~a column by Chris Henning
Veterans Day has a place in my memory down throughout the years. This year is especially poignant: my father, George Henning, an Army tank mechanic who served with the 14th Armored “Liberators”, liberating concentration camps in France and Germany in WW II, would have celebrated his 101st birthday on November 1.
In my extended family there were many veterans of World War I and II, the Korean and Viet Nam wars and many memories. My Irish grandfather, whose Army uniform and gas mask from WW I hung in his attic even after his death; father-in-law Merritt Harmer served in Japan and witnessed the devastation in Nagasaki – it brought him to tears years later just hearing about my own visit to Japan.
Six of my uncles served in WW II or Korea; Dad’s cousin Albert was a POW in Germany; my first husband, his brother, a brother-in-law and two cousins served in Viet Nam. Two of the group received Purple Hearts for their actions under fire; one was wounded, and another was exposed to Agent Orange.
All of these men, now deceased, were proud veterans, good citizens and recipients of veterans’ benefits and healthcare for ailments brought on by their service in their later years – hearing loss; various cancers, some caused by Agent Orange; kidney and bladder diseases; mental health difficulties; some struggled with addictions to alcohol and tobacco.
Rural Iowa has always been respectful and grateful for veterans’ service to our country. Under the Biden administration, our country is doing more than offering respect and gratitude to veterans.
Our country has taken huge strides in caring not only for veterans’ health, both physical and mental, but for many other components of a productive, satisfying life.
President Biden’s administration and Congress have worked together to expand access to health care, address veteran homelessness, improve access to child and long-term care, and support education and workforce opportunities for veterans and their families. These programs and initiatives are part of 30 bipartisan bills that Biden has signed into law since taking office and an executive order the president signed in June that addressed spousal and family issues.
Now, in his 2023 Veterans Day announcement, President Biden detailed how the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will expand health care coverage for veterans and their families; increase health care accessibility; and address specific challenges today’s veterans face and better serve those who have served our country so faithfully.
Some specifics President Biden mentioned in his announcement:
●The Administration announced new actions to lower health care costs for veterans by providing no-cost health care and nursing home care for all living World War II veterans and covering health care costs associated with Parkinson’s disease under the Camp Lejeune Family Member Program.
●To ensure all cohorts of toxic exposed veterans get the health care they deserve, President Biden is directing the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to accelerate the eligibility timeline for all remaining toxic exposed veterans to be eligible to enroll in VA health care in early 2024.
●The Biden-Harris Administration has continued to improve suicide prevention efforts, providing no-cost life-saving care to at-risk veterans; awarding grants for community-based organizations to deliver or coordinate suicide prevention programs. Through the 988 Veterans Crisis Line, the VA has fielded more than 1.1 million calls, texts, and chats to ensure access to confidential counseling to veterans in crisis.
●To end veteran homelessness, President Biden has called on Congress to triple the number of veterans who receive housing vouchers and provide $1 billion in funding to community organizations to help homeless and at-risk veterans through rapid rehousing, transitional housing and case management, and prevent housing loss.
●The Biden Administration is committed to improving equity for women, the fastest growing group of veterans who use VA services, by addressing and providing resources for their specialized health care needs. In October, VA expanded access to its maternity care coordination from 8 weeks to 12 months post-partum to improve health outcomes for mothers and their newborn children.
●To ensure that all LGBTQ+ veterans can access the benefits they have earned, the Department of Defense announced it would proactively review and consider discharge upgrades for veterans who were discharged under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
●By reducing burdens and improving veteran experience, the VA is making it easier for veterans to access and manage their benefits with the ability to receive notifications of claims decisions through a mobile application, receive veteran benefit payments through automatic deposit, and submit their applications online.
●VA has also lowered premiums on life insurance, lowered interest rates, and removed burdensome copays for certain veterans to help reduce financial strain on veterans and their families. Efforts to investigate scam and robo calls (where they come from, how to stop them) and looking at consumer lending – in auto sales, real estate transactions and even credit lines – will help veterans and civilians alike. Advancing economic security for military and veteran spouses, caregivers, and survivors worked to eliminate barriers to employment and has been a signature effort of First Lady Jill Biden through her Joining Forces initiative.
In 2023 alone, the Department of Veterans Affairs delivered $163 billion in earned benefits to 6.3 million veterans and survivors, and processed a record 1.98 million disability claims. VA delivered more than 116 million health care appointments, over 5.5 million dental procedures, and provided services and assistance to more than 74,000 family caregivers.
President Biden believes we have a sacred obligation to care for our nation’s veterans and their families. Supporting those who wear the uniform is a commitment that unites all Americans – regardless of our politics – and it’s why the President has made supporting our veterans a core pillar in his Unity Agenda for the nation.
Greene County’s Veterans Affairs office at the county courthouse, staffed by Mike Bierl, is open Monday – Friday from 9 am till 1pm. In my experience, veteran Bierl is knowledgeable, helpful and compassionate – and a visit with him can help an anxious veteran and their spouse or family members find the program and services they need.
I’m honoring my veterans’ memories today – and encouraging all of you to do the same by passing this information on to a veteran or their family member who might need it.
~Chris Henning, Franklin Township, PRO Iowa 24 Committee
