Showing posts sorted by relevance for query claims backlog. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query claims backlog. Sort by date Show all posts

Friday, May 3, 2013

Jon Stewart, there is nothing funny about VA claims

Jon Stewart, there is nothing funny about VA claims
by Kathie Costos
Wounded Times
May 3, 2013

The Daily Show last night focused on the VA claim backlog. It is a serious subject. While claims are tied up, the obvious issue is the lack of income to cover their lost incomes due to service connected disabilities. What is not so obvious is what the denials and waiting does to these veterans and their families.

My husband's claim took six years. We couldn't pay our bills but that was not the worst thing. The VA took our tax refunds to pay for his care because our private health insurance would not cover his treatment. They said due to the diagnosis, it was the responsibility of the VA to take care of him. When did that happen? He filed his claim in 1993 and it was not approved until 1999! The stress added to his PTSD, the very thing that he was seeking treatment for. He had great doctors and they worked with me helping him get through all of that.

While Stewart is focusing on the "issue" now, it is not a new problem and there are many reasons for the backlog being increased. It is about as bad as it was in 2008.
By March of 2007, the Boston Globe reported that the backlog of claims had gone from 69,000 in 2000 to 400,000 in 2007 taking 177 days to process an original claim and 657 days to process an appeal. The news got worse with a staggering 915,000 in 2009 with 803,000 with the Board of Appeals.

“Backlogs are at the point where veterans must wait an average of six months for a decision on benefits claims and some veterans are waiting as long as four years,” number of unprocessed veterans claims exceeds 915,000 — a 100,000 jump since the beginning of the year.” (Have VA Pay old claims automatically, Rick Maze, Marine Corps Times, June 30, 2009)


The VA has a weekly release of the claims. As of Monday, 60% are "supplemental claims" because while the veteran has received some benefits, most of the time they have to appeal for a higher rate or have other illnesses that may be service connected as well.

Then there is the breakdown of who is filing the claims. Pending Claims has 865,989 claims with 37% coming from Vietnam Veterans, 23% from Gulf War Veterans, 20% from Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans, 11% listed as Peacetime and 9% from "Other Veterans." There are 606,007 considered "backlog" claims. They breakdown pretty much the same way.

Characteristics of the pending Compensation Inventory
VA tracks claims that make up the pending Compensation Inventory by a Veteran’s era of service. As of Dec 31, 2012, claims from Veterans of the following eras make up VA’s inventory (total number of claims) and backlog (claims pending for more than 125 days):

Source: Dept. Veterans Affairs, 3/28/13
Backlog: Claims pending longer than 125 days
Post-9/11 (Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts) claims make up 21% of the total inventory and 22% of the backlog
Gulf War (definition) claims make up 23% of the total inventory and 21% of the backlog Peacetime (period between end of Vietnam and Gulf War) claims make up 11% of the total inventory and 11% of the backlog
Vietnam claims make up 37% of the total inventory and 38% of the backlog
Korean War claims make 4% of the total inventory and 4% of the backlog
World War II claims make up 3% of the total inventory and 3% of the backlog
Other era claims make up 1% of the total inventory and 1% of the backlog

Original vs. Supplemental Claims
VA’s current Inventory of compensation claims contains both "original" claims—those submitted by Veterans of all eras who are claiming disability compensation from VA for the first time, and “supplemental” claims—those submitted by Veterans of all eras who have previously filed for disability compensation with VA. Below is a breakout of the original and supplemental claims in the current VA inventory:

60% of pending claims are supplemental, 40% are original.
77% of Veterans filing supplemental claims are receiving some level of monetary benefit from VA.
11% of Veterans filing supplemental claims already have a 100% disability rating (receive $2800 or more per month) or qualify for Individual Unemployability (compensated at the 100% disabled rate).
40% of Veterans filing supplemental claims are already rated at 50% disability or higher. 43% of supplemental claims are from Vietnam-era Veterans; 19% are from Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.
There are 3.9 million Veterans of all eras who are currently in receipt of disability benefits from VA. Of those, 10% have a supplemental claim in the pending compensation inventory. In fiscal year 2012, VA delivered $54 billion in compensation and pension benefits.

