# Presentation: 178687

- Admiral Daniel L. Cooper
- Under Secretary for Benefits
- to
- Advisory Committee on Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom
- May 14, 2007

## VBA Programs

- Compensation & Pension
- Vocational Rehabilitation & Employment
- Education
- Loan Guaranty
- Insurance

## Compensation & Pension

- VETERANS
**Disability compensation  - **awarded for injuries/diseases incurred in or aggravated by military service or, in some cases, due to VA health care
- Payment based on impact to average ability to seek and maintain gainful employment.
**Disability pension  -  **awarded to wartime veterans with permanent and total disabilities which are not the result of military service or veterans at least 65 years of age (subject to income limitations).
- Needs based** **

**Notes:**
Effective 12-01-06
Comp rates range from $115 (10% disabled from a service connected condition) to $2,471 (100%) for a single veteran

Additional allowances paid for dependents if the veteran is rated at 30% or above.

To be eligible for pension, a veteran must have served at least 90 days on active duty with at least one day during a period of war, and meet the income requirements set below.  
Pension income limits -vet alone- $10,929
			$13,356 – if rated housebound 
			$18,234 – if rated in need of Aid & Attendance
Income limitations are higher if the veteran has dependents.

## Compensation & Pension

- _2.7 Million_ - Receiving Compensation Benefits
- _$25.6 Billion_ –Compensation Benefits Paid
- _329,000_ –Receiving Pension
- _$2.7 Billion_ –Pension Benefits Paid

-      FY 2006

**Notes:**
All of these numbers represent veterans compensation and pension benefits paid during Fiscal year 2006.  They do not include any ancillary benefits or survivor benefits.

It is estimated that over the course of a 20 year career in compensation and pension benefits delivery, a VA employee (rating specialists) will average a total obligation in excess of $750 million in taxpayer dollars.  (This has not been updated since 2000.)

## SURVIVORS

Dependency & Indemnity Compensation
 Death in service
 Death due to a service-connected condition; or
 Had a service-connected disability rated at 100%     
   for 10 years prior to death
Death Pension
 Eligible survivors of wartime veterans (income    
   based benefit)
Burial allowance as a partial reimbursement of an eligible veteran's burial and funeral costs. 

**Dependency & Indemnity Compensation**
-  Death in service
-  Death due to a service-connected condition; or
-  Had a service-connected disability rated at 100%
-    for 10 years prior to death
**Death Pension**
-  Eligible survivors of wartime veterans (income
-    based benefit)
**Burial allowance as a partial reimbursement of an eligible veteran's burial and funeral costs.**** **

- Compensation & Pension

**Notes:**
Effective 12/01/06
Basic rates for DIC - $1067 spouse
	            $452 – child alone

Death Pension – spouse alone income limits
	$7,329
	$8,957 – if rated Housebound
	$11,715 – if rated in need of Aid & Attendance

	child alone - $1,866

For the widow/child to be eligible for death pension, the veteran must have served at least 90 days active duty with at least one day during a period of war, and must fall under the income limit shown above.

## Compensation & Pension

- A Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission is  carrying out a study of the benefits that are provided to compensate and assist veterans and their survivors for disabilities and deaths attributable to military service.
- The Commission members are appointed by the President and leaders of Congress, and the Commission is independent of the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense.

**Notes:**
-The commission will produce a report to Congress that is sure to affect compensation policy
-The commission has a broad mandate to review statutes that have not been updated since being written in the forties
-VBA has detailed staff to the commission

## Vocational Rehabilitation & Employment

**Achieve and maintain suitable employment**
- Evaluation of the veteran's abilities, skills, interests, and needs
- Vocational counseling and planning
- On-the-job and non-paid work experience education or training such as certificate, two or four-year programs
**Independent Living**
- Training in activities of daily living
- Technological assistance
- Personal adjustment counseling

**Notes:**
The VR&E program is administered at VBA’s 57 regional office (same as C&P benefits)

VR&E helps veterans with service-connected disabilities by offering them services and assistance to help them prepare for, find, and keep suitable jobs

Depending on the individual veteran’s rehabilitation needs, the VR&E Program provides a wide range of  services including evaluation, counseling, training, and job placement   

For veterans with disabilities so severe that they cannot consider employment as an immediate goal, VR&E offers a program of services to improve their ability to live as independently as possible

In FY 2006, 
89,126 received Vocational Rehabilitation Assistance. 

VBA rehabilitated 9,225 veterans  
 9,225 disabled veterans obtained suitable employment
 2,892 disabled veterans achieved independent living

## Vocational Rehabilitation & Employment

-                             FY 2006
- _89 Thousand_ - Veterans Received Vocational Rehabilitation Assistance
- _$747 Million_ - Vocational Rehabilitation Assistance

**Notes:**
In FY 2006, VBA rehabilitated 12,117 veterans  
 9,225 disabled veterans obtained suitable employment
 2,892 disabled veterans achieved independent living
The rehabilitation rate at the end of FY 2006 was 73.1% and 73.3% for veterans with serious employment handicaps

## Education

**Education**
**Regional Processing Offices (RPOs)**

**Buffalo**

**St. Louis**

**Muskogee**

**Atlanta**

## Education

**VA’s Education Programs**:
- Provide readjustment and restore educational opportunities lost because of service to the country
- Extend benefits of higher education to qualified persons who may not otherwise be able to afford it
- Aid military recruitment & retention of highly qualified personnel
- Encourage membership in the selected reserve
- Enhance the national work force

**Notes:**
$2.76 Billion -- Education assistance received in FY2006 by over 497,000 veterans and family members

FY 2006 breakdown: 
Veterans and Reservists: 422,036/$2.3 billion
Dependents: 75,460/ $465 million 

