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Surviving spouse tells subcommittee VA caregiver appeals can leave families destitute; lawmakers consider fixes
Summary
A surviving spouse described a multi‑year appeals fight over the VA's Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers (PCAFC) that ended after her husband's death; witnesses and VA officials discussed application, appeals processes, and how pending cases are handled when a veteran dies.
Julie Guliff, a surviving spouse who applied for the VA's Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers (PCAFC) on behalf of her husband, told the House Veterans' Affairs subcommittee that the VA appeals and records process left her "widowed, homeless, alone, destitute, and heartbroken." She urged passage of the Veterans Caregiver Appeals Modernization Act (H.R. 38 33) to prevent similar outcomes.
Guliff recounted years of caregiving for a veteran with service‑connected disabilities and stage‑4 prostate cancer, describing repeated application denials, record‑sharing problems across VA facilities and private providers, and delays that extended through appeals. She said her husband's PCAFC application remained unresolved when he died in October 2022, and…
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