Advocates for family members and friends who support severely ill or injured veterans who need daily care are pushing the Biden administration for answers on the future of a Department of Veterans Affairs program that provides benefits to those caregivers.
Twelve organizations, including the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, Veterans of Foreign Wars and Wounded Warrior Project, wrote President Joe Biden on Wednesday asking him to publish new program standards for the VA’s Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers, which have been in the works for more than two years.
The VA program, established in 2011 for seriously injured post-9/11 veterans, provides monetary stipends and health benefits to the caregivers of veterans who otherwise would need full-time care to remain in their homes or be institutionalized.
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The PCAFC, or Family Caregiver Program, as it is commonly known, was expanded in 2018 to combat veterans of all eras, beginning in 2021 with veterans through the Vietnam War, and again in 2022, for veterans who served from 1975 through 2001.
To accommodate the number of additional veterans, the VA tightened eligibility rules for all participants, focusing mainly on a veterans’ ability to perform physical activities needed for daily function, such as bathing, eating, grooming and mobility, as well as their personal safety.
Under the new criteria, many…
