U.S. Still Making Payments to Relatives of Civil War Vets (143 Years Later, V.A. Still Pays Out)

Breitbart ^ | 21 Mar 2013, | Wynton Hall

[DogByte6RER]

U.S. Still Making Payments to Relatives of Civil War Vets

The U.S. government spends over $40 billion a year to compensate veterans and their family members for service in conflicts as far back as the Civil War.

According to an analysis conducted by the Associated Press, the costs of veteran compensation for previous wars are as follows:

• $12 billion a year for the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the first Persian Gulf War

• $22 billion a year for Vietnam

• $5 billion a year for World War II

• $2.8 billion for the Korean War

• $20 million for World War I

• $50,000 a year to 10 living recipients of benefits tied to the 1898 Spanish-American War

• Two payments of $876 a year to two children of Civil War veterans

Using federal payment data obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, the AP identified disability and survivor benefits to conduct the analysis.

[GeronL]

that is just insane

[Tammy8]

Widows of Veterans that die from injuries or illness directly related to their service; even if the death occurs later, as well as widows of 100% disabled Veterans still get payments (DIC) for life. There are some qualifiers, time married to Veteran, length of Veteran’s disability, etc. They have to file a claim and then it is all sorted out- but still some widow’s benefits available.

[Yo-Yo]

To view that properly, you need one of these:

[Don@VB]

In the early 60’s I knew a woman in her 80’s who was receiving a Civil War Veteran Survivor’s pension.

[ops33]

Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) is a voluntary annuity program for military retirees. If the retiree participates their surviving spouse can receive up to 55% of the retirement pay, based upon how much the retiree chooses to have withheld from their retirement pay, The surviving spouse will receive this payment for life, unless they remarry. The program is paid for by the contributions of the retirees. If the spouse dies before the retiree then the retiree can opt out of the program but any monies contributed to SBP are not refunded.