Korean War Veteran Gets Justice from VA

VA comes through with funding to prevent local veteran from being evicted
Daily Commercial
Theresa Campbell
Staff Writer
Posted: Monday, June 23, 2014

After a year and a half of issues with the Veterans Administration and concerns about being evicted, Korean War veteran Harold Wulf, 81, can now unpack his belongings and stay at his assisted living facility.

“It is excellent news for me. I am pleased by it and in knowing that I am going to be living here,” said Wulf, who was featured in a Daily Commercial story on June 9 about his struggles with the VA. The next day, the veteran received official approval, via a phone call from a VA representative in St. Petersburg, that his funds were forthcoming.

Wulf had been waiting for an “aid and attendance” pension benefit of $1,758 for assistance in his everyday living needs at Grand Court in Tavares, while incurring debt as he waited for the funds.

“We were led to believe that it was a slam dunk case and that it would be no time at all that it would be approved,” Wulf said of the paperwork filed in January 2013. A few months after he applied, some of the program guidelines were changed.

“I fell through the cracks,” Wulf said, which forced him to reapply and go through more paperwork and a doctor’s approval in order to qualify.

Wulf received three months’ back pay from the VA last week, and he was even more pleased to work out financial arrangements with Grand Court’s management that will allow him to stay at the assisted living facility.

“They are just going all out to help. I’m really happy,” he said.

Paul Wulf is glad that his father doesn’t have to worry about being evicted, yet he believes the VA gave his father a bum deal. He said his father had to move into an assisted living facility before he could apply for the VA aid and attendance benefit.

“The unfortunate part to this whole thing is the fact that the VA just washed its hands and says, ‘Here’s three months (back pay),’” Paul said. “He only got the three months out of 16 months. In dollars, Dad is in the hole. He got a little over $5,000, so he is left $23,000 in debt.”
read more here