VA makes vision-enhancing eyewear more available
There are 130,000 legally blind veterans and 1 million low-vision veterans in the United States. VA offers a vision-enhancing eyewear device that uses a camera to help some low-vision veterans see better.
This device, called eSight 4, uses high-speed cameras to magnify what they capture, clarifying a world for some low-vision people. The technology is a Class I medical device registered with the FDA. While the device has been available through the VA, it used to take months or even years for the eyewear to end up on the veteran’s face as the company navigated registering with VA hospitals and securing VA contracts.
eSight 4 devices have now been added to the United States Department of Veterans Affairs Federal Supply Schedule, which should significantly shorten the time needed for approval. New national contracts with eSight vendors will shorten the time from determination that an eSight 4 device will help the veteran to the time that the device is provided.
If you have VA health coverage and are low-vision or legally blind, you may qualify to receive an eSight 4 device paid for by the VA. Contact you VA provider to see if you would benefit from the device. To learn more about eSight, call 855-837-4448 or visit www.eSightEyewear.com.
New rules for VA health care eligibility
Many veterans since 2003 have been denied access to VA health care due to an Income Means Test that was implemented in January 2003. If a veteran did not enroll in VA health care within one year of separation from the military, the means test would be applied. Any subsequent enrollment effort would result in the veteran being enrolled but classified as a Category 8 enrollee and would be denied access to VA health care if the income level exceeded the means test.
The Pact Act and other rule changes over the years, however, have made it easier for some veterans to enroll and have access to VA health care. For instance, all service members who had “boots on the ground” in Vietnam, blue-water sailors whose ships were within the territorial limits of Vietnam, veterans who served in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Guam, American Samoa, Johnson Atoll and a few other islands near Vietnam are now eligible to enroll in VA health care without having to meet the means test. Additionally, Marines who served at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, for at least three months between 1953 and 1987 are now exempt from the means test.
Veterans who served in areas with burn pits and/or oil well fires during Desert Storm may be exempt from the means test. If you have served in any of the aforementioned situations, you should contact your local VA Community-based Outpatient Clinic to verify your eligibility. The Bloomington VA Clinic can be contacted at 309-827-4090; ask for “eligibility.”
Retirement of unserviceable American flags
The official flag code of the United States of America is Section 1 of Title 4 of the United States Code (4 U.S.C. section 1). According to the code, “When a flag is so tattered that it can no longer serve as a symbol of the United States, it should be destroyed in a dignified manner, preferably by burning.”
The American Legion, VFW, Boy Scouts of America, Girl Scouts of the USA and other organizations regularly conduct dignified flag-burning ceremonies on Flag Day, June 14. Many patriotic organizations have their own traditional ceremonies when retiring flags, and disagreements over the proper manner to retire the flags exist. However, in accordance with the flag code, as long as the ceremony or method used is done in a dignified manner, there is no improper way to retire a flag.
The Government Center in downtown Bloomington on the corner of East and Front streets has a container inside the south doors of its building entrance at Lincoln Street and Morrissey Drive in Bloomington.
Jerry Vogler is superintendent of the McLean County Veterans Assistance Commission.
…
Read More: Veterans Corner: Vision-enhancing eyewear; VA health care eligibility;