for a negligence finding. The money is reissued only if negligence is found. The statute controls. The same regulation already covers corporations and other entities without a negligence finding, and the fiduciary in the Ohio case was the law firm. A Congressional Research Service report says the fiduciary program served 101,155 beneficiaries in fiscal 2024. The same report says VA opened 941 misuse investigations that year and removed and replaced 540 fiduciaries. If someone you know has a fiduciary, VA’s guide for fiduciaries says the beneficiary can ask the fiduciary for a copy of the VA-approved accounting. The fiduciary files that accounting with VA, usually once a year. The Fiduciary Contact Center is 1-888-407-0144. Sources Stars and Stripes, carrying cleveland.com through Tribune News Service, Oct. 20, 2026: https://www.stripes.com/veterans/2026-10-20/manager-steals-1-million-veterans-23208959.html Enrolled bill, H.R. 1912, Veteran Fraud Reimbursement Act of 2025 (govinfo): https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-119hr1912enr/html/BILLS-119hr1912enr.htm Public Law 119-56, approved Dec. 12, 2025 (govinfo): https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/PLAW/119/public/PLAW-119publ56.xml 38 U.S.C. 6107 as it read before the rewrite, 2024 edition (govinfo PDF): https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2024-title38/pdf/USCODE-2024-title38-partIV-chap61-sec6107.pdf 38 CFR 13.410, Reissuance and recoupment of misused benefits (eCFR): https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-38/chapter-I/part-13/section-13.410 Congressional Research Service, The VA Fiduciary Program: An Overview, June 4, 2025: https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/IF/PDF/IF13019/IF13019.2.pdf VA Pension and Fiduciary Service, A Guide for VA Fiduciaries: https://www.benefits.va.gov/FIDUCIARY/docs/fy-26-docs/va-fiduciary-guide.pdf Note on sourcing: the Ohio case rests on cleveland.com’s reporting, carried by Stars and Stripes. That is one source, not two. No Justice Department release for the case was found, and the indictment is not publicly retrievable. Everything about the law and the regulation above comes from the government texts themselves. A Washington and Oregon Bill Would Restore Male Breast Cancer to the PACT Act Rep. Rick Larsen of Washington’s 2nd District and Rep. Maxine Dexter of Oregon’s 3rd District introduced H.R. 10882 on Oct. 22. In substance the bill is four words. It would insert “including male breast cancer” into the list of cancers that federal law presumes came from toxic exposure in service. The bill went to the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and has had no hearing or vote. The Veterans of Foreign Wars and Burn Pits 360 have endorsed it, according to the sponsors’ announcement. A presumption decides who has to prove what. The American Homefront Project and U.S. Medicine reported that male breast cancer was added to the PACT Act list in 2024 and came off effective Sept. 30, 2025. Both reported that VA never announced the change, and both credit ProPublica with breaking the story. U.S. Medicine reported that the memorandum was signed by VA Secretary Doug Collins and rested on a January 2025 executive order rather than new medical evidence. VA Press Secretary Pete Kasperowicz told the American Homefront Project that the “Biden Administration falsely classified male breasts as reproductive organs.” He said VA “has eliminated” that classification. He also said VA will keep providing care and will grant benefits to male veterans who show a service connection. VA’s own PACT Act page still reads “Reproductive cancer of any type.” It names male breast cancer neither way. The statute the bill would amend, 38 U.S.C. 1120(b)(2)(E), carries that same phrase, and closing that gap in the law is the point of the bill. Nothing changes for now. Male veterans already getting VA care or benefits for breast cancer keep them, according to what VA told the American Homefront Project. Women veterans with breast cancer are still covered by the presumption. A man filing a new claim can still win it. He has to prove the exposure caused the cancer rather than have it presumed. That means service records placing him in a covered location, his medical records, and a written opinion from a doctor. An accredited service officer at a county veterans office or a VSO post will help build that at no charge. Camp Lejeune claims run under a separate law and are not affected. Mike Partain is a Camp Lejeune advocate who had breast cancer himself. He to… Get full access to Veteran Voice at veterannews.substack.com/subscribe

  3. Oct 27

    The VA Funded 49 Northwest Repairs. It Published No Dates.

