July 24, 2025 • 57 mins
We dive deep into veterans' survivor benefits, exploring what spouses and dependents are entitled to when a veteran passes away due to a service-connected condition. This important discussion covers financial support, healthcare coverage, and practical steps for preparing the necessary documentation.
• Dependent Indemnity Compensation (DIC) provides monthly payments to surviving spouses of veterans who died from service-connected conditions
• When a veteran dies with an active claim, surviving spouses must file for DIC and accrued benefits within 30 days
• CHAMPVA offers 80% medical coverage for surviving spouses with no premium costs
• Spouses can receive burial benefits, education assistance, and property tax exemptions in some states
• Proper documentation preparation is crucial - organize marriage certificates, divorce decrees, and other essential paperwork
• Creating a document folder or notebook specifically for survivor benefits helps spouses navigate the process
• Survivor's pension is available based on wartime service and financial need criteria
• Children of veterans who died from service-connected conditions qualify for education benefits
If you need help with veteran survivor benefits, reach out to an accredited VA claims agent or VSO representative. Don't try to navigate these complex benefits alone - professional assistance can make all the difference in securing what your family deserves.
Tune in live every Thursday at 7 PM EST and join the conversation! Click here to listen and chat with us.
Visit J Basser's Exposed Vet Productions (Formerly Exposed Vet Radioshow) YouTube page by clicking here.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
J Basser (00:02):
Welcome folks to another episode of Jay Bassers
Exposed Vet Productions on thisbeautiful sunshiny, hotter than
you know what, july 24th 2025.
It's hot out there in theTreasurer Mountains.
I got my one and only famousco-host today, mr Ray Cobb.
How you doing, ray?
Ray Cobb (00:21):
I'm doing great.
I'm trying to stay cool insideright now.
Yeah, it was well's well 90shere earlier today oh, it's just
flat out hot.
J Basser (00:31):
We went out to a little town today and got
something brought back and itjust goes outside for about 20
minutes in it and I thought Iwas going to die and yeah, it's
just too hot.
But uh, being today's the 24thand we're going to discuss the
value of benefits today Kind ofa morbid topic, of course, you
know.
I mean, with all the peoplepassing away lately, it kind of,
(00:55):
you know, it's time to do one.
I mean, we've lost a lot offolks.
You know not just veterans, butyou know well-respected
celebrities.
You know Hulk Hogan died justhere yesterday, well-respected
celebrity.
You know Hogan died just hereyesterday.
Ray Cobb (01:05):
Well, that's what I thought it sounded like Willie
Nelson didn't do it too goodeither.
J Basser (01:12):
Well, willie's got some.
You know he's got some problems.
Of course, according to thetabloids, willie's died 10 times
in the past 15 years.
But uh, he lost a lot of folks.
And you know the reason we'resaying is if you're veterans,
there's a little different issuethere Because there's survivor
benefits from the VA that areavailable to spouses of veterans
(01:35):
and we'll kind of cover that.
I'll start off.
If something happens to theveteran While he's got a claim
Still active or an appeal, we'llstart off with that.
And you know we lost one here awhile back that had a claim in
and his representative took overand did everything right.
(01:57):
And so if you're a widow, soonto be, and say your veteran
passes while you have an activeclaim in, you know you're going
to have your hands full.
You've got so much stuff goingon with planning and this and
that and insurance andeverything else that you know
veterans benefits are going tobe probably a little bit on the
back burner.
What you're looking at is ifyour veteran had a claim in and
(02:20):
say, for example, he wasn't 100%and his claim he had in was one
that would make him 100%, thenyou know it's possible.
So what you have to do is youhave to do it yourself.
If you can, you just might knowwhat they're doing.
First of all, because this isvery, very unleveled ground.
(02:43):
Let's put it that way.
You're very unleveled around.
Let's put it that way, gettinga credit representative.
Personally, I would get probablyan accredited VA claims agent,
someone like that that knowswhat's done it before they can
show you the ropes on it.
Because the first thing youwant to do is you want to file
for two things you want to filefor DIC, which is dependent
(03:06):
indemnity compensation, and youalso want to file an accrued
benefits claim.
And that means that you know,basically, when a veteran dies,
the claim dies with a veteran.
So the spouse not only thespouse, it can't be anybody else
basically has to file anaccrued benefits claim and that
will.
Anything the VA owes the spouseup to the date of his death
(03:29):
will be paid to the living, thewife or whatever.
The veteran, or, if the veteranis the female, the husband.
You know, that's what it is.
Yeah, there's another pointthere, john that.
Ray Cobb (03:44):
One other thing that I recommend to individuals that
I'm talking with if you're thespouse and the veteran has a
claim pending and it's obviousthat he's going to pass away,
(04:05):
probably before the claim isdecided, and their medical
conditions are still changingwith him, it's important that
the veteran, even if he reallyhas to scribble it there's a
form, and I'm sorry I don'tremember the number on the form
there's a form, and I'm sorry Idon't remember the number on the
form, but there's a formallowing the spouse and, like
(04:27):
you said, only the spouse tointervene and add additional
medical evidence to the claim.
Yeah, both would recommend isthat she by this time has a
credited agent working with heror else some really
(04:51):
computer-savvy, intelligent sonsor daughters to help her.
That would work.
But you know that form has tobe signed by the veteran, naming
her the right to intervene.
Now, what that also means, thatmakes it easier if he does pass
(05:12):
it away, to file the form thatyou were just speaking of in
order to continue to get theback benefits when the claim is
decided.
And to force the claim to bedecided is decided.
And to force the claim to bedecided.
That's really important there,because if you don't do that,
then they don't have to make adecision on the claim.
It just vanishes into clear airas if it never existed.
(05:39):
Just because you have a claimin once that veteran's deceased
and those other forms aren'tfilled out don't hold me to the
time frame, but I'm thinking 30days from his death then the
claim just automatically goesaway.
It cannot be regenerated.
J Basser (05:58):
Unless the spouse has an incapacitating maybe.
Say, for example, they'redriving down to Florida on a
little vacation, they get in acar wreck and he gets killed and
she's in a coma and she's inthere for like six months and
(06:20):
she's incapacitated, can't do it.
So that's one of the onlycaveats I see that would change
that rule.
Now, this is only we're talkingabout if you've got an active
claim or an appeal.
Okay, if you've got an activeclaim or appeal and you don't
have an accreditedrepresentative, by all means go
on the VAgov website and do thesearch for the people.
You can call somebody close toyou.
(06:42):
There's a listing of theappeals agents and there's also
a listing of the VSOs.
Somebody knows what they'redoing and you can qualify them
and see.
Basically, that's if you havean open claim or an appeal.
Now switch gears just a littlebit.
Dependent indemnitycompensation is payable to a
(07:04):
spouse of a veteran who haspassed away due to a
service-connected illnesscondition.
You don't have to be 100%.
If the condition itself is whatcaused the veteran's death or
is mentioned in the veteran'sdeath.
It does not have to be the maincause.
It just has to be acontributing factor.
Say, for example, the veteranhas lung heart disease and he
(07:29):
dies of his lung disease, buthis heart gives out.
That's a contributing factor.
If the veteran is married andhas been service-connected for
10 years and had been marriedfor how long, was that?
(07:49):
10 years or so, or was itdifferent?
Ray Cobb (07:53):
My understanding it's the same, but that may not be
correct, because someone hadtold me that once that it
doesn't matter, once that the VAhas acknowledged the spouse and
she is receiving spousalbenefits.
(08:14):
Now, that's the way one personexplained it to me.
J Basser (08:19):
Well, we'll check into that.
But anyhow, the veteran's beenin the service for 10 years and
he's been basically 100% for 10years and the spouse is covered
supposedly is covered under anycause of death, regardless of
whether it's accidental oranything like that, you know.
Ray Cobb (08:38):
Right.
J Basser (08:39):
So that's one benefit that again don't do this alone.
Get an accreditedrepresentative to help you.
I am tired of seeing andlooking on all these veterans'
websites and reading through andseeing all these old crap
(09:00):
moments.
Oh no, I got this.
This happened, that happened.
And why did that happen?
Uh, I tried to do it by myself.
Why did you do it by yourself?
You didn't have a creditrepresentation to help you.
That could have avoided that.
Ray Cobb (09:20):
Well, yeah, I mean, we see that all the time, you and
I do, you and I see it, we hearit, and it's just a basic and
you always hear the same why doI want to give somebody else
some money?
Because if you don't, you'renot going to get any money
Probably, you know you're goingto get.
They're going to figure outways to make you goof up, you
know that's the reason.
(09:41):
I said at it.
