CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Faster time and quicker payments for veteran families submitting a VA disability claim are now taking place to add those who serve to obtain them.
According to the VA, the organization was required to separately address claims for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation and Survivors Pension .
“This commonsense change streamlines the survivors claims process, reduces administrative burdens, and delivers quicker decisions to beneficiaries during challenging times,’” said VA Secretary Doug Collins.
DIC is a tax-free monthly monetary benefit paid to eligible surviving spouses, children and parents of a service member who died in the line of duty or Veterans who died from service-connected injuries or illnesses. Survivors Pension offers tax-free monthly payments to qualified surviving spouses and unmarried dependent children of wartime Veterans who meet certain income and net worth limits set by Congress.
In most instances, DIC provides a greater economic benefit than Survivors Pension. This is not the case if all the following conditions are met:
· The claimant is the Veteran’s surviving spouse,
· Has no dependents,
· Is residing in a nursing home,
· Has applied for or is currently receiving Medicaid.
If all these criteria are met, Survivors Pension ― rather than DIC ― will be awarded, and the DIC claim will not be further developed.
Military veteran spouses can contact their accredited VA representative for more information. To find the rep closest to them, it’s best to use their website: https://www.va.gov/get-help-from-accredited-representative/find-rep/
For the latest local news updates, click here, or download the KRIS 6 News App.
Catch all the KRIS 6 News stories and more on our YouTube page. Subscribe today!
