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From VA FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Disabled Veterans to Receive Increase in Benefits
Washington, D.C. -- More than three million beneficiaries of
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) compensation and pension
programs will receive an increase of 1.3 percent in monthly benefit
payments to be mailed later this month.
The cost-of-living (COLA) adjustment affecting eligible
beneficiaries on VA benefits rolls as of Dec. 1 was included in
legislation signed by President Clinton on Veterans Day.
Monthly payments to some 2.3 million veterans receiving disability
compensation will now range from $96 for a single veteran with a
10-percent disability rating to $1,989 for a single veteran with a
100-percent disability rating.
Veterans whose service-connected disabilities are rated 30
percent or higher may receive additional allowances for
dependents, based on the number of dependents and extent of
disability.
Another 357,000 veterans will receive an increase in their
pensions -- an income supplement program for wartime veterans
whose permanent and total disabilities are not service-connected.
The increase also applies to approximately 331,000 survivors of
veterans who died of service-connected disabilities -- the parents,
spouses and children who receive benefits under VA's
dependency and indemnity compensation program. Approximately
195,000 surviving spouses of wartime veterans whose deaths
were unrelated to service or a service-connected condition and
whose incomes are below an established threshold will benefit
from the increase in death pension benefits.
http://www.va.gov/pressrel/98cola.htm
December 15, 1998