J Basser (09:43):
The reason I said that , ray, is I was reading one the
other day.
This poor person got denied ontheir claim so instead of filing
for a high-level review orsupplemental appeal, they
decided to file again.
So they did another intent tofile.
(10:05):
They won their claim based offthat intent to file.
With the other evidence theywouldn't go back to the date of
the first claim, they went backto the date of the intent to
file.
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Ray Cobb (10:20):
So they lost a few dollars.
J Basser (10:23):
Do not screw the pooch folks, Because there's two
things you don't want to do.
Of course they say don't pokethe bear but don't screw the
pooch either.
But other benefits involved forthe spouse will be say, for
(10:47):
example, she wasn't 100% and hepassed away with service naked
disability.
She gives her DIC based offservice naked death.
She should be entitled to CHAMPVA insurance, which 80% paid
insurance, medical pharmacy, 80%no out-of-pocket costs, except
(11:12):
for the 20% co-pays to the otherdoctor.
But if you get Medicare, ifyou're 65 years old and you have
Medicare, you're eligible forMedicare.
You cannot get CHAMPVA unlessyou take Medicare Part B.
They will not give it to youbecause you don't have Part B.
Medicare becomes primary andChamp VA becomes secondary.
It's still worthless becauseit's free insurance.
(11:34):
You don't have to pay the moneyfor it.
They'll pay the 20% of yourother co-pays for Medicare.
So you'll have no co-pays andit still acts as a medical card
or as a medicine.
You pay, or two, forprescriptions and it'll keep you
out of the I guess, the donuthole.
Or, if you want, you know,because you've got the D plan
and all this other stuff andpeople say they don't need it.
(11:55):
You know, but trust me, one dayit'll come when you need it.
You know, there's another thing.
Ray Cobb (12:05):
John, I don't know how it's working.
Recently, as you're aware, pamhas started having to go on a
prescription that she's going toneed to take the rest of her
life.
Now we were very surprisedbecause, due to the fact of
certain medications and there'sa few other programs that are
(12:28):
out there, but it's basically ifit's a generic name or a
generic drug with the samemedication, and then also
there's some groups out thereExcuse me, rx is one of them and
a couple of other medicalthings that reduce the cost of
(12:50):
drugs.
And this drug of hers herMedicare would not cover it, but
Champ VA does, and betweenChamp VA and goodRx it's free.
There's no copay.
(13:12):
So without it it wasn't much.
I mean, it was $18 a month ifshe'd had the copay.
But because she signed up andgot into GoodRx then and that's
good at several drugstores Ithink CVS, walgreens and all the
major ones accept that and someof them even have their own
(13:34):
plan.
So you need to make sure youget in that too, folks, because
that can make a difference.
I mean here, all of a suddenwe're facing that we're going to
need this prescription for,hopefully, 20 or 30 years.
I don't know if she'll live tobe 95,.
But if she does, let's justhope she does yeah.
J Basser (13:56):
Just plan on it, make plans.
Ray Cobb (13:59):
That's covered.
So those are some things thatyou also want to make sure that
you can have in place beforeyour veteran becomes deceased.
And I don't know if there's anage limit on that or not, for
some reason.
I'm thinking when we signed up,it was 55.
(14:21):
At least enroll in the one thatwe're enrolled in.
Signed up it was 55.
In order to at least enroll inthe one that we're enrolled in.
J Basser (14:31):
Okay, now I know several veterans that have
passed away and they've hadchildren, some that became
disabled at a little age.
Some children get meningitis ata young age or polio or
something like that, and they'redisabled for life and the VA
(14:52):
pays a dependent pay for themtoo.
So I don't know how thatactually works, in effect, if
the veteran passed away.
We lost one vet down in anotherpart of Kentucky that had a
child that was in bad shape, buthe was in, but he was in
constant care, and I thinkthey're still paying for him.
So that's something we need toinvestigate.
(15:14):
I mean, don't quote the showthere, you know we can dig into
it and see, but you can ask ifyou got that situation going.
You can ask.
I'd call the regional officeand ask them personally,
1-800-87-1000, and explain tothem what your question is and
have them try to answer it.
Losing a vet's not fun, butmost vets that die of
(15:40):
service-to-nest conditions arekind of battle casualties in my
opinion.
It just took them forever, ittook them a long time to wind up
and die, you know.
Yeah, because we're going tolose more folks, you know, and
it's going to hurt, you know,because I mean, the older we get
, the more funerals we get toattend Right Ray.
Ray Cobb (16:00):
That's the way it is.
And then all of a sudden youwake up one morning when you
reach my age and you startcounting back how many veterans
that you've known that are nolonger there.
Or in mine and your case I'msure.
We sit back and we know ofveterans that you helped and
they got their benefits and nowtheir wife's getting DIC and
(16:20):
things and what that means tothem.
And it's kind of shocking whenyou stop and you say, wow, I
know more that are gone than Iknow that are around.
J Basser (16:36):
You know we were talking to the lady that runs
our camper storage facility overthere in the town, across the
way here, and see, there was agentleman working on the
motorhome changing the headlighta while back and he fell over
dead right there in the lot witha massive heart attack.
So they didn't find him forfour hours and his wife called
(16:57):
her asking if she'd seen him.
Well, she knew that he'd foundhim, but she couldn't tell him.
She had to look at the cornerand give him the bad news.
Yeah, another camper back inthe back went down to the floor
to another camper and the guydied in the fifth wheel, died in
his sleep.
But if you pull your number,it's time to go where you're
(17:18):
going to go.
Ray Cobb (17:19):
Right, and then myself included, there's sometimes
that we get a second chance.
J Basser (17:29):
We've lost a lot of good vets in the last year or so
that had a big voice and a bigheart and did a lot of help for
veterans.
I used to be associated withHATEDcom and a lot of those
folks that are gone now that arereally good, some really good
friends that we workedhand-in-hand.
(17:50):
You know, with this stuff andyou know you look up and you see
they're gone and it's just sad,you know.
But you got to move on.
So you know that's probablymaking friends.
You know.
Especially you know if you dealwith veterans, especially as
perked up as we are, you knowtime's not going to last forever
(18:11):
, so it's better to make thebest of what time you have while
you're having it, you know.
But other than that, what'ssome other benefits the spouses
get once the pension passes awayat the DIC?
I know the DIC is configured acertain way.
(18:33):
I guess it's kind of like bonusmoney.
I can't pull this up and sharemy screen, right, okay, okay,
let me see here my screen right,okay, okay, let me see here,
(19:07):
there you go Showing it.
Okay, here's the survivingspouses of the infected December
1st 2024.
If the veteran had a VAdisability rating total,
(19:31):
including IU, for eight fullyears leading up to their death
and you're married to theveteran for those same eight
years, so it's an eight-yearrule To add a monthly amount.
Basically it's 351.02.
Well, you're right.
After, okay, you have adisability and need help with
(19:52):
regular daily activities likeeating, bathing, that's eight
attendance, which is $409 amonth.
If you can't leave your housebecause of your disability, it's
$191.85.
Hmm, you have one or morechildren of age 18.
(20:13):
Hmm, there's a transitionalbenefit for two years of $350
for the first two years afterthe veteran's death and then
$400, so the partial rate is$453 for each child.
So the total payment for thefirst two years, the monthly
rate, is $16,5307.
(20:34):
If you have a child, you getthe transitional benefit of $350
after two years.
(20:55):
Whoa, that's a pretty good lick.
Well, that's the total.
So that all depends on if youneed aid, attendance people come
and help you do stuff, you know, if you're elderly and things
like that.
But if you're married eightyears, it's an additional $351.
So you're looking at close totwo grand anyways, without
children, If you have eightattendants and you know you can
(21:20):
get pretty much close to $2,400.
But you know it's not going to,you're not going to get rich
off of it, but I'm sure that'llhelp you a whole lot.
You know, because you're goingto get to vet your Social
Security too, and your SocialSecurity If you work, you
probably draw your own list.
He was the hirer and you drawhis.
If you guys got a questionabout Social Security, about
this stuff, about what happensif they pass away, there's an
(21:44):
excellent little lady named LisaHiring.
She's been on the show beforeand her website is Side by Side
Solutions.
You guys can look at it,wwwsidebysidesolutionscom and
ask her questions or she'll helpyou with anything dealing with
Social Security, with survivalbenefits and things like that
with veterans.
So I'll give her a shout out.
She's pretty sharp, she retiredfrom Social Security and she
(22:05):
knows what she's doing.
Other than that, that's what wedo that way.
Any other benefit you think ofRay for a spouse?
Ray Cobb (22:32):
well, not that I can think of.
I think we covered most of them.
I I mean the only, the only youknow.
