American Legion: Page Corcoran, John J., director, National Rehabilitation Commission 2319-2322 sion_ 2318, 2322 Corcoran, John J. (See American Legion.) Disabled American Veterans: Freudenberger, Elmer M., letter of-- Quigley, John L. (See National Association of State Veterans' Homes.) Stover, Francis W. (See Veterans of Foreign Wars.) Jones, Norman, director, National Rehabilitation Service.. Stover, Francis W., director, National Legislative Service.. STATE VETERANS' HOMES TUESDAY, APRIL 12, 1960 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, OF THE COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met at 10 a.m., pursuant to call, in room 356, Old House Office Building, Hon. James A. Haley, chairman of the subcommittee, presiding. Mr. HALEY. The subcommittee will be in order. We are meeting this morning to consider a number of bills relating to increasing the allowance the Federal Government makes for the operation of State soldiers' homes for those veterans of our Nation's wars who are entitled to care in a Veterans' Administration hospital or domiciliary. Without objection I will insert at this point the text of the several bills, and I understand there are 23 of them, together with the 3 Veterans' Administration reports thereon, and a summary of these proposals. (The information referred to follows:) VETERANS' ADMINISTRATION, OFFICE OF THE ADMINISTRATOR OF VETERANS' AFFAIRS, Hon. OLIN E. TEAGUE, Chairman, Committee on Veterans' Affairs, DEAR MR. TEAGUE: The following comments are furnished by the Veterans' Administration on H.R. 4230 and H.R. 5459, 86th Congress, identical bills, and H.R. 3752, 86th Congress, a bill to accomplish the same purpose, which is to increase from $700 to $1,000 a year the maximum amount of Federal aid to State homes for the support of disabled veterans. Federal contributions to States to aid in the care of certain war veterans domiciled in State homes were first authorized by the act of August 27, 1888 (25 Stat. 450), in the amount of $100 a year for each such veteran. The amount of the contribution was gradually increased through the years and on September 1, 1954, was increased to a maximum of $700 a year by the act of August 21, 1954 (68 Stat. 757), now codified in section 641(a), title 38, United States Code. For many years it has been the policy of the Federal Government to bear a substantial part of the cost of care of veterans in State homes. The dominant purpose of that legislation seems to have been to provide a reasonable contribution and the amounts have been varied through the years as the cost of operation has increased. Since 1920 the permanent law has also provided, as an additional limitation on the amount of the Federal payment, that in no case it be more than one-half the cost of the veteran's maintenance in the State home. It has been argued that in view of the rising costs of operation since 1954 the amount of the contribution must be raised in order to cover one-half the cost of maintenance in many homes. However, as a matter of fact, there have for many years been some instances where less than one-half the cost of operation was payable. For example, the 1954 increase from a $500 to a $700 maximum did not then serve to cover a full one-half of the cost of operation in a number of 2275 State homes. The controlling measure of the Government's obligation has been the amount of the maximum dollar contribution, but not more than one-half of the State cost; quite a different concept from a commitment to pay one-half the cost. There are 33 State homes located in 28 States to which the Veterans' Administration is making contributions for maintenance of veterans who have been determined eligible for care in a Veterans' Administration facility. Based on the costs of maintenance for fiscal year 1958, nine of the State homes concerned would not profit by the increase to $1,000 proposed by the bills, since one-half of their per capita costs are less than the present statutory maximum of $700. Twelve of the homes would be entitled to the full $1,000 and the other 12 homes would be entitled to variable increases, some of them very small. Admittedly there has been a significant increase in the cost of operation in State homes. This is true also of the cost of operating Veterans' Administration domiciliaries, which cost has increased by 19 percent since 1954. When the $700 maximum annual rate was established in September 1954, the average per capita cost in State homes based on the fiscal year 1955 figures was $1,724. For fiscal year 1958 the average per capita cost was $2,012, an increase of approximately 17 percent. The proposed increase from $700 to $1,000 represents an increase of approximately 43 percent. It has been contended that one reason for the increased costs incurred by State homes is that they are now caring for many chronic cases needing nursing, attendant and medical care, who have been discharged or transferred from Veterans' Administration hospitals to make room for the more acute type of case. As a balancing factor, however, the Veterans' Administration is accepting in its hospitals many acute and surgical cases from the State homes. Our domiciliaries are filled to capacity and increasing the per capita allowance to State homes would not serve to relieve the demands on our own facilities or curtail the existing scope and extent of our domiciliary program. We estimate that passage of any one of the bills would result in additional cost for the first year of approximately $1,486,000. This estimated increased cost would not itself provide care for any additional number of veterans. We note, however, that during fiscal year 1957 the Veterans' Administration reimbursed the States for the care of an average member load of 8,938 veterans, which increased during fiscal year 1958 to 9,316. Hence, the above first year cost would presumably increase in subsequent years. The bills present a special question of Federal-State relations on the extent to which the Federal Government should share in these State programs and how closely the Federal contribution should parallel rising operating costs. Giving due consideration to the budgetary problems of the Federal Government in providing maximum effective use of the hospital and domiciliary system directly operated by the