    The Department of Veterans Affairs approved $2.681 billion in building repair and upgrade work in the last three months of fiscal year 2026. That is a national total. The project list VA published on Oct. 14 includes 49 projects in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. It gives a project name, a city and a state, and nothing else. There are no dollar figures for any single project, no start dates and no completion dates. A veteran who wants to know when the elevator at her hospital gets fixed has to call the medical center and ask. The same gap showed up twice more this week. The VA Office of Inspector General published an audit of painful scar disability decisions, and several headlines turned it into a story about veterans owing money back. The report does not address collecting money back at all. Washington’s Department of Veterans Affairs is running two paid service programs, one of them with internships listed open until filled. It has published no head count and no results for either one. All three of this week’s main stories have that shape. The number is public. The part a person would act on is not. None of the three is a scandal, and two of them are arguably good news, a record maintenance budget and paid openings with published rates. But in each case the published document stops short of the question, and the answer sits with a local office. The week also produced three things a person can use right now. A free stand down runs Oct. 31 at the Yakima SunDome. Operation Homefront is taking applications for rent-free apartments in Tacoma. And an Oregon veteran got a Bronze Star 57 years late because one saved page turned up. VA Funded 49 Hospital Repair Projects in Washington, Oregon and Idaho Last Quarter The VA approved $2.681 billion in building repair and upgrade projects in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026. That is a national total, not the cost of the Northwest work. The list it published on Oct. 14 holds 49 projects in Washington, Oregon and Idaho: 31 in Washington, 15 in Oregon and 2 in Idaho. These are repairs and upgrades, not new hospitals. Eighteen Washington entries are filed under Seattle, which covers both VA Puget Sound campuses, and Spokane’s Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center has 10, including new roofs on five buildings. Idaho’s two are both in Boise, an emergency room expansion and a pharmacy expansion. The money comes out of a $4.8 billion maintenance budget for fiscal 2026 that VA describes as the largest in the department’s history. SourcesFull story: https://veterannews.substack.com/p/va-funded-49-hospital-repair-projects-in-washington-oregonVA News, VA announces $2.6B in infrastructure improvements in fourth quarter of FY 2026, Oct. 14, 2026: https://news.va.gov/press-room/va-announces-2-6b-in-infrastructure-improvements-in-fourth-quarter-of-fy-2026/VHA non-recurring maintenance project awards, FY2026 Q4, the project list itself (PDF). VA is the only source for this list, so the two links above and here are one institution and two documents: https://department.va.gov/vha/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2026/10/VHA-NRM-Project-Awards-FY2026-Q4.pdfVA Puget Sound Health Care, Locations, for the two campuses the Seattle entries cover: https://www.va.gov/puget-sound-health-care/locations/VA Spokane Health Care, About us, for the Mann-Grandstaff name: https://www.va.gov/spokane-health-care/about-us/ A Watchdog Found Errors in 17,900 Painful Scar Ratings. Most Changed No Payment. The VA Office of Inspector General reported on Oct. 21 that it reviewed 130 painful scar disability decisions. It found at least one error in 60 of them, an error rate of about 38 percent. It projected roughly 17,900 errors across a review population of about 47,300 decisions. That number is a statistical projection, not a count of confirmed errors. About 538,000 veterans had a painful scar evaluation as of July, so the audited group is a small share of them. The OIG put overpayments at a minimum of about 920 decisions and about $5.6 million, and it found no underpayments, so nobody in the sample was shortchanged. The report says nothing about collecting money back from veterans, which means a letter from the VA about a scar rating is not a bill. The Veterans Benefits Administration said inside the report that 7 of the 60 errors led to improper payments and the other 53 were technical or procedural. Its target date for correcting the errors the OIG identified is Feb. 28, 2027. If a rating does change, an accredited veterans service officer handles the response at no cost. Federal rules bar anyone from charging a veteran for help with an initial claim. SourcesVA Office of Inspector General, Review of Accuracy of Claims Processors’ Disability Evaluation Decisions for Painful Scars, Report 25-03303-266, Oct. 21, 2026: https://vaoig.gov/reports/review/review-accuracy-claims-processors-disability-evaluation-decisions-painful-scarsVA Office of Inspector General, full report PDF: https://vaoig.gov/sites/default/files/reports/2026-10/vaoig-25-03303-266_final.pdfStars and Stripes, Federal watchdog identifies errors on veteran disability decisions for ‘painful scars’, Oct. 21, 2026: https://www.stripes.com/veterans/2026-10-21/veterans-disability-claims-painful-scars-watchdog-23220921.htmlMilitary Times, Errors in disability cases for ‘painful scars’ resulted in overpayment: VA watchdog, Oct. 22, 2026: https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2026/10/22/errors-in-disability-cases-for-painful-scars-resulted-in-overpayment-va-watchdog/MOAA, on the bar against charging veterans for help with an initial claim, Sept. 22, 2026: https://www.moaa.org/content/publications-and-media/news-articles/2026-news-articles/advocacy/court-ruling-exposes-vas-limited-power-to-stop-predatory-claims-companies/ Washington Runs Two Paid Service Programs for Veterans. Here Is What They Pay. Washington’s Department of Veterans Affairs is running two paid service programs this fall. WDVA said in August that Vet Corps would begin a new program year on Sept. 16 after a funding pause. The program places members at colleges, county veterans offices and nonprofits as peer mentors. Members get a stipend of $1,942 a month, health insurance, training and an education award, and veterans, spouses and dependents get priority. The Veterans Conservation Corps lists 10 internships open until filled, with openings from Oakville and Olympia to Pullman and Mount Vernon. The listing itself does not show pay. The program overview is where the figures are, at $3,200 a month for 40 hours a week and $1,600 for 20 hours. The state calls those conservation payments stipends, not wages, and WDVA pays them directly. Neither program has published results. There is no head count for Vet Corps and no measured outcome for the conservation work. So this is a set of paid openings rather than a proven record. Questions on the conservation internships go to VCC@dva.wa.gov. SourcesWashington State Department of Veterans Affairs, Vet Corps program relaunches with site locations across Washington, Aug. 5, 2026: https://dva.wa.gov/news/2026/vet-corps-program-relaunches-site-locations-across-washingtonWDVA, Veterans Conservation Corps Program Overview, for the stipend amounts and hours (PDF): https://dva.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2026-02/VCC%20Program%20Overview_0.pdfWDVA, List of Available Veterans Conservation Corps Paid Internships: https://dva.wa.gov/node/9058The state is the only source for both programs. Every link above is WDVA’s own, and no outside reporting on either program turned up this week. Events, Trainings and Resources Free Veterans Stand Down, Oct. 31 at the Yakima SunDome The 27th annual Veterans Stand Down and Resource Fair runs Saturday, Oct. 31, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The venue is the Yakima SunDome at State Fair Park, 1301 S. Fair Avenue in Yakima. The Yakima Valley Veterans Coalition hosts it. It is free, and it is open to veterans, active duty members, reservists and their family members. Yakima County’s veteran… Get full access to Veteran Voice at veterannews.substack.com/subscribe