The VBA's Office of Performance Analysis and Integrity is responsible for compiling these spreadsheets. Questions or comments should be e-mailed to VBA's Office of Field Operations which is responsible for regional office management.


There was a backlog of claims already but the rules were changed to help Vietnam veterans and they were encouraged to file claims previously denied for Agent Orange and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. As you can see, the claims backlog was already at this rate without doing the right thing for Vietnam veterans.

Stewart seems to think he is doing some good by focusing on the problem that is leaving veterans and their families suffering but unfortunately, while he may have thought it was a good thing to do, making fun of a serious issue like this did no one any service but Stewart.

We should feel grateful that he is at least talking about this but unless the public is informed on what is really going on and how long it has been happening, we will repeat the same mistakes years from now.

Friday, April 5, 2013

White House proposes another budget increase for VA in 2014

UPDATE
VA budget has $63.5B for care, benefits
OK, I read the article again this morning and it looks like I was not seeing things last night.

This is the part I can't believe.
Currently, the backlog hovers around 600,000 cases, up dramatically from around 80,000 just four years ago. The average wait for completion of a claim is almost nine months.

This was in a report from April 2, 2012 and addresses what the claims looked like in 2009. Shinseki noted the monumental challenge VA has been up against. During 2009, VA produced 900,000 claims decisions, but also received 1 million new claims. The next year, VA increased its claims decisions to 1 million, but received 1.2 million new claims. “Last year, we produced another 1 million claims decisions and got 1.3 million claims in,” Shinseki said. “So the backlog isn’t static. The backlog is a bigger number than we would like, but it is not the same number as three years ago.”
I am getting really tired of correcting what reporters get wrong and beginning to wonder if they all have an agenda that is not in the best interests of our veterans. For Heaven's sake they should be important enough to get the story straight.

Researching THE WARRIOR SAW, SUICIDES AFTER WAR, has opened the door to a whole new world the press has not dared to enter into. All these years I thought they were getting the story straight and letting the public know what was going on. WOW! I was wrong to trust them because the searches are all available for anyone to find if they take the time and actually care beyond getting today's story out.

VA Claims as of December 31, 2012

Post-9/11 (Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts) claims make up 21% of the total inventory and 22% of the backlog

Gulf War (definition) claims make up 23% of the total inventory and 21% of the backlog Peacetime (period between end of Vietnam and Gulf War) claims make up 11% of the total inventory and 11% of the backlog

Vietnam claims make up 37% of the total inventory and 38% of the backlog

Korean War claims make 4% of the total inventory and 4% of the backlog

World War II claims make up 3% of the total inventory and 3% of the backlog

Other era claims make up 1% of the total inventory and 1% of the backlog

Original vs. Supplemental Claims

40% were first time claims and 60% were Supplemental as of March 29, 2013

VA’s current Inventory of compensation claims contains both "original" claims—those submitted by Veterans of all eras who are claiming disability compensation from VA for the first time, and “supplemental” claims—those submitted by Veterans of all eras who have previously filed for disability compensation with VA. Below is a breakout of the original and supplemental claims in the current VA inventory:

60% of pending claims are supplemental, 40% are original.

77% of Veterans filing supplemental claims are receiving some level of monetary benefit from VA.

11% of Veterans filing supplemental claims already have a 100% disability rating (receive $2800 or more per month) or qualify for Individual Unemployability (compensated at the 100% disabled rate).

40% of Veterans filing supplemental claims are already rated at 50% disability or higher.

43% of supplemental claims are from Vietnam-era Veterans; 19% are from Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.

Considering it is almost 10:00 and I've been working since 7:00 this morning, my brain is tired. Check back tomorrow morning on this because I can't believe what I am reading in the rest of the report so I really think I need to go to bed because I must be delusional or the rest of this report it totally out of whack.
White House proposes another budget increase for VA in 2014
By Leo Shane III
Stars and Stripes
Published: April 5, 2013

WASHINGTON -- The Department of Veterans Affairs would receive a 4 percent funding increase for its fiscal 2014 discretionary budget and a $2.5 billion infusion to battle the growing claims backlog under White House budget plans to be announced next week.

