The Age Guide: Perspectives on the Aging Journey

Veterans' Voices: Advocating for Veterans' Services

• Age Guide • Season 2 • Episode 7

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In this episode of the Age Guide podcast, we continue our series, shining a light on Veterans and the services available to them. We want to draw attention to the unique needs of the heroes in our community who fought for our country and the people who care for them. We interviewed Jacob Zimmerman, Superintendent of the Veterans Assistance Commission of Kane County. He works tirelessly to maximize benefits for more than 18,000 veterans in Kane County to ensure veterans are cared for holistically.   

https://www.countyofkane.org/pages/veterans.aspx
https://www.veteransbenefitsillinois.org

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SPEAKER_01:

Hello, and welcome to The Age Guide, perspectives on the aging journey. We are here to be your personal age guide and enhance your quality of life on the road ahead. This series, Veterans Voices, will shine a light on the veterans and the services available to them through the Veterans Directed Care Program. This program allows the veterans to continue to live in their homes for as long as possible by receiving home and community-based services. We want to share the unique needs of the heroes in our community who fought for our country and the people who care for them. In this episode, we interviewed Jacob Zimmerman, who works for the Veterans Commission of Kane County. He works tirelessly to maximize benefits for more than 1800 veterans in Kane County to ensure veterans are taken care of in a holistic manner. Let's listen in.

SPEAKER_03:

Welcome, Jacob. I'm so happy to have you joining us today on the Age Guide podcast. We have been doing a series on veterans where we've been talking specifically about the program that Age Guide is involved with, which is the Veterans Directed Care Program. But we know that you are involved with a number of additional resources and services that are available for veterans in the community that help them to be able to stay at home where they want to be as long as possible. And so I wanted to talk to you a little bit about that today and pick your brain about resources and strategies and tools that are out there that folks can access if they're looking for resources and needing some help staying at home. So I understand that you work for the Veterans Commission. What is your title there? I'm

SPEAKER_02:

the superintendent of the Veterans Assistance Commission of Kane County.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay, so you're in Kane County. Can you tell me a little bit about the Veterans Commission and what you do there?

SPEAKER_02:

Sure, Veterans Assistance Commission of Kane County has been in existence since 1935 or 1936. Our job is simply to maximize the benefits of the 18,000 or so veterans that live in Kane County, as well as their survivors and dependents. So that keeps us quite busy and we really strive hard to do that. And we do that in a holistic manner too. So working with partners like Age Guide and some of our other state, federal and local partners, If we can't address their issue directly, we do warm handoffs to our partners and just try to take care of that veteran in a holistic manner and make sure that they're living a good quality life.

SPEAKER_03:

That holistic piece is so important, isn't it? Because people probably have multiple different challenges going on. And there's some intersectionality of different things that they might be dealing with. And so you probably have to work with a lot of community partners.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, absolutely. That holistic piece can't be understated. I mean, oftentimes a veteran will come to you with one issue that's really pressing that they're looking at, but there's some other issues that are under that first layer, if you will. And trying to get that taken care of before it becomes an acute issue as well, I think really our staff does a great job at that and has really made an impact on the welfare of our veterans community here in Kane County.

SPEAKER_03:

The prevention ahead of time is really key, isn't it? Absolutely. So what kinds of questions do you get most often if people are calling you? They may have just found you or they may be a regular caller, but what would you say is your most common inquiry?

SPEAKER_02:

You know, it changes from time to time, and it varies based on, for lack of a better term, the new programs that VA might be rolling out. Our job, we're not VA. You know, we, for, again, lack of a better term, we fight the VA or advocate for the veterans to get those VA benefits. So, yeah. The most recent thing since August of last year has been the PACT Act. I don't know if you've heard that term, but there's a new comprehensive law signed into effect in August of last year that expanded benefits going back to the post-World War II era with some of our atomic veterans and cohorts of veterans that were exposed to radiological issues and events that occurred that were previously not recognized. It added some new conditions for our vietnam veterans that are presumptive related presumptively related to exposure to herbicides including agent orange and then now what the one that everybody talks about that it probably had the biggest impact on was uh the burn pit veterans so veterans who have served since august 2nd of 1990 um and uh creating a a cohort for them if you will and adding um a quite a comprehensive list of conditions that are presumptively related to the toxic exposures that they incurred while serving overseas, predominantly in the Middle East. So that has been a great deal, more than 50% of our work since August of last year, and what most veterans are calling about is related to that PACT Act.

SPEAKER_03:

The PACT Act basically broadened eligibility for services. So there's new services or resources available for people who fall within these specific categories outlined in the bill?

