Department of Veterans Affairs

Established:	October 25, 1988
Activated:	March 15, 1989
Secretary	James Nicholson
Deputy Secretary:	Gordon H. Mansfield
Budget:	$73.2 billion (2006)
Employees:	235,000+ (2006)

The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a government-run military veteran benefit system with Cabinet-level status. It is responsible for administering programs of veterans benefits for veterans, their families, and survivors. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 600 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1200 × 1200 pixel, file size: 1. ... October 25 is the 298th day of the year (299th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 74th day of the year (75th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ... The United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs is the head of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, the department concerned with veterans benefits and related matters. ... Robert James Jim Nicholson is the current United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs. ... Please wikify (format) this article as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... Cabinet meeting on May 16, 2001. ...

The benefits provided include compensation, pension, education, home loans, life insurance, vocational rehabilitation, survivors' benefits, medical benefits and burial benefits.^[1]

It is administered by the United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs. The United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs is the head of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, the department concerned with veterans benefits and related matters. ...

History

It was formerly called the Veterans Administration, also called the VA, which was established July 21, 1930, to consolidate and coordinate government activities affecting war veterans. The VA incorporated the functions of the former U.S. Veterans' Bureau, the Bureau of Pensions of the Interior Department and the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is a Cabinet department of the United States government that manages and conserves most federally owned land. ...

Long Beach VA medical center

On October 25, 1988, President Reagan signed legislation creating a new federal Cabinet-level Department of Veterans Affairs to replace the Veterans Administration effective March 15, 1989. Image File history File linksMetadata Lbva. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Lbva. ... October 25 is the 298th day of the year (299th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar). ... Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 - June 5, 2004) was the 40th President of the United States (1981–1989) and the 33rd Governor of California (1967–1975). ... is the 74th day of the year (75th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ...

In both its old and new forms, the VA drew its mission statement from President Abraham Lincoln's eloquent Second Inaugural Address. The specific phrase quoted by VA is: "...to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan..." For other uses, see Abraham Lincoln (disambiguation). ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Function

It is a single-payer government run health care system [1] and the federal government's second largest department, after the Department of Defense. With a budget of more than $70 billion, VA employs approximately 230,000 people at hundreds of VA medical centers, clinics and benefits offices. The United States Department of Defense, abbreviated DoD or DOD and sometimes called the Defense Department, is a civilian Cabinet organization of the United States government. ... This article or section may be confusing or unclear for some readers, and should be edited to rectify this. ...

Organization

A VA medical center in Palo Alto

The Department of Veterans Affairs is headed by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. The current secretary is Jim Nicholson, a former Colonel, Chairman of the Republican National Committee, and Ambassador to Vatican City. Nicholson is scheduled to resign his commission no later than October first. The Department has three main subdivisions, known as Administrations, each headed by an Undersecretary: Image File history File links Paloaltoveteransaffairshospital. ... Image File history File links Paloaltoveteransaffairshospital. ...

• Veterans Health Administration - responsible for providing health care in all its forms, also for medical research
• Veterans Benefits Administration - responsible for initial veteran registration, eligibility determination, and five key lines of business (benefits and entitlements): Home Loan Guaranty, Insurance, Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment, Education (GI Bill), and Compensation & Pension
• National Cemetery Administration - responsible for providing burial and memorial benefits, and maintenance of VA cemeteries

Veterans Health Administration is the component of the Department of Veterans Affairs that implements the medical assistance program of the VA through the administration and operation of numerous VA Outpatient clinics, hospitals, medical Centers and longterm healthcare facilities (i. ... The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) is an organizational element of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The mission of the Veterans Benefits Administration, in partnership with the Veterans Health Administration and the National Cemetery Administration, is to provide benefits and services to the veterans and their families in a... Gettysburg National Cemetery, Pennsylvania Golden Gate National Cemetery, California Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Hawaii Gravesites at Fort Logan National Cemetery during Memorial Day 2006 Flags flying at Fort Logan National Cemetery during Memorial Day 2006 National Cemetery in Memphis, Tennessee National Cemetery is a...

Costs for care

As is common in any time of war, recently there has been an increased demand for nursing home beds, injury rehabilitation, and mental health care.

VA categorizes veterans into eight priority groups and several additional subgroups, based on factors such as service-connected disabilities, and one's income and assets (adjusted to local cost of living). Veterans with a 50% or higher service-connected disability as determined by a VA regional office "rating board" (ie: losing a limb in battle, PTSD, etc) are provided comprehensive care and medicines at no charge. Other veterans with lesser qualifying factors need to make co-pays for any care for nonservice-connected ailments as well as pay $8 per 90-day prescription. VA dental and nursing home care are more restricted. Reservists and National Guard who served stateside in peacetime settings or have no service-related disabilities generally do not qualify for VA benefits. (Detailed list of eligibility criteria.) VA in recent years has opened hundreds of new convenient outpatient clinics in towns across America, while steadily reducing inpatient bed levels at hospitals. It has expanded its programs for women veterans and outreach to the homeless. VA is especially praised as a pioneer in developing electronic patient records which can be accessed by health providers online (with secure passwords), far away from where the charts are kept. VA's research into better functioning prosthetic limbs, and PTSD (combat stress) are also heralded. VA has devoted many years of research into the effects of exposure to Agent Orange herbicide used in Vietnam. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a term for certain severe psychological consequences of exposure to, or confrontation with, stressful events that the person experiences as highly traumatic. ... Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), is a term for the psychological consequences of exposure to or confrontation with stressful experiences, which involve actual or threatened death, serious physical injury or a threat to physical integrity and which the person found highly traumatic. ... Vietnam. ...

