Regulacje i polityka gospodarcza · 25/10/2004

Dependency and Indemnity Compensation: Surviving Spouse's Rate; Payments Based on Veteran's Entitlement to Compensation for Service-Connected Disability Rated Totally Disabling for Specified Periods Prior to Death

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) proposes to amend its adjudication regulations concerning payment of dependency and indemnity compensation (DIC) for certain non-service-connected deaths and the rate of DIC payable to a surviving spouse for either service-connected or non-service-connected deaths. The proposed rules would clarify VA's interpretation of similar statutes governing both matters, which provide for payments to the survivors of veterans who were, at the time of death, in receipt of or entitled to receive disability compensation for service-connected disability that was rated totally disabling for a specified period prior to death. The proposed rules would also reorganize and revise the regulations governing surviving spouses' DIC rate with the intent of making them easier to identify and understand. VA also proposes to reissue, with a minor nonsubstantive change, the Board of Veterans' Appeals rule concerning the effect of unfavorable decisions during a veteran's lifetime on claims for death benefits by the veteran's survivors. This reissuance is necessitated by a court decision vacating VA's prior action in revising that rule.