  4. Oct 19

    A Senate Committee Still Holds the Veterans' Share of the 3.6 Percent Raise

    The Social Security Administration set next year’s cost-of-living raise at 3.6 percent on Oct. 14. Social Security payments and military retired pay go up on their own, because the law says so permanently. VA disability compensation does not. Congress has to pass a bill for it every year, and this year’s bill has not moved since May. Two of this week’s three main stories are about a step that has not happened yet. The raise sits with the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee. At the Supreme Court, the justices heard argument on Oct. 5 over where a veteran may take a constitutional challenge to a benefits law. Both lawyers gave ground. Nothing changed in either story for a veteran filing a claim today. In both, someone else decides what happens next. The third main story is about two programs that are not benefits programs at all. Two Washington farms put veterans to work on rented land and thin budgets. Growing Veterans in Lynden lost a federal grant and closed a site. Its director says the group gave a food bank 6,200 pounds of produce last year, and that farm visits roughly doubled. Vets on the Farm in Spokane Valley began with a $6,000 grant from AgWest Farm Credit in 2015. Neither one pays a benefit. The week also produced two things a veteran can use now. A free resource expo and stand down runs Nov. 6 in Pasco, and the address changed this year. The American Legion said its accredited service officers secured a record $25.8 billion in VA benefits in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. That help is free. Veterans’ 2027 Raise Is Tracking at 3.6 Percent, and the Bill Is Still in Committee The Social Security Administration set the 2027 cost-of-living adjustment at 3.6 percent on Oct. 14. We reported in September that the figure was tracking near 3.3 percent. VA disability compensation uses the same percentage, but the VA increase is not automatic in law. Congress must pass the annual Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act, and the president must sign it. This year’s bill is S. 4487, introduced in May by Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas and sent to the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee. Its official status record, checked again this week, shows no action after that referral. Published estimates based on 3.6 percent put a veteran rated 100 percent with no dependents near $4,080 a month, up from about $3,939. The VA has not published 2027 rate tables, so those dollar figures are estimates. The increase takes effect Dec. 1 and should appear in the payment arriving Dec. 31 or in early January. Veterans do not need to file anything, because the VA applies the increase on its own. SourcesSocial Security Administration, 2027 cost-of-living announcement, Oct. 14, 2026: https://www.ssa.gov/news/en/press/releases/2026-10-14.htmlS. 4487 on GovInfo, introduced bill text (one source, two documents, with the status record below): https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-119s4487is/html/BILLS-119s4487is.htmS. 4487 on GovInfo, official bill status record, latest action May 11, 2026, retrieved Oct. 18, 2026: https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/119/s/BILLSTATUS-119s4487.xmlStars and Stripes, Oct. 14, 2026: https://www.stripes.com/veterans/2026-10-14/disabled-veterans-military-retirees-benefit-increase-23155397.html Justices Press Both Sides on Where Veterans Can Challenge a Benefits Law The Supreme Court heard argument in Johnson v. United States Congress on Oct. 5. We previewed the case on Sept. 28. The question before the Court is which courthouse may hear such a case. May a veteran take a constitutional challenge to a benefits law into a federal district court, or must the claim stay inside the VA review system? Much of the argument turned on a related question. Can the Board of Veterans’ Appeals rule that an act of Congress violates the Constitution? Kevin J. Barber, arguing for the government, told the justices that “the Board can and must decide these constitutional claims.” Barber acknowledged the Board has not been consistent about that. Johnson’s lawyer, Jeffrey W. Chen, argued that the Board will not decide such a challenge. Justice Amy Coney Barrett asked whether his client still had a route. “If he wanted to, yes,” Chen said, allowing that Johnson could press the claim further up the chain. Justice Sonia Sotomayor pushed from the other side. “And that’s a very odd system, isn’t it?” she said. This case is only about which courthouse may hear a challenge to a benefits law itself. Nothing changed on Oct. 5 for a veteran filing a claim or appealing a rating. The justices are not deciding whether the prison payment limit in Johnson’s case is constitutional. A decision is expected by the end of the term next summer, so nothing is settled yet. One correction is worth repeating. Military Times, reporting on the argument, again described Johnson’s rating as reduced to 10 percent because of his incarceration. The law does not touch the rating. Starting on the 61st day of a felony incarceration, 38 U.S.C. 5313 caps what the VA pays. For a veteran rated 20 percent or higher, the cap is the 10 percent dollar rate. SourcesSupreme Court of the United States, oral argument transcript, Johnson v. United States Congress, No. 25-735, Oct. 5, 2026: https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/2026/25-735_ca7d.pdfSupreme Court of the United States, docket for No. 25-735: https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/25-735.html38 U.S.C. 5313, Office of the Law Revision Counsel: https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title38-section5313&num=0&edition=prelim Two Washington Farms Give Veterans Work, Company and a Way Into Farming Two Washington farm programs put veterans to work, and both run on rented land and thin budgets. Growing Veterans in Lynden is a nonprofit, and it calls its program dirt therapy. It is farm-based peer support rather than a benefits program, though the group is still a VA Work Study site where veteran students can earn pay. The group is smaller than it was. Farms in Mount Vernon and Auburn have closed, and a Whidbey Island site closed in 2025 after a federal grant was canceled. Executive Director Cody Call told Bellingham Alive he believes the grant was labeled as DEI related. Call said the group gave a food bank 6,200 pounds of produce in 2025, up from 1,400 pounds in 2024. He said farm visits rose from about 400 in 2024 to almost 800 in 2025. He said he wants the farm to be a community center open to anyone, veteran or not, and it holds a Friday morning coffee check-in. Vets on the Farm was founded by the Spokane Conservation District and sits on three leased acres in Spokane Valley. It started with a $6,000 grant from AgWest Farm Credit in 2015. Veterans there grow organic vegetables and starts, keep beehives, and learn greenhouse work, harvesting, marketing and farm finances. That account comes from a column in the Spokane Journal of Business. Its author, Sonja Jensen, is AgWest’s Washington state president and a volunteer at the farm, so it comes from a supporter. By her account, the program has served well over 500 veterans. For veterans who want to farm for a living, the Farmer Veteran Coalition announced 122 fellowship awardees in 43 states on May 1. It reported more than $464,000 in awards and equipment, with individual awards that generally run from $1,000 to $5,000. The rules are narrow. Applicants must be coalition members and must run an operating for-profit farm with a business plan. Payments go to approved vendors rather than to the veteran, and the next application window has not been posted. SourcesBellingham Alive, “A Decade in Review for Dirt Therapy Nonprofit Growing Veterans,” May 31, 2026: https://bellinghamalive.com/lifestyle/a-decade-in-review-for-dirt-therapy-nonprofit-growing-veterans/Spokane Journal of Business, “Spokane effort helps military veterans enter agriculture,” July 16, 2026: https://www.spokanejournal.com/articles/18480-spokane-eff… Get full access to Veteran Voice at veterannews.substack.com/subscribe

  5. Oct 16

    The Rules Changed for Veterans. The Agencies’ Own Pages Did Not.