SPEAKER_02:

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay. All right. So you're trying to get the word out about this to folks, and then you're trying to connect people who are coming in for the first time with different resources and services because of this new bill that passed?

UNKNOWN:

Yes.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I wouldn't even say the first time. I would say we have quite a few returning veterans as well that may have been suffering from these illnesses, from burn pits, that we may have helped them on other issues before. And now that the VA didn't previously recognize their illness as being related to those toxic exposures, and now that they do, they're coming back to get those benefits as well. So a lot of times that's something that I don't think is talked enough about is we certainly have veterans that are coming in for the first time getting benefit But oftentimes, our veterans and our clients end up being clients for the rest of their life. You know, as various things change or their circumstances change, we might be helping them with their GI Bill and getting enrolled in VA health care when they get out of the service. And then we might be helping them with an employment issue five years later, maybe establishing a veteran's preference for employment for a government job. And then later on, filing for disability benefits as some of those toxic exposures have taken and their toll and cancers come up. And then ultimately the difficult part of this job is now that you've had that established relationship, sometimes longer than 10 years, is you handle their death benefits too. And they're not just your client. And that becomes emotionally impacting on our service officers.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, yes. It's difficult and challenging to work with vulnerable people of any kind, but veterans in particular, that has to be hard on your folks who are the boots on the ground there. And so it sounds like you guys are able to work with a broader spectrum of the veteran population than, say, the VAs do. I know the VAs have really specific requirements in order to be able to access their services. So would you say that any veteran who's looking for for any kind of service or support could give you a call and maybe be able to find some help.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, certainly. We're the no wrong door for veteran issues. So if it's not something we help directly with, we know who does. And oftentimes they may have gotten an answer previously from another agency that may not have been a correct answer or was as well researched and I guess articulated to be able to qualify. So while somebody might have been turned away at the VA and told they weren't eligible for something, that oftentimes is not not the correct answer. And there's, there's other ways to, to, to get that going. What I would say is that we do, we do look at Kane County residency. We have Veterans Assistance Commissions that surround us and all the counties that surround us. So if you're from DeKalb or DuPage or Will, you know, we're going to refer you to those, those Veterans Assistance Commissions if you live there. But if you're in Kane County, we're the, we should be the first stop.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay, great. Yeah, I was going to ask you because you're in Kane County and we serve the eight collar counties around Cook. So we have folks, you know, in all eight of the counties. So how would they get in touch with their Veterans Commission if they wanted to just look it up on the internet?

SPEAKER_02:

Sure. Actually, there's a great website. The Illinois Association of County Veterans Assistance Commissions has a website, I believe it's veteransbenefitselinois.org or.com. We can figure that out and get that.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, we can put that in the show notes

SPEAKER_02:

for sure. And that has an interactive map and list of the Veterans Assistance Commissions across the state of Illinois. I believe just about every county north of I-80 has a Veterans Assistance Commission. Certainly all of them in your catchment area in those color counties does have a Veterans Assistance Commission.

SPEAKER_03:

Excellent. That's a really good resource. We'll be sure to put that in the show notes afterwards. So can you give me kind of a summary of, I mean, you've already outlined some of the types of assistance you do, but what other kinds of resources do you help with? like housing, transportation, things like that.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, you know, the going back to the really the no wrong door approach. So if it's a veteran related issue, we're going to try to assist in some way with that. So while I would say 90 plus percent of our work has to do with filing applications for VA benefits, whether that be access to health care, GI Bill, disability benefits. We also help work very closely with our King County Homeless Veteran Task Force to address any homeless issue. We have a suicide prevention task force that we work with to try to do outreach for that. We've started up this summer a new program with our partners at the Kane County Division of Transportation, the Ride and Kane program. So now if you live in Kane County and you need a ride to your VA medical appointment at either the Aurora Clinic or the Hoffman Estates Clinic, the Aurora Vet Center or Veterans Treatment Court, we can get you free rides for those. So it's just a broad, you know, limiting it to what do we just do, I would say, what don't we do? If it has the word veteran in it, talk to us. And if we can't do it, we have partners that we work very closely with that can.

SPEAKER_03:

Excellent. That's really helpful to know because I think people are always looking for resources and it's not easy to find them. It's such a complicated system. So if you can help folks navigate that system and figure out where to go, that's like you said, no wrong door and kind of a one-stop shop where they can make one phone call and find everything that they need. That sounds fabulous. I'm sure folks will be excited to learn about these resources.