VA's budget—which has always been sparse—has been pushed to the limit in recent years by the War on Terrorism.^[2] In December 2004, it was widely reported that VA's funding crisis had become so severe that it could no longer provide disability ratings to veterans in a timely fashion.^[3] This is a problem because until veterans are fully transitioned from the active-duty TRICARE healthcare system to VA, they are on their own with regard to many healthcare costs. The VA has worked to cut down screening times for these returning combat vets (they are now often evaluated by VA personnel well before their actual discharge), and they receive first priority for patient appointments. VA's backlog of pending disability claims under review (a process known as "adjudication") peaked at 421,000 in 2001, and bottomed out at 254,000 in 2003, but crept back up to 340,000 in 2005.^[4] This article is about U.S. actions, and those of other states, after September 11, 2001. ... TRICARE is the United States militarys health plan for military personnel and their dependents. ...

Many veterans may not know that they may qualify for VA services with no copay required for military related conditions. If a veteran is dealing with a problem that started or was aggravated due to military service, it is still advisable for that person to go to a VA Regional Office and apply for a service connected disability. Service organizations such as the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars and Disabled American Veterans (the claimant need not be a member), as well as state-operated Veterans Affairs offices can also assist in this process. It will be beneficial for the affected veteran to support their claim with proof of ongoing health care. A copayment, or copay, is a flat dollar amount paid for a medical service by an insured. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... The Veterans of Foreign Wars, or VFW, is an American organization whose members are current or former members of the U.S. armed forces. ... Disabled American Veterans is an organization for disabled veterans that helps disabled veterans and their families through various means. ...

Security Breach

In May 2006, a laptop computer containing the social security numbers of 26.5 million U.S. veterans was stolen from a Veterans Affairs official's home. On August 3, 2006, a computer containing personal information on up to 38,000 veterans went missing. The computers have since been recovered and on August 5, 2006, two men were charged with the theft.

Before the arrests, Veterans Affairs announced it would hire ID Analytics professionals to perform data breach analysis to ensure veterans' personal information was not compromised. An offer to provide credit monitoring for veterans affected by the potential data breach was later rescinded after a study of the recovered laptop concluded little to no likelihood data was retrieved.

In early August 2006, a plan was announced to encrypt critical data on every laptop in the agency using disk encryption software from GuardianEdge Technologies, Inc, a San Francisco-based IT security software vendor. ^[5] Strict policies have also been enacted that require a detailed description of what a laptop will be used for and where it will be located at any given time. To protect confidentiality of the data stored on a computer disk a computer security technique called disk encryption is used. ...

Private Key Encryption (PKI) for e-mail had already been in use for some time but is now the renewed focus of internal security practices for sending e-mail containing Social Security numbers or patient information. Smart card-based logins for workstations has been in talks for several years but has yet to be implemented. In cryptography, a public key infrastructure (PKI) is an arrangement which provides for third-party vetting of, and vouching for, user identities. ...

Related legislation

• 1944 - Mustering-out Payment Act PL 78-225
• 1944 - Servicemen's Readjustment Act PL 78-346
• 1944 - Veterans' Preference Act PL 78-359
• 1952 - Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act PL 82-550
• 1988 - Department of Veterans Affairs Act PL 100-527

The introduction of this article does not provide enough context for readers unfamiliar with the subject. ... The G. I. Bill of Rights or Servicemens Readjustment Act of 1944 provided for college or vocational education for returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as GIs or G. I.s) as well as one-year of unemployment compensation. ... This act, established in 1944, required employers to favor returning veterans when hiring new employees. ... The Department of Veterans Affairs Act of 1988 (Public Law 100-527) changed the former Veterans Administration, an independent government agency established in 1930, primarily at that time to see to needs of World War I, into a Cabinet-level Department of Veterans Affairs. ...

See also

• DD214
• List of veterans' organizations
• Old soldiers' home
• Police and Security Service
• Veterans Health Administration
• VistA (Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture)
• Compliance News A national internet publication that promotes the interests of Disabled Veterans and provides lists of federal and state jobs that are looking to hire Veteran sub contractors.

Please wikify (format) this article as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... This is a list of veterans organizations. ... Many of the original old soldiers homes were constructed in high Victorian style, like the New Hampshire Soldiers Home in Tilton, New Hampshire. ... The Police and Security Service of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs is the uniformed security police force responsible for the protection of the veterans hospitals and medical centers and other facilities operated by the Veterans Health Administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs. ... Veterans Health Administration is the component of the Department of Veterans Affairs that implements the medical assistance program of the VA through the administration and operation of numerous VA Outpatient clinics, hospitals, medical Centers and longterm healthcare facilities (i. ... Look up vista in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

External links

• United States Department of Veterans Affairs Official Website
• United States Department of Veterans Affairs 75th Anniversary Website
• A Brief History of the VA from the Office of Facilities Management
• VA HyperFAQ directory of top VA web pages.
• California Department of Veterans Affairs - California Department of Veterans Affairs

Notes