Noteboom The Law Firm

Florida Vets Connect Alerts Veterans to Available Benefits

November 29, 2010 - Not every veteran entitled to Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits makes claims for those benefits. A new state program is allowing the Florida state VA to reach out to those veterans who have failed to claim their earned benefits by searching by drivers' licenses.

Florida Vets Connect is the name of this new program, which searches already established sources of information. The Florida VA will contact every person who claims veteran status on either their driver's license or their state ID card. Those veterans will be made aware of both state and federal programs and benefits available to veterans in Florida, many of which most veterans are likely not aware. Utilizing solely email, the State VA has already contacted 30,000 veterans.

It will cost approximately $8,000 just to mail informational alerts to veterans without email addresses. The state, however, has absolutely no money in their budget for this program. They plan on using both voluntary donations and state money, if it becomes available.

There are approximately $22 billion in unclaimed funds every year across the nation. The Florida VA only has information about 700,000 of the state's 1.6 million veterans. Right now, the best way for veterans to put their name on the list of people to be contacted is to check the box for veteran status when they renew their driver's license.