## Montgomery GI Bill—Active Duty (MGIB, or 	Chapter 30)
Initial active duty service after 6-30-85
$1200 military pay reduction
Montgomery GI Bill—Selected Reserve  	(MGIB-SR, or Chapter 1606)
6 year Selected Reserve Obligation
Finish initial active duty training
Funded by Department of Defense (DoD)

- Initial active duty service after 6-30-85
- $1200 military pay reduction
**Montgomery GI Bill—Selected Reserve  ****	****(MGIB-SR, or Chapter 1606)**
- 6 year Selected Reserve Obligation
- Finish initial active duty training
- Funded by Department of Defense (DoD)

- Education

**Notes:**
To give you an idea of what the current rate is for the MGIB (which is our biggest education program) The current monthly rate for Ch. 30 institutional training is:  

Full time 	$1,075.00 
3⁄4 time 	$806.00 
1⁄2 time 	$538.00 

The following rates apply to those completing an enlistment of three years or more.

## Post-Vietnam Era Veterans’ Educational Assistance Program (VEAP, or Chapter 32)
First entered on active duty after 12-31-76 and before 7-1-85
Maximum contribution is $2700 
Government matches $2 for $1
Survivors’ & Dependents’ Educational Assistance (DEA, or Chapter 35)
Spouses & Children of Veterans Who:
Died While on Active Duty, or
Permanently & Totally Disabled, or
Died From Service Connected Disability, or
MIA, POW, and Hostages

- First entered on active duty after 12-31-76 and before 7-1-85
- Maximum contribution is $2700
- Government matches $2 for $1
**Survivors’ & Dependents’ Educational Assistance (DEA, or Chapter 35)**
- Spouses & Children of Veterans Who:
- Died While on Active Duty, or
- Permanently & Totally Disabled, or
- Died From Service Connected Disability, or
- MIA, POW, and Hostages

- Education

## Reserve Educational Assistance Program  (Chapter 1607) 
New program established in 2005 by Department of Defense (DoD)
Designed to provide education assistance to member of the Reserve components called or ordered to active duty in response to a war or national emergency. 
VA will administer the program and pay benefits from funds contributed by DoD.

- New program established in 2005 by Department of Defense (DoD)
- Designed to provide education assistance to member of the Reserve components called or ordered to active duty in response to a war or national emergency.
- VA will administer the program and pay benefits from funds contributed by DoD.

- Education

**Notes:**
REAP was established as a part of the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005. It is a new Department of Defense education benefit program designed to provide educational assistance to members of the Reserve components called or ordered to active duty in response to a war or national emergency (contingency operation) as declared by the President or Congress.  This new program makes certain reservists who were activated for at least 90 days after September 11, 2001 either eligible for education benefits or eligible for increased benefits. 

The benefit payable under Ch. 1607 is a percentage of the Chapter 30 three-year enlistment rate and is based on the number of days of continuous service on active duty.  For example, if you serve 90 days but less than 1 year, you will receive 40 percent of the three-year rate. 

## Loan Guaranty Regional Loan Centers

**Notes:**
9 Regional Loan Centers

## Loan Guaranty

- The Home Loan Guaranty Program is a result of the original 1944 GI Bill for returning World War II servicemen and servicewomen.
- Loans are made by private lenders such as banks, savings and loan associations, and mortgage companies, and guaranteed by VA.
- A key benefit of the VA Home Loan Program is its no-downpayment feature.
- VA offers a guaranty to lenders of up to $104,250.  The maximum loan amount is generally $417,000.

**Notes:**
VA offers guaranty up to 25% of the loan amount; no down-payment loans are generally available up to 4x the guaranty amount.  VA’s maximum guaranty amount is now indexed to the conventional conforming loan limit.  Each January, the conventional conforming loan limit is adjusted (usually upward); VA’s guaranty amount will adjust accordingly.  

Since 1944, VBA has guaranteed over $915 billion in loans

## Loan Guaranty

**	**_Year__	__	__# Loans*__	__	__$ Amount*_
- 	FY 2001		250,000		$31 Billion
- 	FY 2002		317,000		$40 Billion
- 	FY 2003		490,000		$63 Billion
- 	FY 2004		336,000 		$44 Billion
- 	FY 2005		165,000		$24 Billion
- 	_FY 2006__	__	__143,000__	__	__$25 Billion_
-    Total              1,701,000          $227 Billion

- *Data represents Guaranties Issued during the FY in question

**Notes:**
Decreasing loan volume is mostly attributable to the falling demand for refinancing.

## Insurance

## Insurance

- All VA insurance programs are either administered or supervised at the VA Regional Office and Insurance Center in Philadelphia
- The insurance programs have a different funding arrangement than other VBA business lines
- Prudential Life Insurance Co. administers some of the programs, under the supervision of the VA Insurance Service
- Commercial insurance is often unavailable or prohibitively expensive to disabled veterans

**Notes:**
-The Philadelphia ROIC is headquarters for all of VA's life insurance programs, both those administered directly by VA and those supervised by VA. 
-90% of the Administrative expenses of the Insurance Business line come from the insurance funds.  Those funds that operate at a loss require discretionary funding to administer, but the funds that make money have administrative expenses taken out before dividends are paid out to policy holders.  That arrangement is mandated by Congress.
-SGLI and VGLI are administered by Prudential in NJ under the supervision of VBA

## Insurance

**FY 2006**
- 138 Thousand – Death Claims Paid
- $2.3 Billion -  Death Benefits Paid
-  $422 Million – Dividends Paid

**Notes:**
VA administers or supervises 8 different programs of insurance that provide $1.1 trillion in coverage to more than 7.3 million veterans, servicemembers, and their families, making VA the 6th largest life insurer in the U.S.