You touched on some, but um,basically, if the spouse is on
champ va, their champ va has allthe same criteria that a
veteran has when it comes toin-home care.
(22:56):
And in-home care can beeverything from a nurse coming
in Well, I know a gentleman thathis wife right now is on that
and she has somebody to comeinto the home three days a week
(23:17):
and then they send somebody tojust to make sure she's okay and
everything, and then two days.
The other two days a week thelady comes in for, um, I think
it's six hours each day andthat's to wash and clean and
cook and things of that nature.
J Basser (23:35):
Yeah, be able to get that.
Ray Cobb (23:37):
Yeah, now I don't think.
Another good question is thiscould pull up, but I don't think
the caregiver program goes overto.
In other words, I don't thinkthe spouse is entitled to the
caregiver program at all.
Someone was asking me aboutthat last week and I said, in
(23:59):
the best of my knowledge, no,the caregiver program is
strictly the veteran's thing.
J Basser (24:07):
It was written.
By law it has to be aveteran-only issue, but, like I
said, it's kind of a morbidtopic.
Ray Cobb (24:19):
Well, it is but if you look at it this way, it's no
different than individuals.
They go down and there's a wayto look at it, in my opinion.
You go down and you look atthis the same way you would go
down and pre-plan your funeral,so you get it done the way you
want it done and relieve a lotof the pressure off your family.
(24:44):
And that's exactly for theveteran.
If you'll get all this lined up, you know another thing that
you need to do.
That is easier, it's not hardto do, but you got to do it.
You got to make sure, ladies orgentlemen, whichever it affects
(25:05):
, if you've had a divorce, yougot to make sure you have both
copies of both of your divorcedecree.
I did not know that.
Our friend Alex Graham told methat have both copies of both of
your divorce decree.
I did not know that.
Our friend Alex Graham told methat and fortunately he looked
at mine and he said oh well,okay, that's all right, we got
(25:26):
it.
I mean, you know so if you bothhave been divorced, you've got
to have both of your divorcedecrees on file or ready to be
filed.
So that's something that a lotof people.
I didn't know it, I overlookedit and just kind of getting my
(25:47):
things in order.
Now for PAM is you know, Iwanted to make sure I had
everything you need and you knowthey're going to give you five.
Mostly in the state ofTennessee anyway, you get five
copies of your death certificatewithout charging, so you're
(26:08):
going to need two of those inthe VA and so you need to make
sure you have two of those inthe VA, and so you need to make
sure you have two of those andthen Social Security's going to
have to have one, and then youdon't know what else you may
need the others for.
But if you've got some type oflife insurance, banks, all that,
(26:31):
a lot of that stuff can bepredetermined and worked out
ahead of time to make it easieron your spouse.
And then you get the rightthings together for your DIC
that you're going to need.
Have them in a file folder.
I've bumped into this onegentleman.
He really had it down right.
(26:53):
He fixed his wife a littlenotebook.
It was an 8.5 by 11 sheet withlittle protectors in there and
in the front of it it hadeverything she would need Forms,
numbers and everything at thetime to what she needed to do to
get DIC and then, as you turnthe page, for example, he was
(27:18):
divorced.
He had a copy of her divorcedecree and then had a copy of
his.
Then they had a room and he hadit written on a big white sheet
of paper death certificate.
And then right on down the line, and I think there's about
eight or ten things that you'regoing to need and he had it
(27:39):
booked in place ready to go, andshe showed me that after his
death and I thought, man, nowwhat a great way to get that
thing set up for your spouse isto make her a little book with
sheet protectors in it and putthe things in there she needs.
And if there's something sheneeds that's unavailable until
(28:02):
after his death, then just writewhat it is and put a sheet in
there for that.
But he had it all together forher.
J Basser (28:15):
Okay, well, there's also a survivor's pension right
and basically a survivor'spension is a needs-based benefit
based on surviving spouses andunremarried dependent children
of wartime veterans unmarried,so the qualifier for that
survivor's pension must not havebeen remarried after the
veteran's death and the veteranmust have had an honorable
(28:35):
discharge, okay, or other thandishonorable Okay, no,
dishonorable discharge.
Ray Cobb (28:49):
Isn't that $1,600 a month now?
J Basser (28:54):
I don't know yet, I'll have to look at it.
It says that it depends on theveteran service dates and where
they were served during thewartime period.
So if you're a Vietnam vet likethat, then you can do it.
But the pension amount is basedon the income and net worth and
it's made for dependents.
So basically, if you're goingfor a vet or later, you know
that might include you becauseyou might have kids at home or
(29:15):
whatever.
But it also depends on how muchyou draw and make and things
like that.
Ray Cobb (29:22):
Yeah, I had this lady come to me it's been several
years ago now wanting that.
She had heard about it.
She thought she deserved it andwhen I was talking to her,
found out in our littlecommunity down the road from us
called Flat Creek and it is justa Flat Creek community.
She had a farm there with 250acres and she didn't think that
(29:45):
was fair, since she didn't liveon it, that that should count as
money.
No, she didn't rent it out.
No, none of that.
It was just sitting there andshe planned on giving it to her
kids.
That's great, but don't expectto be able to draw a pension,
(30:09):
you know, just because you thinkyou might deserve it, you've
got certain.
Those qualifications got to bemet.
J Basser (30:19):
Be glad you're not a column whip buddy.
You're sitting there on 250acres.
You don't touch it, especiallyin eastern Kentucky.
If they find out there's coalon that property, they'll tax
you for the unmined coal.
Ray Cobb (30:32):
Really Wow.
I wonder if they do that inTexas with the oil I hope not.
J Basser (30:44):
I doubt it, I doubt it .
I doubt it.
You know it's become well.
Also, here's a good one.
The VA provides burial benefits, including a flood allowance
and transportation assistancefor eligible veterans and their
spouses, which is pretty good.
Now there is a lot of nationalveteran cemeteries and the
(31:11):
veteran is eligible to be buriedthere.
All national cemeteries, exceptfor one, is managed by the
Department of Veterans Affairs.
The only one that is not iswhere it's got to be Arlington.
Arlington and yeah, that's abeautiful place.
(31:32):
We were just there a few weeksago.
I wore out two walkers and ascooter getting through there,
but no, the best thing about itis your spouse will be buried
with you If you pass away andyou want to go to, of course,
arlington, it's a littledifferent to get in there.
(31:52):
Arlington is getting prettymuch close to being full.
You knowlington, it's a littledifferent to get in there.
You know Arlington's gettingpretty much close to being full.
You know that, ray.
Ray Cobb (31:56):
I did, I did, and you're kind of limited as to who
can be there, you know.
J Basser (32:07):
But any National Cemetery you're buried in.
The veteran can be buried there.
The spouse can also be buriedthere.
We've got one here.
That's pretty close, which ispretty cool.
We've got one down inChattanooga that's pretty cool,
Ray, yeah, there's some veryfamous folks in there.
You know, that.
Ray Cobb (32:24):
I do.
My football coach is in there,my high school principal's in
there.
They both served in World WarII.
And then you got some otherfamous people in there.
Did you know Francis Scott Keyis buried in Nashville?
J Basser (32:42):
Mm-hmm, actually, yes, we did a.
I was an extra in a movie downthere several years ago and we
did a scene real close to hisgrave.
Ray Cobb (32:59):
That was the first place that the American flag was
approved to fly 24-7.
Mm-hmm.
J Basser (33:11):
Pretty cool man, yeah, pretty cool man and man,
there's a lot of old, old, oldstones in that place.
I mean we're talking, yeah,there is a lot of fancy stones.
I mean, you know, none of thislittle stuff, we're talking
stones.
You could walk under and thingslike that, you know, and just
like humongous, beautiful place,you know, and I don't want to
(33:34):
be there after dark, though.
You know what I mean, I know.
But also, the spouse will beburied at National Cemetery with
a bet.
How they do it is if theveteran passes away first,
they'll bury him, if the spousepasses away, they'll bury her on
(33:57):
top of it.
You know what they're stackedMm-hmm, why?
Hmm, I don't know.
I mean, she's not going to knowthe difference, right?
You know what I mean?
Yeah, yeah, mm-hmm.
(34:23):
Well, they do get pulled.
(34:50):
Well, they do get full militaryhonors.
And now also, surviving spouseis also entitled to basically a
CHAMP VA.
She's entitled to educationbenefits too, whichever 35 and
(35:14):
surviving children Say, even ifthat wasn't 100% of the time but
he gets a service neck of deathand died of a service neck
condition, automatically thebenefits go over to his children
, you know.
So they can get college tuition, things like that they don't
really pay the tuition to thecollege.