    Veterans no longer get an automatic pass on the three-month limit for SNAP food benefits. In Washington, there is no longer any area where that limit is waived. The limit reaches nonexempt adults 18 to 64 who are able to work and have no child under 14 at home. Several exemptions still apply. The Government Accountability Office reported on Oct. 1 that the federal government’s own eligibility information had not caught up. All three of this week’s main stories have that same shape. A rule moved, and the official answer has not. On SNAP, an old state web page is still posted with 2017 rules. The page revised in May 2026 is the one that governs. On dental care, the two sides arguing over a new House bill cannot agree on how many veterans the VA already covers. Bergman’s office says about 15 percent of enrolled veterans are eligible for VA dental services. The GAO put the figure at about 26 percent. On ibogaine, the FDA has opened a public comment period on how the first federally funded trials should be designed. The practical lesson is the same in all three. Do not trust a web page about your own eligibility without checking the date on it. Call and ask instead. If you are on Basic Food in Washington, two dates matter. The current 36-month period ends Dec. 31, and a new one starts Jan. 1, 2027. The week also produced things you can use now. A Portland nonprofit gives free care to veterans, service members and their families in Oregon and Southwest Washington, and it takes no government money. There is a free resource expo and stand down in Pasco on Nov. 6. And a lender built for veteran business owners has reopened its free accelerator, after passing a lending goal it set in 2022. Veterans Lost Their SNAP Exemption, and Washington No Longer Waives Any Area The 2025 budget law rewrote the list of people who are exempt from SNAP’s three-month limit, and veterans are not on the new list. Washington’s own manual says the state has had no federally approved waived areas since Feb. 1, including Tacoma and Puyallup. February 2026 was the first full month that clients in those areas had to meet the 80-hour monthly work requirement. The GAO reported on Oct. 1 that the eligibility information a veteran would use to check their own case had not kept up. GAO found that USDA “has not developed outreach materials tailored to veterans in the past 5 years.” Exemptions do remain, including being unable to work 80 hours a month with documentation, but a VA disability rating does not exempt you on its own. Washington’s current 36-month period ends Dec. 31, and a new one starts Jan. 1, 2027, which resets the three-month count. If any page, state or federal, tells you that veterans are automatically excepted, that page is out of date. Sources Full story: https://veterannews.substack.com/p/veterans-lost-their-snap-exemption-and-washington-no-longer Government Accountability Office, GAO-27-108111, Oct. 1, 2026: https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-27-108111 Washington State DSHS, ABAWDs, revised May 26, 2026: https://www.dshs.wa.gov/esa/basic-food-work-requirements/abawds-able-bodied-adults-without-dependents Washington State DSHS, EAZ Manual Revision #1361, Feb. 6, 2026: https://www.dshs.wa.gov/sites/default/files/ESA/eaz-manual/revisions/Rev%201361.pdf Public Law 119-21, sections 10102 and 10106: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-119publ21/html/PLAW-119publ21.htm House Bill Would Pay Local Dentists to Treat Rural Veterans Who Get No VA Dental What is new this week is a bill, not a benefit. Rep. Jack Bergman, a Michigan Republican, introduced H.R. 10419, the SMILE for Veterans Act, on Sept. 16. It would have the VA pay local dentists to treat enrolled veterans in rural areas who get no VA dental benefit at all. We reported Sept. 29 on the roughly 2.3 million veterans who do qualify under current law, by the GAO’s count. The bill authorizes $5 million in fiscal 2027 and $20 million a year from fiscal 2028 through 2030. It calls for a pilot in at least 10 rural locations across at least five states, and it names no states. The VA’s authority to run it would end three years after the pilot starts. The bill sits in committee, and nothing in it changes anyone’s benefit today. Sources H.R. 10419, introduced text, Sept. 16, 2026: https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLS/119/2/hr/BILLS-119hr10419ih.xml Office of Rep. Jack Bergman, Sept. 25, 2026: https://bergman.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1540 Government Accountability Office, GAO-26-108467, Sept. 23, 2026: https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-26-108467 FDA Asks the Public How to Test Ibogaine for PTSD. Comments Are Due Nov. 20. The FDA is asking the public how to design the first federally funded trials of ibogaine, a psychedelic drug, for adults with PTSD and opioid addiction. The notice never mentions veterans. The push behind it does. Much of the interest traces to a 2024 Stanford study of 30 special operations veterans with brain injuries who arranged their own treatment in Mexico. Their average PTSD symptoms were down 88 percent a month later, Stanford reported, though that was 30 people followed for one month. The FDA says the published research on ibogaine is thin. Its drug center director said the drug raises “important scientific questions as well as serious safety concerns.” The notice says ibogaine commonly lengthens a heart-rhythm measure called the QTc interval, which can trigger a dangerous rhythm and death. So the draft plan is cautious. Each person would get one dose, no higher than 10 milligrams per kilogram of body weight. Participants would stay in a hospital unit for at least 36 hours with continuous heart monitoring. They would go home only after a 48-hour heart tracing shows no QTc prolongation. Comments are due Nov. 20, and nothing in the notice lets a veteran get ibogaine through the VA. These are early-phase trials, not a path to a prescription. Sources Federal Register, Design and Safety Considerations for Clinical Trials Involving Ibogaine Drug Products, Oct. 6, 2026: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/10/06/2026-20427/design-and-safety-considerations-for-clinical-trials-involving-ibogaine-drug-products-request-for FDA, FDA seeks public input to support ibogaine research, Oct. 5, 2026: https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-seeks-public-input-support-ibogaine-research Stanford Medicine, Ibogaine treatment in special operations veterans, Jan. 2024: https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2024/01/ibogaine-ptsd.html Military.com, VA expands psychedelic therapy trials for PTSD treatment, Nov. 2025: https://military.com/feature/2025/11/03/va-expands-psychedelic-therapy-trials-ptsd-treatment.html Events, Trainings and Resources Tri-Cities Veterans Resource Expo and Stand Down, Pasco, Nov. 6. The expo runs Friday, Nov. 6, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the HAPO Center, 6600 Burden Blvd. in Pasco. It is free, and it is for veterans and their families. The state listing says employment, education, benefits, housing, surplus gear, haircuts, veteran service officers and workshops will be on site, with a free lunch from Texas Roadhouse. The listing does not say whether you need to register, so call ahead if that matters to you. The contact is Kelsey Lehto at 509-604-0172 or expo@columbiabasinvetcenter.org. Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs event listing: https://dva.wa.gov/calendar/event/2026-11/tri-cities-veterans-resource-expo-stand-down Returning Veterans Project, free care in Oregon and Southwest Washington. A Portland nonprofit has been connecting people with volunteer providers since 2005, and it says all appointments with those providers are free. It covers veterans, active duty service members, Guard and Reserve members, and close family who live in Oregon or Southwest Washington. There is no insurance, no referral and no paperwork, and no cap on visits. Eleven kinds of care are on the list, including mental health counseling, acupuncture, chiropractic care and physical therapy. T… Get full access to Veteran Voice at veterannews.substack.com/subscribe

