WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) recently introduced bipartisan legislation ensuring family members of veterans who passed away due to the coronavirus receive their dependent benefits.

Currently, veterans who pass away from coronavirus may have their cause of death labeled as “COVID-19” without accounting for service related disabilities that further complicate their coronavirus diagnosis. This bill ensures those disabilities are taken into account so family members have access to the proper benefits. 

“COVID-19 has tragically taken the lives of veterans in North Carolina and across the nation who had service-related disabilities that were contributing factors,” said Senator Tillis. “I’m proud to introduce this bipartisan legislation to ensure the families of veterans receive the benefits they deserve.”

“We must help family members grieving the loss of their veterans receive their rightful benefits by requiring investigations into whether service related disabilities contribute to veterans’ coronavirus-related deaths,” said Senator Sinema.

“TAPS is thankful that Senator Sinema and Senator Tillis have introduced critical and timely legislation to ensure the Department of Veteran’s Affairs grants benefits to survivors of veterans who die of COVID-19 with an underlying, service connected, health issue that may have contributed to their death by coronavirus,” said Bonnie Carroll, President and Founder of Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS).  She added, “In unprecedented times it is important that we come together in nonpartisan ways to help our veterans, survivors and fellow citizens as we all cope with the damaging effects of this unprecedented pandemic.  It is our hope and expectation that the bill will receive overwhelming support on both sides of the aisle and we look forward to seeing it passed into law.”

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