SPEAKER_01:

Welcome to your Medicaid Minute. We are here with Val Guzman, our benefit access specialist here at Age Guide. Today we have a question from Wendell in Lake County. He wrote in, I got a letter in the mail about changes to my Medicaid benefits. Will my benefits be changing? I'm really worried about this. How

SPEAKER_00:

do I figure out what this means for me? So there is a lot that's going on with Medicaid this year for everyone that's enrolled in Medicaid. If you are enrolled in Medicaid, you should expect to receive mail or a letter soon about your benefits. Just so you have a quick overview for everyone else, Medicaid is a state-based health insurance program that provides services for people with low income and resources. And the letters you're receiving are most likely about a recertification process that normally happens every year for people enrolled in Medicaid. These recertifications were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, but have started back up as of May 1st, 2023. For almost three years, these recertifications actually weren't required, mainly because the state and the federal government didn't want anyone to lose their Medicaid benefits. And the purpose of these letters and forms that you have to fill out is to confirm that you still qualify for Medicaid benefits. So it could be that, yes, your benefits are changing. And unfortunately for some people, you will lose your Medicaid benefits because you no longer qualify. But that's why it's so important to turn in your recertification paperwork to be sure that your benefits continue if you do qualify. If you need help completing your recertification paperwork, or if you have questions about how to fill it out, feel free to reach out to your local senior health insurance program or SHIP site and speak with a SHIP counselor. I'll be back on the care and Medicaid questions that SHIP counselors help with.

SPEAKER_03:

Would you be willing to share a story about someone that you helped recently, just to kind of paint a picture of what the day-to-day life is at the Veterans Commission and what you do?

SPEAKER_02:

I actually have a few veterans that in the last, I would say since November, that we've helped, you know, that have approached us for services related to that PACT Act, like we talked about before. That was whether or not they qualified for benefits under the PACT Act. It was something that they saw out there and they said, you know, we need to call and explore more about this. So in having that conversation, although they may not have been eligible for PACT Act related benefits, we're screening them, giving them that holistic help, you know, for other other benefits they might be eligible for. So we ran across a veteran who, and this one was back in November, who had never used the VA for healthcare. Between him and his family was buying through the marketplace a health insurance plan that was over, I believe,$17,000 a year that was out of his pocket because he's self-employed to provide healthcare for him and his family. And then that only got him basically the plan. I think that the next$6,000 that he incurred in that plan is out of his pocket as well. So he's looking at over$20,000 in medical expenses every year And he had no idea because his ship had sailed into the Southwest Asia Theater of Operations that he was eligible to be enrolled in VA healthcare automatically. He had a Southwest Asia Service Medal. That's one of the criteria medals that make you automatically eligible for VA healthcare. But despite that, we submitted that application and the eligibility clerk at the VA made a mistake and said, no, he's not eligible. He didn't list his income, which is, there is an income requirement for some veterans who don't have one of those special qualifiers, but he had one of these special qualifiers. So it took some advocacy, here's a chapter and verse thing to the eligibility cleric and getting their chain of command beyond that facility all the way actually to the national level and getting that corrected. And we did that within a day or two of the application being submitted and denied and getting him enrolled. So, and now he's saving quite a bit of money on his healthcare getting a very affordable VA health care plan that he doesn't have to pay a monthly premium for, first of all, and the co-pays that he is responsible for are very reasonable. So that's just one example of many that we've done to help veterans in the area.

SPEAKER_03:

That's a great story. So you guys are really doing advocacy at an individual level, helping to advocate for the veteran. And then you're also involved in some of these national policies like the PAC bill and trying to implement them on the grounds. You're doing that level of policy as well. That's exciting. It is very,

SPEAKER_02:

very exciting. It's a dynamic job and I wouldn't want to do anything else in the world. We

SPEAKER_03:

sure are making an impact. Thank you so much for what you do. Appreciate it. Appreciate your time and talking with us today. And we will let you know when this podcast drops and we'll give you a link to it. If you want to share it out to folks, that would be great.

SPEAKER_02:

We'd love to share it. And thanks for having us.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you for listening to The Age Guide, Perspectives on the Aging Journey. We hope you learned something new on this podcast because we all have a stake in promoting a high quality of life for people on their aging journey. Age Guide coordinates and administers many services for older adults in Northeastern Illinois. We serve DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Will Counties. Our specially trained professionals are available to answer questions and connect you with local service providers and resources such as the Family Caregiver Support Program, which provides valuable resources for those who are giving unpaid care to adults 60 plus or to someone with Alzheimer's disease or a related disorder. The program includes caregiver resource centers, respite services, gap-filling services, legal services, caregiver counseling centers, training and education resources, and support groups. If you are interested in these services or want to learn more, go to our website at hguide.org. Call our offices at 630-293-5990. Please follow our podcasts so when we post our monthly podcast, you are notified on your streaming account. Thank you, and we will see you next time on The Age Guide, perspectives on the aging journey.