Pvt Charles J Shutt Detachment VAVS

A research team at Harvard Medical School estimates 2,266 U.S. military veterans under the age of 65 died last year because they lacked health insurance and thus had reduced access to care.

A retroactive change in veterans burial rights that allows the biological or adoptive parents of some deceased service members to be buried in national veterans cemeteries was approved Wednesday by a House subcommittee.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) signed a memorandum of understanding to provide Paralympic sport programming and additional community support, including funding and resources, to injured servicemembers and Veterans across the country.

Relying on an independent study by theInstitute of Medicine (IOM), Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K.Shinseki decided to establish a service-connection for Vietnam Veteranswith three specific illnesses based on the latest evidence of anassociation with the herbicides referred to Agent Orange.

A bill that would provide tax breaks to service members trying to buy or sell a home passed the House of Representatives by a unanimous vote.The Servicemembers Home Ownership Tax Act of 2009 would give deployed service members extra time to qualify for an $8,000 homebuyer tax credit for first-time purchasers that expires on Dec. 1, and would exempt those forced to move by military orders from having to give back the money if they sell a home after owning it for less than three years.