Veterans' Benefits and Care

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides services and benefits to veterans who meet certain eligibility criteria. Benefits to veterans range from disability compensation and pensions to hospital and medical care. Furthermore, veterans' education benefits have evolved substantially over the last 60-plus years. This book reviews the two disability programs administered by the VA, one of which is called the Disability Compensation, and the other which is known as a Disability pension. The authors of this book discuss the eligibility criteria and the fundamentals of these VA-administered disability benefit programs and related issues. The evolution of veterans' education benefit programs are also examined and the types of education benefits made available under these programs are described. Furthermore, the VA administers several pension benefit programs for the surviving spouses and dependent children of veterans. This book describes these programs, including the eligibility criteria and current benefit levels. Other chapters in this book examine the provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act, reflecting the congressional concern about the quality and availability of medical, mental health and dental care services for service members returning from active duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is well-known that veterans have a number of risk factors that increase their chance of attempting suicide. This book discusses suicide prevention efforts by the VA. This book consists of public documents which have been located, gathered, combined, reformatted, and enhanced with a subject index, selectively edited and bound to provide easy access.