dixipeach

Thank you to everyone for your responses. I am not old enough to collect social security. I am very aware of the benefits alloted to those of us who receive DIC. And here, believe me, it is our only income. And I do belong to Gold Star Wives. Plenty of widows are fighting for a more just amount of compensation. I couldn't wait to be 16 for some reason, then 18 for who knows why, then 21 and now I can't wait to be old enough to get social security!! You should also know, I live in Orange County, California, which is full of immigrants, and people coming off of welfare get jobs before I do. If you know anything about southern California you know we have a large veterans population, hence a large widows population. However, those of us whose husbands died in Vietnam or after their service, related to their service as my husband did, live on DIC unless....we remarried, didn't lose our jobs for various reasons,(which I did), or have a pension, and on and on. I do not qualify for anything extra as far as social services are concerned. My only income is DIC. It is not enough to live on. There is a lot of competition for well paying jobs and I, partly because of my age and everyone here knows it, am at the bottom of the list. And yes, the VA does expect us to live on DIC. I have lived in a small community before and know how people help each other out. That isn't the case where I live. I could go on but I won't. Thank you though to everyone for your input.

[font=Courier New]Thank you for the information but as I stated it was not spina bifida nor are these children of women veterans. We know they will be denied because none of the diseases they have are on the list. Two of them have leukemia. We just need a general form to file a claim. We know the VA sidesteps this one all the way. We just need a suggestion for a form to file. Thank you

I have a group that is for ill children of veterans conceived after their parent served. I need to know which form to use to file for benefits for those illnesses (not spina bifida). We know they will probably be denied by the VA but want to have a claim in and go from there. Which form do we use to file?

I am not old enough to receive medicare, do not qualify for medi-cal because my DIC and my age and the fact that all my children are grown disqualifies me. I need dental care and I need glasses but cannot afford them and DIC is not enough money to even qualify me for credit. My husband is deceased by the way. A Vietnam Veteran whose death was connected to his service in Vietnam. He died in 1991. My only source of income is DIC. I won't go into my life story because it isn't necessary. The fact is there is a large group of us out here living like this. CHAMPVA may be great if you have another source of income or receive social security or have a pension from your employment. But if you are like me, and there are a lot of us out there, CHAMPVA is not good. It helps and I appreciate that I have it, but it is less than good. I have contacted the VA, the California Dept of Veterans Services, and many, many other social agencies and they just say sorry, that is what you get and that is it. Dental care is only approved if it is connected to something like an auto accident where other work is needed and your teeth were damaged in the accident. What can be done? Or do we just let our teeth rot and use the cheap glasses from the drug store?