They pay the stipend to thestudent who can pay it, you know
.
So that's a good thing, yeah,and it's a good benefit.
(35:37):
I mean, it's Mm-hmm, mm-hmm,hmm, what?
(36:51):
Well, I've got one better foryou.
What kind of grades do you make?
(37:16):
Well, the reason being is that,hmm, hmm, I want to give you
(37:39):
one better.
If the child of the veteran, orany child actually, if, when
they want to go to college, andas long as they make 3.0 grade
point average or above, they cando this in high school too and
apply.
And as they make a 3.0 gradepoint average or above, they can
do this in high school too andapply.
And if they want to work forthe government, they have to go
(37:59):
into the engineering field,whether it be mechanical
engineering, any type ofengineering, any like computer,
data science and things likethat, any type of STEM they call
it, which you've heard of theSTEM programs.
Right, they can apply for theDOD Smart School program.
If they get accepted, they'llpick up a sponsor, we'll pick
(38:20):
them up at the facility andthey'll pay them pretty good,
depending on what level, degreethey want to do and how long
they want to do it.
You know if they want to go toa master's or even a PhD,
they'll pay that and they'll paythem so much per year.
With the higher level degreemake more money you get from
them, so they pay.
You say $40,000 a year just togo to school.
(38:42):
They pay you and that's thelower end.
Okay, it's $40,000 and $46,000for the high end.
They pay for your classes, theypay for your school, everything
.
They give you an allowance forhealth insurance for the student
.
It's not on Mom and Dad'spolicy.
(39:02):
Plus, when you graduate you havea job.
It's a year for year.
So if you go to college forfive years to get an engineering
degree, you got to work fiveyears for the government or for
DOD.
But usually in those positionsthey put you in.
It's an open mobility.
You'll start at one grade nextyear, go to the next grade.
It's always going up and up andup.
So you'll start off.
(39:23):
We're talking.
These people are high gradepeople.
The smarter you are, the moreeducation you get, the higher
grades you're going to get, themore you're going to get, more
money you're going to make andyou can pick any facility you
want to go to.
You know you can put in Fort,so you can pick Florida, any
state you want to go to,basically, that has a military
base, even for the one in yourbackyard, you know.
So that's something you need tolook at.
(39:52):
Mm-hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hey,mm-hmm.
(40:20):
Okay, what do you decide then?
Mm-hmm, thank you.
Anywhere within the system?
(40:59):
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
There's an ophthalmologistthere.
Actually, a regular optometristis.
Yeah, they go to optometryschool.
(41:20):
You know a regular optometrist,which is a regular eye doctor.
But you get into ophthalmologyand retinal specialists and
things like that.
You're talking medical doctorsthat went to medical school too,
and then they went toophthalmology school.
So you're looking at probably12 years of education.
Mm-hmm, it's true, because ourdoctors are pretty different.
(41:59):
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
(42:44):
Well if you've got kids,wouldn't there?
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
(43:14):
It's a fact.
Ai is going to do a lot ofstuff like that, but right now
we don't have the infrastructureor the power source sent to
order to do this and, believe me, doing something about this
firsthand.
It takes a lot of computingtype power to make it work and
(43:35):
we don't have it, we don't haveit, we don't have it.
(43:58):
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
That's a fact, man, but there'sa lot of stuff involved with it
(44:22):
.
I mean, once we get theinfrastructure set up, it's
going to be a good thing, aslong as they control it, because
eventually it'll be doingsurgery and everything on people
and they'll be able to usemachinery and the mechanics to
get to places where hands can'tgo Brain surgeries and things
like that.
So so, so, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, very, very good, you don't forget.
(45:11):
Yes, yes, yes, yes, mm-hmm,mm-hmm.
(45:34):
No, no, mm-hmm.
All right, you got to realize,though.
I mean, especially witheducation benefits like that, I
(45:55):
mean it's a good thing.
You know, survivor benefits,there's a lot of stuff out there
.
But again, you know, there's alot of criteria involved too.
You know, because basicallyit's the same type of criteria
being 100%, because once you geta veteran gets awarded 100%
permanent total, then his family.
You know, because basicallyit's the same type of criteria
being 100%, because once you geta veteran gets awarded 100%
permanent total, then his familyyou know, his children get the
benefits.
Fortunately, I was awarded 100%permanent total many, many
months ago, over 20 now.
(46:17):
Right, matter of fact, talk onthe wood.
Know what that means, don't you?
Anyhow, my son was very youngwhen that happened, so we had to
wait several years in order forhim to do that and it worked
and he never had a problem withit.
He did really well.
Kentucky's got a good educationbenefit too, so he was very
(46:39):
fortunate to do that stuff.
Also, the spouse is eligiblefor the home loan.
He can take over the veteran'shome loan.
If the veterans are gettingproperty taxes in certain states
, then she gets them too.
The rival spouse gets them too.
Or he will say you never know,because not all veterans are
guys, they're both.
And Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm,mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm,
(47:44):
mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm,mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm,
mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm,mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Well, kentucky, okay, they havea really good education benefit
.
They have a tuition-worthyprogram for, you know, college
for $100,000.
Add that to your check.
(48:05):
They're probably doing prettywell.
The tax is basically the same aswhat do you call it?
The home state exemption, andit's small potatoes compared to
other states.
You know most states.
They won't pay a property taxon a house or whatever.
But the best benefit perhapsfor veterans in the state of
(48:30):
Kentucky is back when Eisenhowerbuilt the interstate system.
So when you get on thatinterstate you get the heck out
of here.
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, the factor Ontheir house.
(48:58):
I thought I thought it was 100%.
I thought it mm-hmm.
So I thought it was 100%.
I thought it was 100%, thankyou.
(50:01):
Well, tennessee used to waivethe property tax, right, didn't
Tennessee used to?
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm?
What about vehicles?
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm,mm-hmm, hello, how's that?
(50:44):
Hello, hello, hello, mm-hmm,mm-hmm.
(51:08):
Okay, the difference between DICand survivor's pension.
Dic is dependent on indemnitycompensation, the veteran's
death, the cause of theveteran's death
service-connected and theduration of the veteran's
(51:30):
home-sickness disability rating.
Survivor's pension, basically,is tied to the veteran's wartime
service.
So remember that, guys.
That's the only difference.
So if you're a Vietnam vet'swife that was over in the
country, boots on the ground,then you know you qualify for
the survivor's pension.
But if you get the DS, even theVA, over-serviced death, then
maybe you can get I guess I'd dothe higher one.
(51:52):
You know because I'm sure anytime you talk about a pension
there are caveats involved.
Any time there's a survivor'spension there's caveats involved
, because you start talkingpension, you start talking
offsets and you can qualify forthis $1,000 as long as you hold
(52:16):
your teeth right and you'relaying like this and you can
poke your teeth every night andyou make this much money.
But if you make this much money, that $1,000 goes to $50 and
you get.
You know it's calling VA.
Be a math right.
And we know that.
We know the Jethro.
The Ellie Mae made the firstbatch of biscuits and turned
(52:37):
into Major League Baseball's.
Yeah, ellie Mae made the firstbatch of biscuits and turned
into Major League Baseball's orhockey play.
Jethro may be a man.
No, no.
Remarriage of the survivingspouse generally disqualifies
(53:08):
them from DIC and survivor'spension, though there are
exceptions for remarriage afterthe age of 57 under specific
circumstances related toveterans in the LGBTQ community
that I don't know about.
You can look that up, but Idon't think I want to touch that
with a 10 foot pole.
(53:28):
But other than that, folks,well, I think that that a pretty
good show.
Ray, we need to go ahead andfinish her off here.
I want to uh, thanks to do it.
Uh, want to see if we can keepon charging and hard charging.
Maybe.
Uh, I want to see if we cankeep on charging and hard
charging.
Maybe we'll do this again nextweek.
(53:49):
And what?
We'll go hard charging andwe'll do it again next week
We'll talk about something else.
Another subject I'm sure we'llbe able to have someone come in
and discuss the medicalcondition and go from point A to
point B to point Z, discuss themedical condition and go from
point A to point B to point Z.
But we'll try to get Jan'sscripts on here.
(54:12):
Go ahead, ron.
Thank you, it's like theAll-Star Game.
(55:39):
You know it's like the All-StarGame.
You know about every 12 minutesin the air, mm-hmm, mm-hmm,
(56:14):
mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Come in for a day trip.
If you need information aboutthat, send an email to
expoldgood at gmailcom and I'llsend it down to Ray and he'll
get your information.
If you've got lodging questionsor anything, he can help you
out because I mean he takes careof his folks when they come
back.
He took care of us one timegoing down.