  6. Oct 5

    The VA Knows Who Qualifies. Reaching Them Is the Harder Job.

    The VA released its yearly veteran suicide report this week. The number that matters is not the total. Of the 6,488 veterans who died by suicide in 2024, 62 percent had not received VA health care in the year they died or the year before. Four of this week’s five main stories come back to that same gap. The suicide report is one of them. A benefit can exist on paper and still not reach the person it was written for. A watchdog report says about 2.3 million veterans now qualify for free VA dental care. Stars and Stripes, reading the report, put the number actually using it at about 870,000. The Supreme Court hears a case Monday about whether a veteran can even get into federal district court to argue that a benefits law is unconstitutional. And the VA says some veterans will sign a consent form before certain prescriptions starting in 2027. Whether that produces a real conversation is a separate question. The fifth story is about service members, not veterans. Combat and danger pay went up Oct. 1 for the first time since 2002. A pay table sat untouched for 24 years while the map it covered kept changing. The week also produced things a reader can actually use. There are two resource fairs coming up in Washington, one in Bremerton and one in Lacey. There is a state legal office that is free and that most veterans here have never heard of. And eight veterans of the Bosnian War got medals that were recommended decades ago and never awarded. Most Veterans Who Die by Suicide Aren’t in VA Care. A Grant Program Is Built to Reach Them. The VA’s annual suicide report, released Sept. 30, counted 6,488 veteran deaths in 2024. Sixty-two percent of those veterans had not used VA health care in the year they died or the year before. Since 2001, the report says, the suicide rate for veterans enrolled in VA care fell 2.2 percent, while the rate for veterans outside the system rose 70.8 percent. The day before the report, the VA awarded $111.9 million to 191 community organizations through the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox grant program. It pays for one year of services that began Sept. 30. The money funds groups veterans may already trust, rather than clinics many at-risk veterans will not walk into. Seven of those grants cover at least part of Washington. The VA counted 184 veteran suicides here in 2024, a rate close to double the state’s rate for adults overall. The state’s own Fox team says it filed 56 benefits claims and handed out 70 firearm and medication lockboxes in its last program year. Sources VA, annual Veteran suicide prevention report, Sept. 30, 2026: https://news.va.gov/press-room/va-releases-annual-veteran-suicide-prevention-report-updated-with-2024-data/ VA, $112M in suicide prevention grants, Sept. 29, 2026: https://news.va.gov/press-room/va-awards-112-million-in-suicide-prevention-grants/ VA, FY27 SSG Fox SPGP Awards List: https://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/MENTALHEALTH/ssgfox-grants/docs/FY27-SSG-Fox-SPGP-2026-Awards-List_508.pdf VA, Washington Veteran Suicide Data Sheet, 2024: https://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/MENTALHEALTH/docs/data-sheets/2026/State_Data_Sheets_2026_Washington.pdf WDVA, SSG Fox community-based suicide prevention: https://dva.wa.gov/sp/ssg-fox About 2.3 Million Veterans Now Qualify for Free VA Dental Care The Government Accountability Office reported Sept. 23 that the number of veterans eligible for free VA dental care grew about 70 percent in five years, reaching about 2.3 million in fiscal 2025. Most of that growth came from veterans who now hold a 100 percent service-connected rating. The rest came from veterans paid at the 100 percent rate because their conditions keep them from working. GAO also found that about 26 percent of the nearly 9 million enrolled veterans qualify for dental care. That leaves roughly three out of four who do not. Enrolling in VA health care does not by itself get you a cleaning. Stars and Stripes, reading the report, said the number of veterans actually using the benefit roughly doubled between 2020 and 2025, from about 420,000 to about 870,000. Nothing in the report changes what any veteran gets today. Full story: https://veterannews.substack.com/p/about-2-3-million-veterans-now-qualify-for-free-va-dental Sources GAO-26-108467, released Sept. 23, 2026: https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-26-108467 VA dental care eligibility: https://www.va.gov/health-care/about-va-health-benefits/dental-care/ VA dental benefits for Veterans with disabilities: https://www.va.gov/disability/eligibility/special-claims/dental-care/ Linda F. Hersey, Stars and Stripes, Sept. 23, 2026: https://www.stripes.com/veterans/2026-09-23/more-disabled-veterans-dental-benefits-22943820.html Supreme Court Will Decide Where Veterans Can Challenge Benefits Laws The Supreme Court hears argument Monday, Oct. 5, in Johnson v. United States Congress, No. 25-735. The question is procedural. It is about which court may hear an argument that a benefits law itself violates the Constitution. It is not about ordinary VA claims or appeals. Nothing in it changes for a veteran filing a claim or appealing a rating today. Two appeals courts have held that the 1988 Veterans’ Judicial Review Act closed the federal district court door to that kind of challenge. Johnson’s lawyers count the split six circuits to two, and the government says that count is too broad. The justices are not being asked whether the prison payment limit at the center of the case is constitutional. A decision is likely by the end of the term next summer, so nothing is settled on Oct. 5. Full story: https://veterannews.substack.com/p/supreme-court-will-decide-where-veterans-can-challenge Sources Supreme Court October Term 2026 argument calendar, amended Sept. 14, 2026: https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_calendars/MonthlyArgumentCalOctober2026.pdf 38 U.S.C. 5313: https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid%3AUSC-prelim-title38-section5313&num=0&edition=prelim Brief of amici curiae NVLSP, Connecticut Veterans Legal Center and Swords to Plowshares: https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25/25-735/392324/20260121140846202_2026.01.21%20-%20Johnson%20v.%20US%20Congress%20-%20Final.pdf SCOTUSblog case page and docket timeline: https://www.scotusblog.com/cases/johnson-v-united-states-congress/ VA Will Require Signed Consent for Some Mental Health and Pain Prescriptions in 2027 The VA announced new informed consent guidance on Sept. 28 covering psychotropic medications, a category that includes antidepressants, antipsychotics, stimulants, anti-anxiety drugs and opioids. Starting in 2027, a veteran younger than 30 will need to sign consent before a VA provider prescribes an antidepressant. A veteran of any age will need to sign before a provider prescribes an opioid and a benzodiazepine at the same time. The VA will also add standardized patient education and require providers to document a discussion of risks, side effects, benefits, alternatives and how to stop the drug safely. This is VA guidance, not a federal regulation, and nothing changes for a veteran filling a prescription today. Signature consent before starting long-term opioid therapy for pain already existed. Full story: https://veterannews.substack.com/p/va-will-require-signed-consent-for Sources VA press release, Sept. 28, 2026: https://news.va.gov/press-room/va-moves-to-strengthen-informed-consent-transparency-for-veterans/ VHA Directive 1005, Informed Consent for Long-Term Opioid Therapy for Pain, May 13, 2020: https://www.ethics.va.gov/docs/policy/VHA_Handbook_1005_Opioid_Therapy_IC.pdf Combat and Danger Pay Go Up for the First Time Since 2002 The Pentagon doubled hostile fire pay to $450 a month and raised imminent danger pay to $275 a month, or $9.16 for each day in a designated area. Both changes took effect Oct. 1. It is the first increase in either pay since 2002. A service member cannot draw both pays in the same month. Hostile fire pay requires a qualifying incident, not simply a deployment, and imminent danger pay is paid by th… Get full access to Veteran Voice at veterannews.substack.com/subscribe