The funding boost comes as most government departments face steep cuts as the president and lawmakers search for ways to rein in the national debt. It still must be approved by Congress before it becomes law.

But White House and VA officials said the extra money for veterans programs shows President Barack Obama’s commitment to help servicemembers returning from combat with their transition to civilian life, and to make sure the lifelong war wounds aren’t forgotten.

White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough said the budget emphasizes “the president’s commitment to our veterans and their families” but also acknowledged that more money doesn’t promise immediate results for veterans impatient with the VA bureaucracy.

“At the end of the day, it’s not the inputs or investments, but the outputs: questions being answered, tax credits being utilized, jobs being created,” he said. “That’s going to prove to people whether the system is working.”
read more here

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Unhappy anniversary for Veterans Administration

Unhappy anniversary for Veterans Administration
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
July 21, 2013

Associated Press Today in History for July 21 had this reminder.
In 1930, President Herbert Hoover signed an executive order establishing the Veterans Administration, which later became the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Every week the VA puts out a report on how many disabled veterans are waiting to have claims honored. Reporters and some members of congress have jumped all over the VA because of the backlog leaving most to believe they are claims filed from OEF and OIF disabled veterans. The truth is far from it.
Characteristics of the pending Compensation Inventory

VA tracks claims that make up the pending Compensation Inventory by a Veteran’s era of service. As of Dec 31, 2012, claims from Veterans of the following eras make up VA’s inventory (total number of claims) and backlog (claims pending for more than 125 days):

VBA Claims Inventory by Era

Total Pending Claims 797,804

Total Backlogged Claims 519,270

Source: Dept. Veterans Affairs, 7/13/13
Backlog: Claims pending longer than 125 days
Post-9/11 (Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts) claims make up 21% of the total inventory and 22% of the backlog Gulf War (definition) claims make up 23% of the total inventory and 21% of the backlog

Peacetime (period between end of Vietnam and Gulf War) claims make up 11% of the total inventory and 11% of the backlog

Vietnam claims make up 37% of the total inventory and 38% of the backlog

Korean War claims make 4% of the total inventory and 4% of the backlog

World War II claims make up 3% of the total inventory and 3% of the backlog

Other era claims make up 1% of the total inventory and 1% of the backlog

Original vs. Supplemental Claims

VA’s current Inventory of compensation claims contains both "original" claims—those submitted by Veterans of all eras who are claiming disability compensation from VA for the first time, and “supplemental” claims—those submitted by Veterans of all eras who have previously filed for disability compensation with VA. Below is a breakout of the original and supplemental claims in the current VA inventory:

60% of pending claims are supplemental, 40% are original.

77% of Veterans filing supplemental claims are receiving some level of monetary benefit from VA.

11% of Veterans filing supplemental claims already have a 100% disability rating (receive $2800 or more per month) or qualify for Individual Unemployability (compensated at the 100% disabled rate).

40% of Veterans filing supplemental claims are already rated at 50% disability or higher.

43% of supplemental claims are from Vietnam-era Veterans; 19% are from Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.

There are 3.9 million Veterans of all eras who are currently in receipt of disability benefits from VA. Of those, 10% have a supplemental claim in the pending compensation inventory. In fiscal year 2012, VA delivered $54 billion in compensation and pension benefits.


We don't play politics here. There are things the VA has done better at and we need to remember those times. We also remember when it was a lot worse but reporters dropped the ball on reminding the other people in the country with a very short memory.

However for this anniversary of the VA we need to look at what has been missing from the news reports. Vietnam veterans are the highest percentage of the original and backlog claims. They are also the highest number of veterans committing suicide.

As bad as the reports are now on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and suicides for the newer veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, we need to acknowledge here and now that if we do not take action to take care of all our veterans, it will be worse for them 40 years from now as it has been for Vietnam veterans. It doesn't matter how long they served in the military when they were wounded by body or mind because they will forever be called veteran for the rest of their lives. No matter how long they live, this country needs to live up to what President George Washington said.
“The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation.”