(56:35):
We did a little veterans dealwith him and a lot of fun down
there, beautiful place.
If you've got a Tennesseeesseefishing license, bring your
fishing pole for a day or twoand stay down there and catch
some fish and beautiful lakes.
They got down there all right,well, all right.
(57:11):
Well, guys, we appreciate youlistening and watching the show.
This will be up here on ourYouTube channel here shortly
after it gets downloaded, Ray.
Thanks for coming on, man.
We appreciate you always, youknow, being a co-host and always
helping out.
We appreciate everything you do.
We know you're a busy man, butwe're glad you do it.
And since this will be John,we'll see you next week.
(57:33):
Folks, we'll be signing off fornow, good night.
Welcome folks to another episode of Jay Bassers
Exposed Vet Productions on thisbeautiful sunshiny, hotter than
you know what, july 24th 2025.
It's hot out there in theTreasurer Mountains.
I got my one and only famousco-host today, mr Ray Cobb.
How you doing, ray?
Ray Cobb (00:21):
I'm doing great.
I'm trying to stay cool insideright now.
Yeah, it was well's well 90shere earlier today oh, it's just
flat out hot.
J Basser (00:31):
We went out to a little town today and got
something brought back and itjust goes outside for about 20
minutes in it and I thought Iwas going to die and yeah, it's
just too hot.
But uh, being today's the 24thand we're going to discuss the
value of benefits today Kind ofa morbid topic, of course, you
know.
I mean, with all the peoplepassing away lately, it kind of,
(00:55):
you know, it's time to do one.
I mean, we've lost a lot offolks.
You know not just veterans, butyou know well-respected
celebrities.
You know Hulk Hogan died justhere yesterday, well-respected
celebrity.
You know Hogan died just hereyesterday.
Ray Cobb (01:05):
Well, that's what I thought it sounded like Willie
Nelson didn't do it too goodeither.
J Basser (01:12):
Well, willie's got some.
You know he's got some problems.
Of course, according to thetabloids, willie's died 10 times
in the past 15 years.
But uh, he lost a lot of folks.
And you know the reason we'resaying is if you're veterans,
there's a little different issuethere Because there's survivor
benefits from the VA that areavailable to spouses of veterans
(01:35):
and we'll kind of cover that.
I'll start off.
If something happens to theveteran While he's got a claim
Still active or an appeal, we'llstart off with that.
And you know we lost one here awhile back that had a claim in
and his representative took overand did everything right.
(01:57):
And so if you're a widow, soonto be, and say your veteran
passes while you have an activeclaim in, you know you're going
to have your hands full.
You've got so much stuff goingon with planning and this and
that and insurance andeverything else that you know
veterans benefits are going tobe probably a little bit on the
back burner.
What you're looking at is ifyour veteran had a claim in and
(02:20):
say, for example, he wasn't 100%and his claim he had in was one
that would make him 100%, thenyou know it's possible.
So what you have to do is youhave to do it yourself.
If you can, you just might knowwhat they're doing.
First of all, because this isvery, very unleveled ground.
(02:43):
Let's put it that way.
You're very unleveled around.
Let's put it that way, gettinga credit representative.
Personally, I would get probablyan accredited VA claims agent,
someone like that that knowswhat's done it before they can
show you the ropes on it.
Because the first thing youwant to do is you want to file
for two things you want to filefor DIC, which is dependent
(03:06):
indemnity compensation, and youalso want to file an accrued
benefits claim.
And that means that you know,basically, when a veteran dies,
the claim dies with a veteran.
So the spouse not only thespouse, it can't be anybody else
basically has to file anaccrued benefits claim and that
will.
Anything the VA owes the spouseup to the date of his death
(03:29):
will be paid to the living, thewife or whatever.
The veteran, or, if the veteranis the female, the husband.
You know, that's what it is.
Yeah, there's another pointthere, john that.
Ray Cobb (03:44):
One other thing that I recommend to individuals that
I'm talking with if you're thespouse and the veteran has a
claim pending and it's obviousthat he's going to pass away,
(04:05):
probably before the claim isdecided, and their medical
conditions are still changingwith him, it's important that
the veteran, even if he reallyhas to scribble it there's a
form, and I'm sorry I don'tremember the number on the form
there's a form, and I'm sorry Idon't remember the number on the
form, but there's a formallowing the spouse and, like
(04:27):
you said, only the spouse tointervene and add additional
medical evidence to the claim.
Yeah, both would recommend isthat she by this time has a
credited agent working with heror else some really
(04:51):
computer-savvy, intelligent sonsor daughters to help her.
That would work.
But you know that form has tobe signed by the veteran, naming
her the right to intervene.
Now, what that also means, thatmakes it easier if he does pass
(05:12):
it away, to file the form thatyou were just speaking of in
order to continue to get theback benefits when the claim is
decided.
And to force the claim to bedecided is decided.
And to force the claim to bedecided.
That's really important there,because if you don't do that,
then they don't have to make adecision on the claim.
It just vanishes into clear airas if it never existed.
(05:39):
Just because you have a claimin once that veteran's deceased
and those other forms aren'tfilled out don't hold me to the
time frame, but I'm thinking 30days from his death then the
claim just automatically goesaway.
It cannot be regenerated.
J Basser (05:58):
Unless the spouse has an incapacitating maybe.
Say, for example, they'redriving down to Florida on a
little vacation, they get in acar wreck and he gets killed and
she's in a coma and she's inthere for like six months and
(06:20):
she's incapacitated, can't do it.
So that's one of the onlycaveats I see that would change
that rule.
Now, this is only we're talkingabout if you've got an active
claim or an appeal.
Okay, if you've got an activeclaim or appeal and you don't
have an accreditedrepresentative, by all means go
on the VAgov website and do thesearch for the people.
You can call somebody close toyou.
(06:42):
There's a listing of theappeals agents and there's also
a listing of the VSOs.
Somebody knows what they'redoing and you can qualify them
and see.
Basically, that's if you havean open claim or an appeal.
Now switch gears just a littlebit.
Dependent indemnitycompensation is payable to a
(07:04):
spouse of a veteran who haspassed away due to a
service-connected illnesscondition.
You don't have to be 100%.
If the condition itself is whatcaused the veteran's death or
is mentioned in the veteran'sdeath.
It does not have to be the maincause.
It just has to be acontributing factor.
Say, for example, the veteranhas lung heart disease and he
(07:29):
dies of his lung disease, buthis heart gives out.
That's a contributing factor.
If the veteran is married andhas been service-connected for
10 years and had been marriedfor how long, was that?
(07:49):
10 years or so, or was itdifferent?
Ray Cobb (07:53):
My understanding it's the same, but that may not be
correct, because someone hadtold me that once that it
doesn't matter, once that the VAhas acknowledged the spouse and
she is receiving spousalbenefits.
(08:14):
Now, that's the way one personexplained it to me.
J Basser (08:19):
Well, we'll check into that.
But anyhow, the veteran's beenin the service for 10 years and
he's been basically 100% for 10years and the spouse is covered
supposedly is covered under anycause of death, regardless of
whether it's accidental oranything like that, you know.
Ray Cobb (08:38):
Right.
J Basser (08:39):
So that's one benefit that again don't do this alone.
Get an accreditedrepresentative to help you.
I am tired of seeing andlooking on all these veterans'
websites and reading through andseeing all these old crap
(09:00):
moments.
Oh no, I got this.
This happened, that happened.
And why did that happen?
Uh, I tried to do it by myself.
Why did you do it by yourself?
You didn't have a creditrepresentation to help you.
That could have avoided that.
Ray Cobb (09:20):
Well, yeah, I mean, we see that all the time, you and
I do, you and I see it, we hearit, and it's just a basic and
you always hear the same why doI want to give somebody else
some money?
Because if you don't, you'renot going to get any money
Probably, you know you're goingto get.
They're going to figure outways to make you goof up, you
know that's the reason.
(09:41):
I said at it.
J Basser (09:43):
The reason I said that , ray, is I was reading one the
other day.
This poor person got denied ontheir claim so instead of filing
for a high-level review orsupplemental appeal, they
decided to file again.
So they did another intent tofile.
(10:05):
They won their claim based offthat intent to file.
With the other evidence theywouldn't go back to the date of
the first claim, they went backto the date of the intent to
file.
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Ray Cobb (10:20):
So they lost a few dollars.
J Basser (10:23):
Do not screw the pooch folks, Because there's two
things you don't want to do.
Of course they say don't pokethe bear but don't screw the
pooch either.
But other benefits involved forthe spouse will be say, for
(10:47):
example, she wasn't 100% and hepassed away with service naked
disability.