  7. Sep 28

    A Watchdog, Two States and Five Reservists Did the Checking

    All four of this week’s stories started with somebody checking work that was supposed to be correct already. A VA inspector general checked a list VA had sent Congress. Two state attorneys general opened investigations into a company’s billing. University researchers checked blood samples nobody had sorted by military service before. Five reservists checked their own pay records and found a gap. The biggest miss was the list. VA told Congress in May 2025 that it had ended 446 contract actions worth about $120.9 billion. The inspector general found the real figures were 435 actions worth about $1.1 billion. A second list, sent that July, counted prosthetics, surgical implants, wheelchair ramps and nursing home orders as terminated. The report says those were never terminated at all. Nothing was cut from veterans’ care there. The count was simply wrong. The other three stories are about a gap between what is written down and what a veteran can actually get. Federal law says help with a first VA disability claim must be free, but Congress removed the criminal penalty in 2006. Federal employees who serve in the Reserve or Guard have been owed differential pay since 2009, and the Supreme Court settled the main legal question in April 2025. The government still has not paid them. Researchers reported this month that younger veterans carry more PFAS than civilians their age. VA’s own public health page says PFAS blood testing is not available at its medical centers. A VA List Told Congress It Cut $120 Billion in Contracts. The Watchdog Found $1.1 Billion. VA’s inspector general reported on Sept. 22 that VA terminated 435 contract actions for convenience, with total contract values of about $1.1 billion. The list VA sent Congress in May 2025 claimed 446 actions worth about $120.9 billion. Sixteen entries on that list were reported at $1 billion or more, and auditors found none actually topped $150 million. A second list in July 2025 included 974 supply orders and 151 health care orders that were never terminated. Those included orders for prosthetics, surgical implants, wheelchair ramps and nursing home services. A VA official told auditors the department built a dashboard to track the cancellations and the dashboard miscalculated the values. Auditors also found VA contracting staff generally complied with federal acquisition rules, and the report makes no recommendations and questions no costs. Sources: VA Office of Inspector General, Review of Contracts Terminated for Convenience (25-03033-230): https://www.vaoig.gov/reports/review/review-contracts-terminated-convenience VA OIG full report PDF: https://www.vaoig.gov/sites/default/files/reports/2026-09/vaoig-25-03033-230_final.pdf Government Executive, VA’s contracting crackdown gave some staff hours to do hundreds of reviews: https://www.govexec.com/management/2026/09/vas-contracting-crackdown-hours-hundreds-reviews/416219/ Two States Target a Claims Company That Charged Veterans Up to $20,000 The attorneys general of New York and Illinois told a federal bankruptcy judge on Sept. 8 that they have open investigations into Trajector Medical and intend to take legal action. The Florida company charges veterans as much as $20,000 for help with VA disability claims. NPR reported that Trajector acknowledges in its contracts that it is not accredited by VA. Federal law says help with a first claim must be free, but Congress dropped the criminal penalty for breaking that rule in 2006. Trajector denies the allegations, and spokesman Steve Zenofsky told NPR that the company stands behind how it operates. Trajector and 21 related companies are in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The two states argue the fees were illegal, so the cash the company holds should not count as property of the estate. Free help with a first claim is available from VA-accredited representatives, including veterans service organizations. NPR also spoke with veterans who were satisfied with the help they got. Sources (the reporting on the letter originates with NPR, and the Stars and Stripes item followed it a day later): NPR, via KNKX Public Radio, Sept. 24, 2026: https://www.knkx.org/2026-09-24/states-threaten-action-against-company-profiting-off-disabled-vets-after-npr-report Stars and Stripes, 5 things to know in veterans news, Sept. 25, 2026: https://www.stripes.com/veterans/2026-09-25/job-training-supreme-court-case-lawmakers-recognized-22952928.html Military Officers Association of America, on the accreditation rule and unaccredited claims companies, April 15, 2026: https://www.moaa.org/content/publications-and-media/news-articles/2026-news-articles/benefits/advocacy-in-action-states-need-support-protecting-veterans-from-claim-sharks/ Study Finds Higher ‘Forever Chemical’ Levels in Veterans Under 40. VA Clinics Do Not Test for Them. Veterans aged 20 to 39 carry more PFAS in their blood than civilians the same age, according to a Brown University study published Sept. 14 in Environmental Health Perspectives. Brown’s release on the study puts the gap at 13 to 24 percent depending on the chemical. Stars and Stripes reported wider gaps from the same paper, which is paywalled, and the study shows an association rather than a cause. Researchers found no difference between veterans over 40 and civilians their age. VA’s public health page says PFAS blood testing is not available at VA medical centers. VA also states there are no presumptions related to PFAS exposure in the military. Lead author Christian Hoover told Stars and Stripes that VHA coverage does not pay for the tests. VA spokesman Quinn Slaven told the paper that VA doctors can order them through commercial lab partners when deemed medically necessary. Sources: Brown University news release, Sept. 14, 2026: https://www.brown.edu/news/2026-09-14/veterans-pfas Stars and Stripes, Sept. 15, 2026: https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2026-09-15/toxic-pfas-veterans-healthcare-22849768.html VA Public Health, PFAS page, last updated April 16, 2026: https://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/pfas.asp Reservists Sue for Years of Unpaid Federal Differential Pay, Including at the VA Five reservists filed a class action before the Merit Systems Protection Board on Sept. 23, according to the motion they shared with Stars and Stripes and Army Times. They are federal civilian employees. Differential pay is the gap between a civilian salary and lower military pay, owed when they are called up during a declared national emergency. The case names the Departments of Defense, Justice and Veterans Affairs, and one plaintiff is a healthcare engineer at the Orlando VA Healthcare System. The Supreme Court settled the main legal question in Feliciano v. Department of Transportation in April 2025, though the service still has to happen while an emergency declaration is in effect. Federal law sets no deadline for filing that kind of complaint, and the filing argues the claims can reach back to 2009. Nothing has been decided here. The board has not certified a class, and neither news report includes a response from the three departments. Sources: Stars and Stripes, Sept. 23, 2026: https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2026-09-23/military-reservists-lawsuit-unpaid-compensation-22941577.html Army Times, Sept. 23, 2026: https://www.armytimes.com/pay-benefits/2026/09/23/5-military-reservists-file-class-action-lawsuit-seeking-differential-pay/ Supreme Court, Feliciano v. Department of Transportation: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/605/23-861/ 38 U.S.C. 4327, Cornell Legal Information Institute: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/38/4327 If you work for the federal government and serve in the Reserve or Guard, pull your leave and earnings statements for every stretch of active duty since 2009. Nobody is going to run that check for you. Veteran Voice is also on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Get full access to Veteran Voice at veterannews.substack.com/subscribe

