VA PROPOSES SPINA BIFIDA BENEFITS

[bphata@sedona.net (Bill Patterson)]

OK let me see if the Veterans Administration is going to "provide medical
benefits, vocational training, and cash assistance to children of Vietnam
veterans who are born with spina bifida" doesn't that mean that the chemical
companies, etc. should be getting out their check books for all of the
damage that they are doing releasing DIOXIN into the environment. If our
Government is going to take care of the children of Vietnam veterans, isn't
it only fair?
Bill Patterson
bpHATA@sedona.net
<><
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
>
>VA PROPOSES SPINA BIFIDA BENEFITS
>LEGISLATION
>
>Washington, July 29 -- The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has
>transmitted legislation to Congress that would provide medical benefits,
>vocational training, and cash assistance to children of Vietnam veterans
who are
>born with spina bifida. 
>
>The proposal arises from a March report on Vietnam veterans and Agent
>Orange commissioned by VA from the National Academy of Sciences. The
>report concluded there is limited/suggestive evidence that the children of
>Vietnam veterans face an elevated risk of spina bifida, a congenital birth
>defect in which one or more veterbrae fail to develop fully, exposing a portion
>of the spinal cord. 
>
>"We are dealing with an emerging science, and Vietnam veterans have waited
>long as answers unfold," VA Secretary Jesse Brown said. "While
>unprecedented, this is an appropriate remedy that reflects our
responsibility to
>the veteran, and to his or her family." 
>
>The VA legislation proposes an effective date of October 1996, and
>implementing regulations would follow enactment. An estimated 2,000
>children of Vietnam veterans with spina bifida would be eligible, regardless of
>a child's age or marital status. While the veteran parent need not prove
>specific exposure to Agent Orange, eligibility would be limited to those
natural
>children of veterans conceived after the date the veteran began military
service
>in the Republic of Vietnam. 
>
>As envisioned under the bill, health-care services will be available to the
>veteran's offspring for disabilities associated with spina bifida, with VA
>authorized either to provide care directly or make arrangements with private
>providers. The monetary benefit, intended to help the spina bifida victims meet
>their special needs, would be available at three monthly rates -- $200, $700 or
>$1,200 -- based on a VA rating of severity as specified in the ensuing
>regulations. 
>
>The monetary allowance would be subject to annual cost-of-living increases
>and would not be countable for purposes of any federal means-tested
>programs. 
>
>VA is required by law to presume disabilities are service-connected in
>Vietnam veterans when the weight of scientific evidence for an association
>with Agent Orange or other herbicides is at least equal to the evidence
>against. The new benefit proposal is an extension of that philosophy. 
>
>VA long has provided comprehensive medical evaluations to all Vietnam
>veterans, whether symptomatic or not, under the Agent Orange Registry
>Program. Free inpatient care is available to Vietnam veterans who need
>treatment for a condition that might be related to herbicide exposure if a VA
>physician determines that the illness cannot be attributed to another cause,
>again providing the veteran the benefit of the doubt. 
>
>For information about the Agent Orange Registry health examination or other
>medical services, Vietnam veterans should call their local VA medical center.
>Until the legislation for child benefits is passed by Congress and signed into
>law, followed by development and publication of final implementing regulations,
>VA will not be able to begin processing disability claims from children of
>Vietnam veterans with spina bifida, but other benefits information is available
>from VA toll-free at 1-800-827-1000. 
>
>A plan for new benefits announced May 28 will provide assistance to
>Vietnam veterans with prostate cancer or acute and subacute peripheral
>neuropathy, which the National Academy of Sciences also determined had
>suggestive/limited evidence of an association with herbicide exposure. VA
>expects to publish proposed regulations to implement those benefits shortly,
>raising to nine the list of presumptively service-connected diseases or
>conditions associated with herbicide exposure. 
>
>Because of the concerns about effects of wartime environmental exposures in
>children, VA also is developing a special center to study the potential adverse
>reproductive outcomes related to military service. A scientific peer review of
>proposals will begin this fall as an internationally recognized panel of
experts
>in reproductive and developmental effects of exposure to environmental and
>occupational hazards screens the proposals for scientific excellence. 
>
>Funds will be released to the successful research team in late 1996, with up to
>$300,000 annually provided for three fiscal years, plus another $50,000 in
>non-recurring funds for equipment and startup costs. 
>
>                               # # # 
>