She gives her DIC based offservice naked death.
She should be entitled to CHAMPVA insurance, which 80% paid
insurance, medical pharmacy, 80%no out-of-pocket costs, except
(11:12):
for the 20% co-pays to the otherdoctor.
But if you get Medicare, ifyou're 65 years old and you have
Medicare, you're eligible forMedicare.
You cannot get CHAMPVA unlessyou take Medicare Part B.
They will not give it to youbecause you don't have Part B.
Medicare becomes primary andChamp VA becomes secondary.
It's still worthless becauseit's free insurance.
(11:34):
You don't have to pay the moneyfor it.
They'll pay the 20% of yourother co-pays for Medicare.
So you'll have no co-pays andit still acts as a medical card
or as a medicine.
You pay, or two, forprescriptions and it'll keep you
out of the I guess, the donuthole.
Or, if you want, you know,because you've got the D plan
and all this other stuff andpeople say they don't need it.
(11:55):
You know, but trust me, one dayit'll come when you need it.
You know, there's another thing.
Ray Cobb (12:05):
John, I don't know how it's working.
Recently, as you're aware, pamhas started having to go on a
prescription that she's going toneed to take the rest of her
life.
Now we were very surprisedbecause, due to the fact of
certain medications and there'sa few other programs that are
(12:28):
out there, but it's basically ifit's a generic name or a
generic drug with the samemedication, and then also
there's some groups out thereExcuse me, rx is one of them and
a couple of other medicalthings that reduce the cost of
(12:50):
drugs.
And this drug of hers herMedicare would not cover it, but
Champ VA does, and betweenChamp VA and goodRx it's free.
There's no copay.
(13:12):
So without it it wasn't much.
I mean, it was $18 a month ifshe'd had the copay.
But because she signed up andgot into GoodRx then and that's
good at several drugstores Ithink CVS, walgreens and all the
major ones accept that and someof them even have their own
(13:34):
plan.
So you need to make sure youget in that too, folks, because
that can make a difference.
I mean here, all of a suddenwe're facing that we're going to
need this prescription for,hopefully, 20 or 30 years.
I don't know if she'll live tobe 95,.
But if she does, let's justhope she does yeah.
J Basser (13:56):
Just plan on it, make plans.
Ray Cobb (13:59):
That's covered.
So those are some things thatyou also want to make sure that
you can have in place beforeyour veteran becomes deceased.
And I don't know if there's anage limit on that or not, for
some reason.
I'm thinking when we signed up,it was 55.
(14:21):
At least enroll in the one thatwe're enrolled in.
Signed up it was 55.
In order to at least enroll inthe one that we're enrolled in.
J Basser (14:31):
Okay, now I know several veterans that have
passed away and they've hadchildren, some that became
disabled at a little age.
Some children get meningitis ata young age or polio or
something like that, and they'redisabled for life and the VA
(14:52):
pays a dependent pay for themtoo.
So I don't know how thatactually works, in effect, if
the veteran passed away.
We lost one vet down in anotherpart of Kentucky that had a
child that was in bad shape, buthe was in, but he was in
constant care, and I thinkthey're still paying for him.
So that's something we need toinvestigate.
(15:14):
I mean, don't quote the showthere, you know we can dig into
it and see, but you can ask ifyou got that situation going.
You can ask.
I'd call the regional officeand ask them personally,
1-800-87-1000, and explain tothem what your question is and
have them try to answer it.
Losing a vet's not fun, butmost vets that die of
(15:40):
service-to-nest conditions arekind of battle casualties in my
opinion.
It just took them forever, ittook them a long time to wind up
and die, you know.
Yeah, because we're going tolose more folks, you know, and
it's going to hurt, you know,because I mean, the older we get
, the more funerals we get toattend Right Ray.
Ray Cobb (16:00):
That's the way it is.
And then all of a sudden youwake up one morning when you
reach my age and you startcounting back how many veterans
that you've known that are nolonger there.
Or in mine and your case I'msure.
We sit back and we know ofveterans that you helped and
they got their benefits and nowtheir wife's getting DIC and
(16:20):
things and what that means tothem.
And it's kind of shocking whenyou stop and you say, wow, I
know more that are gone than Iknow that are around.
J Basser (16:36):
You know we were talking to the lady that runs
our camper storage facility overthere in the town, across the
way here, and see, there was agentleman working on the
motorhome changing the headlighta while back and he fell over
dead right there in the lot witha massive heart attack.
So they didn't find him forfour hours and his wife called
(16:57):
her asking if she'd seen him.
Well, she knew that he'd foundhim, but she couldn't tell him.
She had to look at the cornerand give him the bad news.
Yeah, another camper back inthe back went down to the floor
to another camper and the guydied in the fifth wheel, died in
his sleep.
But if you pull your number,it's time to go where you're
(17:18):
going to go.
Ray Cobb (17:19):
Right, and then myself included, there's sometimes
that we get a second chance.
J Basser (17:29):
We've lost a lot of good vets in the last year or so
that had a big voice and a bigheart and did a lot of help for
veterans.
I used to be associated withHATEDcom and a lot of those
folks that are gone now that arereally good, some really good
friends that we workedhand-in-hand.
(17:50):
You know, with this stuff andyou know you look up and you see
they're gone and it's just sad,you know.
But you got to move on.
So you know that's probablymaking friends.
You know.
Especially you know if you dealwith veterans, especially as
perked up as we are, you knowtime's not going to last forever
(18:11):
, so it's better to make thebest of what time you have while
you're having it, you know.
But other than that, what'ssome other benefits the spouses
get once the pension passes awayat the DIC?
I know the DIC is configured acertain way.
(18:33):
I guess it's kind of like bonusmoney.
I can't pull this up and sharemy screen, right, okay, okay,
let me see here my screen right,okay, okay, let me see here,
(19:07):
there you go Showing it.
Okay, here's the survivingspouses of the infected December
1st 2024.
If the veteran had a VAdisability rating total,
(19:31):
including IU, for eight fullyears leading up to their death
and you're married to theveteran for those same eight
years, so it's an eight-yearrule To add a monthly amount.
Basically it's 351.02.
Well, you're right.
After, okay, you have adisability and need help with
(19:52):
regular daily activities likeeating, bathing, that's eight
attendance, which is $409 amonth.
If you can't leave your housebecause of your disability, it's
$191.85.
Hmm, you have one or morechildren of age 18.
(20:13):
Hmm, there's a transitionalbenefit for two years of $350
for the first two years afterthe veteran's death and then
$400, so the partial rate is$453 for each child.
So the total payment for thefirst two years, the monthly
rate, is $16,5307.
(20:34):
If you have a child, you getthe transitional benefit of $350
after two years.
(20:55):
Whoa, that's a pretty good lick.
Well, that's the total.
So that all depends on if youneed aid, attendance people come
and help you do stuff, you know, if you're elderly and things
like that.
But if you're married eightyears, it's an additional $351.
So you're looking at close totwo grand anyways, without
children, If you have eightattendants and you know you can
(21:20):
get pretty much close to $2,400.
But you know it's not going to,you're not going to get rich
off of it, but I'm sure that'llhelp you a whole lot.
You know, because you're goingto get to vet your Social
Security too, and your SocialSecurity If you work, you
probably draw your own list.
He was the hirer and you drawhis.
If you guys got a questionabout Social Security, about
this stuff, about what happensif they pass away, there's an
(21:44):
excellent little lady named LisaHiring.
She's been on the show beforeand her website is Side by Side
Solutions.
You guys can look at it,wwwsidebysidesolutionscom and
ask her questions or she'll helpyou with anything dealing with
Social Security, with survivalbenefits and things like that
with veterans.
So I'll give her a shout out.
She's pretty sharp, she retiredfrom Social Security and she
(22:05):
knows what she's doing.
Other than that, that's what wedo that way.
Any other benefit you think ofRay for a spouse?
Ray Cobb (22:32):
well, not that I can think of.
I think we covered most of them.
I I mean the only, the only youknow.
You touched on some, but um,basically, if the spouse is on
champ va, their champ va has allthe same criteria that a
veteran has when it comes toin-home care.
(22:56):
And in-home care can beeverything from a nurse coming
in Well, I know a gentleman thathis wife right now is on that
and she has somebody to comeinto the home three days a week
(23:17):
and then they send somebody tojust to make sure she's okay and
everything, and then two days.
The other two days a week thelady comes in for, um, I think
it's six hours each day andthat's to wash and clean and
cook and things of that nature.
J Basser (23:35):
Yeah, be able to get that.
Ray Cobb (23:37):
Yeah, now I don't think.
Another good question is thiscould pull up, but I don't think
the caregiver program goes overto.