    A Watchdog, Two States and Five Reservists Did the Checking

  8. Sep 21

    A Missed Payment in October Can Cost a Veteran a Life Insurance Policy

    Four of this week’s six stories turn on a date. Nov. 1 decides who gets a three-month break on life insurance premiums. Oct. 14 brings the last piece of data behind next year’s disability raise. Oct. 1 starts $1.17 billion moving toward groups that house homeless veterans and keep others from losing their homes. Oct. 2 is the day ten House members want answers about a VA committee that has not met since December 2024. The insurance date is the one that can cost somebody real money. VA is skipping three months of premiums on Veterans’ Group Life Insurance. To get the break, the policy has to be active on Nov. 1. If a veteran is already behind on payments, the holiday does not erase what is owed. VA says the balance still has to be paid or coverage lapses in February. Somebody could go three months without a bill and lose the policy anyway. The other two stories are about what a number counts. The VA inspector general reported 4,712 severe staffing shortages across all 139 VA medical centers. That is not a count of empty jobs. It is a tally of survey answers from facility officials, and the OIG says it did not check them. In the House, a bill would nearly triple the fee veterans pay to refinance a VA loan. The $4 billion in savings attached to that language covers two separate fee changes, not just the refinance one. None of this changes a payment or an appointment today. What it changes is what is worth watching over the next six weeks. VA Will Skip Three Months of VGLI Premiums, but the Policy Has to Be Active on Nov. 1 VA will stop collecting premiums on Veterans’ Group Life Insurance from Nov. 1, 2026 through Jan. 31, 2027, and coverage stays in force. No one has to apply, though veterans who pay through their bank’s own bill pay service have to stop and restart those payments themselves. VA says about 457,000 veterans hold VGLI policies, and puts the waiver at nearly $150 million, or roughly $330 for a typical policyholder. The condition sits in VA’s frequently asked questions page, updated Sept. 15. Coverage has to be active on Nov. 1, so a cancellation or a lapse on or before Oct. 31 leaves a veteran out. The holiday also does not erase a past-due balance, and VA’s FAQ says failing to pay it makes coverage lapse once the holiday ends. The break covers VGLI and nothing else. SGLI, family SGLI, traumatic injury protection, VALife and Service-Disabled Veterans Insurance are all unaffected. Sources (every detail here comes from VA’s own announcements, so there is no independent check on the participation and savings figures): VA press release, Sept. 16, 2026: https://news.va.gov/press-room/va-announces-insurance-premium-holiday-that-will-save-veterans-nearly-150-million/VGLI Premium Holiday Frequently Asked Questions, Veterans Benefits Administration: https://www.benefits.va.gov/insurance/vgli_premium_holiday_faqs.aspVeterans’ Group Life Insurance (VGLI) program page, VA.gov: https://www.va.gov/life-insurance/options-eligibility/vgli/ The 2027 VA Disability Raise Is Tracking Near 3.3 Percent The yearly cost-of-living raise for VA disability pay is tracking at about 3.3 percent for 2027, based on inflation readings through August. One more month of data has to come in before the number is set. The government averages a price index called the CPI-W for July, August and September, then compares that average to the same three months of 2025. BLS publishes the September index on Oct. 14, and the Social Security Administration says the official figure comes in October. A cooler September pulls the number down, and a hotter one pushes it up. Nothing changes for anyone right now. Whatever gets announced takes effect Dec. 1, 2026, and the raise in effect until then is 2.8 percent. VA’s rate page says the department has to match the percentage Social Security uses, though Congress still passes a bill each year to authorize it. Stars and Stripes reported in May that this year’s version went to the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee. Those bills pass every year without much argument. Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index Summary, August 2026: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htmSocial Security Administration, Latest Cost-of-Living Adjustment: https://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/latestCOLA.htmlVA, Current Veterans disability compensation rates: https://www.va.gov/disability/compensation-rates/veteran-rates/Stars and Stripes, Payments to disabled veterans, eligible family members would increase under inflation-fighting bill (May 14, 2026): https://www.stripes.com/veterans/2026-05-14/bill-increases-payments-disabled-veterans-21674163.html VA Awards What It Calls a Record $1.17 Billion to Fight Veteran Homelessness VA announced $1.17 billion in homelessness grants on Sept. 14, going to 680 organizations. The money starts moving Oct. 1. About $855 million runs through the Supportive Services for Veteran Families program as one-year grants. That money pays for case management, helping veterans keep the home they have or get re-housed fast. Another $318 million goes through the Grant and Per Diem program as three-year grants. It pays for transitional housing and service centers. Some of it is set aside for women veterans and for veterans who are elderly, chronically ill or raising children. VA had not published a state-by-state breakdown of this round as of Sept. 18. Last year’s smaller version sent $818 million nationwide, and Washington’s share was $35.5 million split among eight organizations. A bigger national total does not promise a bigger local one. Providers should learn in the next few weeks whether they got more, the same, or less. VA used the same announcement to say it housed 51,936 homeless veterans last year. VA also said it cut its disability claims backlog by more than 70 percent since January 2025. That backlog figure is the department’s own, with no outside audit attached. Sources (all three are VA describing its own spending, so the housing and backlog figures are the department’s own count): VA News, VA awards $1.17 billion in grants to fight Veteran homelessness (Sept. 14, 2026): https://news.va.gov/press-room/va-awards-1-17-billion-in-grants-to-fight-veteran-homelessness/VA Homeless Programs, FY 2027 Grant Awards (updated Sept. 14, 2026): https://department.va.gov/homeless/fy-2027-grant-awards/VA Puget Sound Health Care, VA awards nearly $36 million in grants to fight Veteran homelessness in Washington (Sept. 25, 2025): https://www.va.gov/puget-sound-health-care/news-releases/va-awards-nearly-36-million-in-grants-to-fight-veteran-homelessness-in-washington/ A VA Committee on Women Veterans Has Not Met Since December 2024 Ten House Democrats wrote to VA Secretary Doug Collins on Sept. 17 asking why the Advisory Committee on Women Veterans has not met in more than 21 months. Congress created the committee in law, and the charter Collins signed in October 2025 says it is expected to meet at least twice a year. VA’s own public page for the committee lists minutes through December 2024 and nothing after. The lawmakers wrote that they understand the most recent chair, Col. (Ret.) Wanda A. Wright, resigned in April 2026 in protest. We found no separate public confirmation of that account. They asked five questions and want answers by Oct. 2, including whether the committee’s estimated operating budget and staff were redirected while it sat idle. That estimate, about $360,000 a year in the charter, is VA’s own projected cost rather than a documented amount spent. The lawmakers are raising questions. They have not shown that VA broke any rule. No woman veteran’s appointment, enrollment or disability claim changes because the committee did not meet. The committee advises. It does not deliver care or decide benefits. The one outlet that covered the letter, KVIA in El Paso, did not include a response from VA. Sources (the letter and the congressional press release come from the same office, so they count as one source. VA’s committee page and charter … Get full access to Veteran Voice at veterannews.substack.com/subscribe

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About

Welcome to Veteran Voice, the go-to podcast for veterans, first responders, and their families. We bring you the latest news from the Veteran Administration, updates on veteran health issues, and important topics that affect the brave men and women who have served and sacrificed for our country. From benefits and policies to mental health resources and stories of resilience, we cover the subjects that matter most to our veteran community. Join us for expert interviews, inspiring stories, and practical advice to stay informed and empowered. veterannews.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Charles Einarson
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    37
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Charles Einarson
  • Show Website
    Veteran Voice