Page 93 - Middleborough 2024 Town Report

The breakdown within the categories that chapter 115
benefits are paid are as follows:
Ordinary benefits: This is comprised of such items as
whether the veteran or their eligible dependent has
any additional dependents such as a spouse or
children, whether they are retired or disabled and
unable to work, and a shelter allowance.
Fuel allowance: This takes into consideration whether
the veteran or their eligible dependent is having to
pay to heat their residence.
Medication’s co-pays, Doctor Co-pays, Dental bills,
and other miscellaneous medical expenses: This
takes into account all the non-reimbursed medical
costs of those on chapter 115 benefits. The
predominant miscellaneous items are such things as:
reimbursement for Medicare parts B & D payments
that comes right out of some of the chapter 115 clients’
monthly social security payments, reimbursements
for supplemental medical insurance plans such as
Blue Cross and Blue Shield, reimbursements for
needed medical supplies such as medical alert
systems, reimbursements for eye glasses and hearing
aids, and to a certain extent the burial costs
of indigent veterans and eligible family members.
These are but a few of the major items that are
covered under the miscellaneous portion of the
chapter 115 benefits.
The breakdown of these expenditures
in calendar year 2024 were as follows:
Ordinary benefits: $159,417.01
Fuel allowance: $59,768.00
Doctor visits: $91.93
Medication: $3,687.12
Hospitals: $00.00
Dental: $1,599.00
Miscellaneous: $54,293.33
TOTAL $278,856.39
Veterans'
Services
Assistance to eligible veterans and/or their dependents
with federal VA benefits: The Middleborough Director
of Veterans’ Services assisted Middleborough veterans
and their dependents with filing for federal VA benefits
in order to obtain, increase, and maintain all their VA
entitlements. This included but was not limited to:
compensation for service-connected disabilities,
non-service-connected pensions for war time veterans
and/or their dependents, dependency and indemnity
compensation for the widows or widowers of eligible
veterans, aid and attendance for veterans, and their
dependents that qualified, and education opportunities
under the vocational rehabilitation program and the GI
bill. These benefits total to the amount of 17,542,915 as
of 12/31/24 into the town of Middleborough from the VA
during calendar year 2024. A significant amount of this
money is the direct result of the interviews, paperwork,
and phone calls that are done right in the
Middleborough Veterans’ Services Ofice.
Assistance to eligible veterans with federal VA health
care enrollment: The Middleborough Director of
Veterans’ Services also assisted a significant number
of local veterans with applying for VA health care
with the various VA hospitals and clinics in MA and RI.
This allowed the veterans to have creditable health
care and medication coverage in the eyes of the Medicare
system and under the afordable care act
so the veterans did not, in many cases, have to enroll
in more costly programs.
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