In Our View: Lincoln’s Advice

Outside the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the Department of Veterans Affairs, the federal agency’s mission is explained on plaques: “To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan.”

Those words come from President Lincoln’s second inaugural address on March 4, 1865, as our nation struggled to recover from the ravages of the Civil War. Actually, the words are the continuation of a sentence, and it’s instructive for all Americans to review how that sentence from Lincoln began: “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in …”

In 2010, Americans have yet to reach the goal of providing “charity for all” veterans. We still “strive on to finish the work” of helping veterans. But, even if the pace of this march is slower than veterans deserve, progress is being made. Part of that progress is directed by Vancouver resident Bill Allman. As an employee with the state’s Department of Social and Health Services, Allman has become sort of a rock star in a national effort to deliver veterans’ benefits more efficiently. USA Today has covered his story. State officials in Minnesota and Montana are seeking his advice.

Allman’s work is more tedious and carried out in greater obscurity than a rock star enjoys, but it carries more humanitarian triumphs. As Tom Vogt reported in Monday’s Columbian, a few years ago Allman devised a program that uses a national Public Assistance Reporting Information System database to match records for state and federal agencies such as the Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs and state medical assistance programs like Medicaid. He discovered that many people were unaware they were eligible for military or veterans’ benefits. As more people were signed up for VA or Defense Department health care programs, the state’s Medicaid expense and liability for long-term care were reduced to the tune of $18 million over the past few years. Montana officials believe programs such as the one Allman designed can save their state $900,000 annually. In California, estimated savings are $25 million annually.

What makes this victory more gratifying is that it’s a buddy helping buddies. Allman is a veteran of the Vietnam War. “Many are not aware of their eligibility,” he said. “Many veterans think you must be disabled or that you have to be a war vet.” And he’s not through wading through boring-but-crucial minutiae of government documents to help veterans and save state tax dollars. “We did a pilot program in Clark County, and 9.7 percent of (state disability assistance program) clients were eligible for veterans benefits,” Allman said. “There are 30,000 cases in the state; this would take 3,000 off the top.”

His office is also searching the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program to find heads of households eligible for VA medical coverage. Allman is hunting for homeless veterans and incarcerated veterans who can receive benefits they never knew they had.

Two other victories for veterans have been reported recently. U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., has authored a bill specially designed to enhance services for women veterans. That bill has passed both chambers of Congress and will be signed by President Obama soon. And in the area of recreational activities for veterans, the new $1.3 million American Lake Veterans Golf Course in Lakewood provides specially designed carts, a buddy system that partners disabled golfers with assistants, plus the challenge of disabled-accessible sand traps. It’s the nation’s first full-service golf course for wounded and disabled soldiers.

President Lincoln would be proud.