Vet News: Administration Expands Benefits for Ex-POWs

WASHINGTON – Continuing its commitment to former prisoners of war, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi today announced that the Bush Administration will expand benefits to all former POWs with strokes and common heart diseases.

"This is an issue that has been studied and debated too long," Principi said. "We have scientific studies supporting the association of these illnesses to the military service of our former POWs."

The secretary, who oversees the operations of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), announced the new benefits in a speech tonight at a national convention of the American Ex-Prisoners of War.

The Administration's decision benefits former POWs with strokes and most heart diseases. Those Veterans will be automatically eligible for disability compensation for those common ailments, and their spouses and dependents will be eligible for service-connected survivors' benefits if these diseases contribute to the death of a former POW.

In September 2003, Principi launched a nationwide outreach effort to identify and provide benefits to the estimated 11,000 former POWs who were not receiving VA disability compensation or other services. There are about 35,000 living ex-POWs.

The secretary also has urged Congress to change federal law that required that former POWs must be detained for at least 30 days to qualify for the full range of POW benefits.

The Administration's new decision will add to the list of 16 medical problems that VA presumes to be linked to the military service of former POWs. The new rules are likely to take effect on October 7, 2004.

SOURCE: VNIS