Two bipartisan bills, in the House and Senate, aimed at simplifying the Department of Veterans Affairs clothing allowance process for veterans have recently been introduced on Capitol Hill.
Sens. Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-NV) and John Boozman (R-AR), and Reps. Mike Levin (D-CA) and Barry Moore (R-AL) recently introduced the Brian Neuman VA Clothing Allowance Improvement Act of 2021 and the Mark O’Brien VA Clothing Allowance Improvement Act of 2021.
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The bills are named after two severely injured combat veterans, Army Staff Sgt. Brian Neuman and Marine Cpl. Mark O'Brien. They are supported by the Wounded Warrior Project and several other veteran organizations.
The Department of Veterans Affairs currently provides a clothing allowance to veterans with prosthetics, orthopedic devices, or skin medicine that damages their clothing or requires alterations, so long as their condition results from military service.
Around 40,000 veterans received clothing allowance benefits in Fiscal Year 2020, and most of the eligible veterans have lifelong conditions that warrant the allowance. Up until 2012, the process to continually receive this benefit was more or less automated and straightforward.
Since 2012, changes to the filing process have made it more difficult and needlessly burdensome, especially for severely wounded veterans, said WWP Vice President of Government Affairs José Ramos.
"A maze of annual paperwork shouldn't prevent warriors with significant physical injuries from the dignity of wearing undamaged and proper-fitting clothing," he said.
To receive the benefit currently, a veteran must file a claim for disability compensation and provide a clothing allowance form to their local VA medical center by Aug. 1. Payments are made between Sept. 1 - Oct. 31.
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A veteran can get $841.36 paid once, but can reapply in future years if he/she meets one of the following conditions: has more than one prosthetic or orthopedic device; has more than one skin medicine, or his/her device or skin medicine affects more than one type of clothing.
The bills aim to reduce the amount of paperwork and action needed to claim the clothing allowance benefit.
“Having to apply for a clothing allowance every year seems very ineffective, especially for those of us with traumatic brain injuries who often forget to apply," said O'Brien, who uses prosthetics.
The O’Brien act would amend an existing VA clothing allowance program by enabling payments to continue on an automatically recurring annual basis until the veteran elects to no longer receive payments or VA determines the veteran is no longer eligible.
Neuman, a warrior served by WWP, and an Alumni Deputy Director at there, called the current filing process burdensome.
"Although I am eligible for VA's clothing allowance, as an above the elbow amputee, I stopped applying and just pay for my own clothing modifications,” he said.
The passage of the legislation is one of WWP's legislative priorities during the 117th Congress.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.
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