In other words, I don't thinkthe spouse is entitled to the
caregiver program at all.
Someone was asking me aboutthat last week and I said, in
(23:59):
the best of my knowledge, no,the caregiver program is
strictly the veteran's thing.
J Basser (24:07):
It was written.
By law it has to be aveteran-only issue, but, like I
said, it's kind of a morbidtopic.
Ray Cobb (24:19):
Well, it is but if you look at it this way, it's no
different than individuals.
They go down and there's a wayto look at it, in my opinion.
You go down and you look atthis the same way you would go
down and pre-plan your funeral,so you get it done the way you
want it done and relieve a lotof the pressure off your family.
(24:44):
And that's exactly for theveteran.
If you'll get all this lined up, you know another thing that
you need to do.
That is easier, it's not hardto do, but you got to do it.
You got to make sure, ladies orgentlemen, whichever it affects
(25:05):
, if you've had a divorce, yougot to make sure you have both
copies of both of your divorcedecree.
I did not know that.
Our friend Alex Graham told methat have both copies of both of
your divorce decree.
I did not know that.
Our friend Alex Graham told methat and fortunately he looked
at mine and he said oh well,okay, that's all right, we got
(25:26):
it.
I mean, you know so if you bothhave been divorced, you've got
to have both of your divorcedecrees on file or ready to be
filed.
So that's something that a lotof people.
I didn't know it, I overlookedit and just kind of getting my
(25:47):
things in order.
Now for PAM is you know, Iwanted to make sure I had
everything you need and you knowthey're going to give you five.
Mostly in the state ofTennessee anyway, you get five
copies of your death certificatewithout charging, so you're
(26:08):
going to need two of those inthe VA and so you need to make
sure you have two of those inthe VA, and so you need to make
sure you have two of those andthen Social Security's going to
have to have one, and then youdon't know what else you may
need the others for.
But if you've got some type oflife insurance, banks, all that,
(26:31):
a lot of that stuff can bepredetermined and worked out
ahead of time to make it easieron your spouse.
And then you get the rightthings together for your DIC
that you're going to need.
Have them in a file folder.
I've bumped into this onegentleman.
He really had it down right.
(26:53):
He fixed his wife a littlenotebook.
It was an 8.5 by 11 sheet withlittle protectors in there and
in the front of it it hadeverything she would need Forms,
numbers and everything at thetime to what she needed to do to
get DIC and then, as you turnthe page, for example, he was
(27:18):
divorced.
He had a copy of her divorcedecree and then had a copy of
his.
Then they had a room and he hadit written on a big white sheet
of paper death certificate.
And then right on down the line, and I think there's about
eight or ten things that you'regoing to need and he had it
(27:39):
booked in place ready to go, andshe showed me that after his
death and I thought, man, nowwhat a great way to get that
thing set up for your spouse isto make her a little book with
sheet protectors in it and putthe things in there she needs.
And if there's something sheneeds that's unavailable until
(28:02):
after his death, then just writewhat it is and put a sheet in
there for that.
But he had it all together forher.
J Basser (28:15):
Okay, well, there's also a survivor's pension right
and basically a survivor'spension is a needs-based benefit
based on surviving spouses andunremarried dependent children
of wartime veterans unmarried,so the qualifier for that
survivor's pension must not havebeen remarried after the
veteran's death and the veteranmust have had an honorable
(28:35):
discharge, okay, or other thandishonorable Okay, no,
dishonorable discharge.
Ray Cobb (28:49):
Isn't that $1,600 a month now?
J Basser (28:54):
I don't know yet, I'll have to look at it.
It says that it depends on theveteran service dates and where
they were served during thewartime period.
So if you're a Vietnam vet likethat, then you can do it.
But the pension amount is basedon the income and net worth and
it's made for dependents.
So basically, if you're goingfor a vet or later, you know
that might include you becauseyou might have kids at home or
(29:15):
whatever.
But it also depends on how muchyou draw and make and things
like that.
Ray Cobb (29:22):
Yeah, I had this lady come to me it's been several
years ago now wanting that.
She had heard about it.
She thought she deserved it andwhen I was talking to her,
found out in our littlecommunity down the road from us
called Flat Creek and it is justa Flat Creek community.
She had a farm there with 250acres and she didn't think that
(29:45):
was fair, since she didn't liveon it, that that should count as
money.
No, she didn't rent it out.
No, none of that.
It was just sitting there andshe planned on giving it to her
kids.
That's great, but don't expectto be able to draw a pension,
(30:09):
you know, just because you thinkyou might deserve it, you've
got certain.
Those qualifications got to bemet.
J Basser (30:19):
Be glad you're not a column whip buddy.
You're sitting there on 250acres.
You don't touch it, especiallyin eastern Kentucky.
If they find out there's coalon that property, they'll tax
you for the unmined coal.
Ray Cobb (30:32):
Really Wow.
I wonder if they do that inTexas with the oil I hope not.
J Basser (30:44):
I doubt it, I doubt it .
I doubt it.
You know it's become well.
Also, here's a good one.
The VA provides burial benefits, including a flood allowance
and transportation assistancefor eligible veterans and their
spouses, which is pretty good.
Now there is a lot of nationalveteran cemeteries and the
(31:11):
veteran is eligible to be buriedthere.
All national cemeteries, exceptfor one, is managed by the
Department of Veterans Affairs.
The only one that is not iswhere it's got to be Arlington.
Arlington and yeah, that's abeautiful place.
(31:32):
We were just there a few weeksago.
I wore out two walkers and ascooter getting through there,
but no, the best thing about itis your spouse will be buried
with you If you pass away andyou want to go to, of course,
arlington, it's a littledifferent to get in there.
(31:52):
Arlington is getting prettymuch close to being full.
You knowlington, it's a littledifferent to get in there.
You know Arlington's gettingpretty much close to being full.
You know that, ray.
Ray Cobb (31:56):
I did, I did, and you're kind of limited as to who
can be there, you know.
J Basser (32:07):
But any National Cemetery you're buried in.
The veteran can be buried there.
The spouse can also be buriedthere.
We've got one here.
That's pretty close, which ispretty cool.
We've got one down inChattanooga that's pretty cool,
Ray, yeah, there's some veryfamous folks in there.
You know, that.
Ray Cobb (32:24):
I do.
My football coach is in there,my high school principal's in
there.
They both served in World WarII.
And then you got some otherfamous people in there.
Did you know Francis Scott Keyis buried in Nashville?
J Basser (32:42):
Mm-hmm, actually, yes, we did a.
I was an extra in a movie downthere several years ago and we
did a scene real close to hisgrave.
Ray Cobb (32:59):
That was the first place that the American flag was
approved to fly 24-7.
Mm-hmm.
J Basser (33:11):
Pretty cool man, yeah, pretty cool man and man,
there's a lot of old, old, oldstones in that place.
I mean we're talking, yeah,there is a lot of fancy stones.
I mean, you know, none of thislittle stuff, we're talking
stones.
You could walk under and thingslike that, you know, and just
like humongous, beautiful place,you know, and I don't want to
(33:34):
be there after dark, though.
You know what I mean, I know.
But also, the spouse will beburied at National Cemetery with
a bet.
How they do it is if theveteran passes away first,
they'll bury him, if the spousepasses away, they'll bury her on
(33:57):
top of it.
You know what they're stackedMm-hmm, why?
Hmm, I don't know.
I mean, she's not going to knowthe difference, right?
You know what I mean?
Yeah, yeah, mm-hmm.
(34:23):
Well, they do get pulled.
(34:50):
Well, they do get full militaryhonors.
And now also, surviving spouseis also entitled to basically a
CHAMP VA.
She's entitled to educationbenefits too, whichever 35 and
(35:14):
surviving children Say, even ifthat wasn't 100% of the time but
he gets a service neck of deathand died of a service neck
condition, automatically thebenefits go over to his children
, you know.
So they can get college tuition, things like that they don't
really pay the tuition to thecollege.
They pay the stipend to thestudent who can pay it, you know
.
So that's a good thing, yeah,and it's a good benefit.
(35:37):
I mean, it's Mm-hmm, mm-hmm,hmm, what?
(36:51):
Well, I've got one better foryou.
What kind of grades do you make?
(37:16):
Well, the reason being is that,hmm, hmm, I want to give you
(37:39):
one better.
If the child of the veteran, orany child actually, if, when
they want to go to college, andas long as they make 3.0 grade
point average or above, they cando this in high school too and
apply.
And as they make a 3.0 gradepoint average or above, they can
do this in high school too andapply.