Veterans' Administration, we seriously question whether the rate of payments to State homes should be increased at this time. While the difficulties faced by many of the States in this area are fully appreciated I am unable, after considering all the circumstances, to recommend enactment of the proposed legislation. Advice has been received from the Bureau of the Budget that there would be no objection to the submission of this report to the committee. Sincerely yours, SUMNER G. WHITTIER, Administrator. VETERANS' ADMINISTRATION, OFFICE OF THE ADMINISTRATOR OF VETERANS' AFFAIRS, Hon. OLIN E. TEAGUE, Chairman, Committee on Veterans' Affairs, DEAR MR. TEAGUE: The following comments on H.R. 7729, 86th Congress, are submitted in accordance with your request. The bill proposes to liberalize the provisions of law authorizing burial benefits on behalf of certain deceased veterans. Under existing law (38 U.S.C. 902) the Veterans' Administration is authorized to pay a sum not exceeding $250 to cover the burial and funeral expenses of a deceased war veteran, a veteran discharged from service for a disability incurred or aggravated in line of duty, or a veteran in receipt of or entitled to receive disability compensation. It is required that a claim for this burial allowance be filed within 2 years after burial with an additional year allowance from date of notification by the Veterans' Administration in which to submit necessary evidence. Further, 38 U.S.C. 903 authorizes the agency to pay the actual cost (not to exceed $250) of the burial and funeral of a person who was properly admitted to a Veterans' Administration facility for hospital or domiciliary care and thereafter died there. In addition, when such a death occurs in the continental United States (including Alaska), we are also authorized to pay the cost of transporting the body to the place of burial within the continental United States (including Alaska). When such a death occurs in a territory, Commonwealth, or possession of the United States we may pay the cost of transporting the body to the place of burial only within that territory, Commonwealth, or possession. H.R. 7729 proposes to (1) authorize payment, in addition to the cost of funeral and burial, of the cost of transporting the body of a veteran who dies in a State veterans' home (at a time when we are paying a part of the cost of his maintenance) to the place of burial in the United States; (2) authorize transportation of the bodies of deceased veterans to, from, and within the State of Hawaii on the same basis as authority now permits transportation to, from, and within other States; (3) authorize transportation of bodies to the place of burial in a territory, Commonwealth, or possession of the United States where the deceased veteran was a resident of such territory, Commonwealth, or possession who had been brought to the United States as our beneficiary for hospital or domiciliary care; and (4) extend the time limit on filing a claim for burial allowance in any case in which a veteran's discharge has been corrected, after death, to one under conditions other than dishonorable (to 2 years from the date of correction or 2 years from the date of enactment of this provision, whichever is later). The provision of law permitting payment of the cost of transporting the body of a deceased veteran does not apply in those cases where death occurs in a State veterans' home for the reason that such homes are not Veterans' Administration facilities, nor are veterans admitted thereto under the authority of the Veterans' Administration. Accordingly, in such cases, the amount payable on burial, funeral, and transportation expense is limited by law to the maximum allowance of $250. Transportation and other necessary expenses incidental thereto may be supplied a disabled veteran who is unable to defray the cost thereof (1) to cover travel to a Veterans' Administration facility for domiciliary or hospital care, (2) to cover return travel to the place from which the veteran proceeded to the facility when he is regularly discharged upon completion of such care, and (3) to cover travel involved in a transfer deemed necessary from one Veterans' Administration facility to another. The present provision in the law for payment of the cost of transporting the body of a veteran who died in a Veterans' Administration facility to the place of burial within the continental United States is in accord with the provision that when a veteran is discharged from a Veterans' Administration facility, he may be furnished transportation to the place from which he proceeded to the facility. When a veteran enters a State veterans' home, however, the Federal Government is under no legal obligation to furnish him transportation to such home, or upon his discharge to pay transportation to the place from which he proceeded to the home. The enactment of the first section of H.R. 7729 might serve as a precedent for the payment of the cost of transporting to the place of burial the remains of those veterans who die in their own homes or private institutions where the expense incident to terminal illness is not borne by public funds. Under the circumstances, we are unable to recommend this section's favorable consideration. Since Section 2 of the bill would effect two amendments which we endorse. the admission of Hawaii into the Union on August 21, 1959, we have not had specific authority regarding the transportation of the bodies of deceased veterans for purposes of burial to, from, or within that State. It is believed that our authority in this area with respect to Hawaii should be clarified and that from the standpoint of logic and equity such authority should be the same for all 50 States. Accordingly, we favor this proposal. Recently there has been an increasing number of instances in which veterans have been transported to the United States from a territory, Commonwealth, or possession for the purpose of receiving specialized medical care unavailable elsewhere. In those instances in which such a veteran dies while hospitalized by us there is no authority to pay the cost of return transportation of the body. Prior to the admission of Alaska into the Union the law had for many years authorized us to pay the cost of transporting the body of a deceased veteran to the |