{"id":13390,"date":"2020-10-14T18:24:47","date_gmt":"2020-10-14T18:24:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/10\/14\/five-takeaways-from-the-trumpbiden-military-times-veterans-forum\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T05:20:57","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T05:20:57","slug":"five-takeaways-from-the-trumpbiden-military-times-veterans-forum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/veterans\/2020\/10\/14\/five-takeaways-from-the-trumpbiden-military-times-veterans-forum\/","title":{"rendered":"Five takeaways from the Trump\/Biden Military Times veterans forum"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Both President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden offered in-depth veterans policy plans in their responses to the Military Times Veteran Presidential Forum published on Wednesday<\/a>. Here\u2019s a look at some of the biggest takeaways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden promises new tax credit for caregivers of veterans<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Expansion of the Department of Veterans Affairs\u2019 caregiver support programs has been a problematic task for department officials in recent years. Up until this month, support stipends for those families were only open to veterans who served after Sept. 11, 2001. Now veterans who serve before 1975 are eligible too, but the program will not open to all veterans until fall 2022 at the earliest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his response to Disabled American Veterans concerns about the program, Trump said that he supports the expansion and will work \u201cquickly\u201d to follow the law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Biden said the stipend expansion isn\u2019t happening quickly enough \u2014 \u201cit\u2019s a failure of leadership\u201d \u2014 and doesn\u2019t go far enough to help those families struggling to care for a loved one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m proposing we add another $5,000 caregiver tax credit for all the informal caregivers that help keep our community strong,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd we\u2019ll do more to make life a little easier for them by expanding access to respite care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Details of who would be eligible for the tax credit remain unclear. Only veterans with a disability rating of 70 percent or more are eligible for the current support programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump eyes further expansion of medical care options outside VA<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump has made the Mission Act \u2014 which dramatically expanded community care programs in VA \u2014 a key part of his re-election campaign push, saying it has for the first time given veterans meaningful access to private-sector medical care covered by federal dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump says the expansion has made the VA experience better, and he responded to a question from the Independence Fund that he is looking ahead at doing more to broaden the rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe will do whatever we can to continue to make care more timely, such as shortening the time in future community care regulations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, veterans are eligible for the outside care program if they face a wait of 20 or more days for appointments within the VA system. Supporters of the program want it lowered to 14 days. But critics have noted that VA does not have similar wait-time standards for private practices, meaning veterans could actually wait longer for care by opting out of internal VA medical visits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden, in his response, said that he wants to \u201cprovide training and standardization care guidance for community care providers\u201d to ensure veterans are receiving equitable and adequate health care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also attacked Trump for insufficient planning with the Mission Act, building \u201can initial network of community care providers that was much too small to meet the demand\u201d of veterans.<\/p>\n\n\n\t