Veterans' Benefits Enhancement Act of 2008

Bill: 110-s-2984
Sponsor: Sen. Akaka, Daniel K. [D-HI]
Introduced: 2008-05-06 in the Senate
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security
Subjects: Armed forces reserves
Biological warfare
Birth defects
Cemeteries and funerals
Chemical warfare
Child health
Commemorations
Congress
Congressional oversight
Correspondence schools and courses
Department of Veterans Affairs
Disability evaluation
Disabled
Education
Families
Federal law enforcement officers
Finance and Financial Sector
Government Operations and Politics
Government life insurance
Government paperwork
Health
Health insurance
Higher education
Labor and Employment
Leases
Long-term care
Marriage
Medical records
Military dependents
Military research
Minimum wages
Monuments and memorials
Nursing homes
Social Welfare
Social security numbers
Survivors' benefits
Veterans' benefits
Veterans' disability compensation
Veterans' education
Veterans' employment
Veterans' hospitals
Veterans' medical care

Summary:
action_date: 2008-05-06
text: 
Veterans' Benefits Enhancement Act of 2008 - Revises or adds federal veterans' benefits provisions to, among other things: (1) reduce the waiting period for a veteran's affirmation of enrollment in a correspondence course; (2) eliminate the requirement that a veteran or beneficiary make a separate application for a program change at an educational institution; (3) eliminate a minimum wage-earning requirement in the case of self-employment on-job training; (4) authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to stay adjudication of a veteran's claim when necessary to preserve the integrity of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)-administered program; (5) authorize memorial headstones or markers for deceased remarried surviving spouses of veterans; (6) make permanent the VA authority to fund contracted medical disability examinations; (7) expand Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance coverage to certain members of the Individual Ready Reserve; (8) allow VA to provide temporary residence assistance grants to active-duty military personnel suffering from a disability incurred in or aggravated by such service; (9) make permanent the consideration of noninstitutional extended care services as covered medical services; (10) make permanent the authority to provide hospital care, medical services, and nursing home care to certain veterans who participated in Department of Defense (DOD) chemical and biological testing; (11) provide third-party payment authority with respect to care furnished to spina bifida-affected children of Vietnam veterans; (12) authorize disclosure of VA medical information to a representative of a patient who lacks decision-making capacity; (13) require VA patients to disclose health-plan information and their Social Security number; (14) expand the authority of VA police officers; and (15) increase from $600,000 to $1 million the threshold before a VA major medical facility lease must receive congressional approval.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-05-06
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs. (text of measure as introduced: CR S3798-3800)
action_date: 2008-05-06
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S3798)
action_date: 2008-05-06
text: Introduced in Senate