And if they want to work forthe government, they have to go
(37:59):
into the engineering field,whether it be mechanical
engineering, any type ofengineering, any like computer,
data science and things likethat, any type of STEM they call
it, which you've heard of theSTEM programs.
Right, they can apply for theDOD Smart School program.
If they get accepted, they'llpick up a sponsor, we'll pick
(38:20):
them up at the facility andthey'll pay them pretty good,
depending on what level, degreethey want to do and how long
they want to do it.
You know if they want to go toa master's or even a PhD,
they'll pay that and they'll paythem so much per year.
With the higher level degreemake more money you get from
them, so they pay.
You say $40,000 a year just togo to school.
(38:42):
They pay you and that's thelower end.
Okay, it's $40,000 and $46,000for the high end.
They pay for your classes, theypay for your school, everything
.
They give you an allowance forhealth insurance for the student
.
It's not on Mom and Dad'spolicy.
(39:02):
Plus, when you graduate you havea job.
It's a year for year.
So if you go to college forfive years to get an engineering
degree, you got to work fiveyears for the government or for
DOD.
But usually in those positionsthey put you in.
It's an open mobility.
You'll start at one grade nextyear, go to the next grade.
It's always going up and up andup.
So you'll start off.
(39:23):
We're talking.
These people are high gradepeople.
The smarter you are, the moreeducation you get, the higher
grades you're going to get, themore you're going to get, more
money you're going to make andyou can pick any facility you
want to go to.
You know you can put in Fort,so you can pick Florida, any
state you want to go to,basically, that has a military
base, even for the one in yourbackyard, you know.
So that's something you need tolook at.
(39:52):
Mm-hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hey,mm-hmm.
(40:20):
Okay, what do you decide then?
Mm-hmm, thank you.
Anywhere within the system?
(40:59):
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
There's an ophthalmologistthere.
Actually, a regular optometristis.
Yeah, they go to optometryschool.
(41:20):
You know a regular optometrist,which is a regular eye doctor.
But you get into ophthalmologyand retinal specialists and
things like that.
You're talking medical doctorsthat went to medical school too,
and then they went toophthalmology school.
So you're looking at probably12 years of education.
Mm-hmm, it's true, because ourdoctors are pretty different.
(41:59):
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
(42:44):
Well if you've got kids,wouldn't there?
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
(43:14):
It's a fact.
Ai is going to do a lot ofstuff like that, but right now
we don't have the infrastructureor the power source sent to
order to do this and, believe me, doing something about this
firsthand.
It takes a lot of computingtype power to make it work and
(43:35):
we don't have it, we don't haveit, we don't have it.
(43:58):
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
That's a fact, man, but there'sa lot of stuff involved with it
(44:22):
.
I mean, once we get theinfrastructure set up, it's
going to be a good thing, aslong as they control it, because
eventually it'll be doingsurgery and everything on people
and they'll be able to usemachinery and the mechanics to
get to places where hands can'tgo Brain surgeries and things
like that.
So so, so, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, very, very good, you don't forget.
(45:11):
Yes, yes, yes, yes, mm-hmm,mm-hmm.
(45:34):
No, no, mm-hmm.
All right, you got to realize,though.
I mean, especially witheducation benefits like that, I
(45:55):
mean it's a good thing.
You know, survivor benefits,there's a lot of stuff out there
.
But again, you know, there's alot of criteria involved too.
You know, because basicallyit's the same type of criteria
being 100%, because once you geta veteran gets awarded 100%
permanent total, then his family.
You know, because basicallyit's the same type of criteria
being 100%, because once you geta veteran gets awarded 100%
permanent total, then his familyyou know, his children get the
benefits.
Fortunately, I was awarded 100%permanent total many, many
months ago, over 20 now.
(46:17):
Right, matter of fact, talk onthe wood.
Know what that means, don't you?
Anyhow, my son was very youngwhen that happened, so we had to
wait several years in order forhim to do that and it worked
and he never had a problem withit.
He did really well.
Kentucky's got a good educationbenefit too, so he was very
(46:39):
fortunate to do that stuff.
Also, the spouse is eligiblefor the home loan.
He can take over the veteran'shome loan.
If the veterans are gettingproperty taxes in certain states
, then she gets them too.
The rival spouse gets them too.
Or he will say you never know,because not all veterans are
guys, they're both.
And Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm,mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm,
(47:44):
mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm,mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm,
mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm,mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Well, kentucky, okay, they havea really good education benefit
.
They have a tuition-worthyprogram for, you know, college
for $100,000.
Add that to your check.
(48:05):
They're probably doing prettywell.
The tax is basically the same aswhat do you call it?
The home state exemption, andit's small potatoes compared to
other states.
You know most states.
They won't pay a property taxon a house or whatever.
But the best benefit perhapsfor veterans in the state of
(48:30):
Kentucky is back when Eisenhowerbuilt the interstate system.
So when you get on thatinterstate you get the heck out
of here.
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, the factor Ontheir house.
(48:58):
I thought I thought it was 100%.
I thought it mm-hmm.
So I thought it was 100%.
I thought it was 100%, thankyou.
(50:01):
Well, tennessee used to waivethe property tax, right, didn't
Tennessee used to?
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm?
What about vehicles?
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm,mm-hmm, hello, how's that?
(50:44):
Hello, hello, hello, mm-hmm,mm-hmm.
(51:08):
Okay, the difference between DICand survivor's pension.
Dic is dependent on indemnitycompensation, the veteran's
death, the cause of theveteran's death
service-connected and theduration of the veteran's
(51:30):
home-sickness disability rating.
Survivor's pension, basically,is tied to the veteran's wartime
service.
So remember that, guys.
That's the only difference.
So if you're a Vietnam vet'swife that was over in the
country, boots on the ground,then you know you qualify for
the survivor's pension.
But if you get the DS, even theVA, over-serviced death, then
maybe you can get I guess I'd dothe higher one.
(51:52):
You know because I'm sure anytime you talk about a pension
there are caveats involved.
Any time there's a survivor'spension there's caveats involved
, because you start talkingpension, you start talking
offsets and you can qualify forthis $1,000 as long as you hold
(52:16):
your teeth right and you'relaying like this and you can
poke your teeth every night andyou make this much money.
But if you make this much money, that $1,000 goes to $50 and
you get.
You know it's calling VA.
Be a math right.
And we know that.
We know the Jethro.
The Ellie Mae made the firstbatch of biscuits and turned
(52:37):
into Major League Baseball's.
Yeah, ellie Mae made the firstbatch of biscuits and turned
into Major League Baseball's orhockey play.
Jethro may be a man.
No, no.
Remarriage of the survivingspouse generally disqualifies
(53:08):
them from DIC and survivor'spension, though there are
exceptions for remarriage afterthe age of 57 under specific
circumstances related toveterans in the LGBTQ community
that I don't know about.
You can look that up, but Idon't think I want to touch that
with a 10 foot pole.
(53:28):
But other than that, folks,well, I think that that a pretty
good show.
Ray, we need to go ahead andfinish her off here.
I want to uh, thanks to do it.
Uh, want to see if we can keepon charging and hard charging.
Maybe.
Uh, I want to see if we cankeep on charging and hard
charging.
Maybe we'll do this again nextweek.
(53:49):
And what?
We'll go hard charging andwe'll do it again next week
We'll talk about something else.
Another subject I'm sure we'llbe able to have someone come in
and discuss the medicalcondition and go from point A to
point B to point Z, discuss themedical condition and go from
point A to point B to point Z.
But we'll try to get Jan'sscripts on here.
(54:12):
Go ahead, ron.
Thank you, it's like theAll-Star Game.
(55:39):
You know it's like the All-StarGame.
You know about every 12 minutesin the air, mm-hmm, mm-hmm,
(56:14):
mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Come in for a day trip.
If you need information aboutthat, send an email to
expoldgood at gmailcom and I'llsend it down to Ray and he'll
get your information.
If you've got lodging questionsor anything, he can help you
out because I mean he takes careof his folks when they come
back.
He took care of us one timegoing down.
(56:35):
We did a little veterans dealwith him and a lot of fun down
there, beautiful place.
If you've got a Tennesseeesseefishing license, bring your
fishing pole for a day or twoand stay down there and catch
some fish and beautiful lakes.
They got down there all right,well, all right.
(57:11):
Well, guys, we appreciate youlistening and watching the show.
This will be up here on ourYouTube channel here shortly
after it gets downloaded, Ray.
Thanks for coming on, man.
We appreciate you always, youknow, being a co-host and always
helping out.
We appreciate everything you do.
We know you're a busy man, butwe're glad you do it.
And since this will be John,we'll see you next week.
(57:33):
Folks, we'll be signing off fornow, good night.
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