Korean War veterans saw how WWII veterans were treated and expected to be treated the same way. They were not. Vietnam veterans expected to see the same way their Dads were treated. They were not only betrayed by the government but by older veterans. When it was their turn to fight for what was right, they made a promise that no generation would ever leave behind another. They kept that promise and they fight just as hard for those who came before them as those who came after them.

The newer veterans saw what happened to the Vietnam and Gulf War veterans. What will the next generation see when they look at how the Afghanistan and Iraq veterans have been treated?
In 1989, Bush nominated Mr. Derwinski to lead the new Department of Veterans Affairs. Bush said Mr. Derwinski possessed the “skill of a seasoned legislator, the patience of a practical administrator, the finesse of a diplomat and the heart of a man who knows what it means to start his government career as a private in the U.S. Army.”

Mr. Derwinski’s first task was daunting: revamping the beleaguered Veterans Administration into a Cabinet-level operation serving more than 27 million veterans and their dependents. He had 245,000 employees, a budget exceeding $25 billion and control over one of the largest health-care systems in the nation.

"One of Mr. Derwinski’s first decisions involved Vietnam veterans seeking disability benefits for exposure to the defoliant Agent Orange. For many years, the VA did not provide benefits to veterans who said the herbicide was toxic."

"Siding with the veterans, Mr. Derwinski reversed the government’s position and authorized payments to some veterans who had suffered from a rare form of cancer linked to Agent Orange."

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Sec. Defense Gates not happy with VA

Gates: Improvements to VA care ‘uneven’
By Lisa BurgessStars and Stripes
ARLINGTON, Va. — Improvements to the veteran’s health care system aren’t always making it from policy writers’ pens to the clinics and hospitals where they’re needed, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday.

“My impression is, it’s still uneven, in terms of implementation at the local level,” Gates told Pentagon reporters after a lunch meeting with Secretary of Veterans Affairs James Peake and other military health care officials.

Gates said the Pentagon and the VA are working to adopt 400 recommendations collected from numerous task forces and study groups that will streamline and simplify the veteran’s health care system.

But “it’s one thing to get the procedures and the policies fixed here in Washington,” Gates said. “It’s another thing to get it implemented right down to the local level, so that the individual soldier, sailor, airman or Marine is seeing the impact of this on the ground.”

go here for more
http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nfAPR08/nf041608-1.htm



Things have not changed much in over a year



VA Facilities Provide Good Medical Treatment, But Vets Face Long Claims Backlog
DALE CITY, Va., Jan. 11, 2007
(CBS) Sean Lewis lost his right leg to a mortar shell in Iraq. But as CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews reports, he proudly shows off his state-of-the-art prosthetic. Lewis has nothing but praise for how his injury was treated, both by the Army and the Veterans Administration. But the way the VA handled his claim for disability is a much different story.

"Probably the worst thing in the world," Lewis says of the way his claim was handled. "On the medical side, you can't rave enough about it. On the benefit side, you don't have anything but complaints."

Lewis is upset because eight months after his discharge from the Army, the VA still hasn't determined his final disability rating. That delay has given him $1,000 a month less than he was owed and given him trouble with the mortgage. He adds that he has "problems with bills, stress in the relationship because you are having problems with the money." When Lewis left Walter Reed Hospital, his disability records were supposed to be transferred immediately. Instead, he says, the VA lost his files, a charge the VA denies.

"I didn't expect eight months of people having me chase my own tail around in circles," Lewis says. According to the nation's top veterans organizations, Lewis' long wait to get what he's owed is typical. In a report on the needs of young veterans, the groups said the VA benefits system suffered from "inadequate funding" and "insufficient manpower."

The problem, everyone agrees, is the overwhelming numbers. Veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have already filed 176,000 new disability claims, but have run into a VA backlog of more than 400,000 cases. VA officials say reducing this backlog is their top priority. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/11/eveningnews/main2352706.shtml



New idea offered for easing VA claims backlog


By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Mar 14, 2007 19:36:07 EDT

With the veterans’ disability claims system sagging under the weight of a growing backlog, partly caused by new claims from Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, a Harvard University professor recommends a radical overhaul that would automatically pay disability compensation to any war veteran who applies.

Linda Bilmes of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, who has been studying veterans’ medical care and disability benefits, said the current backlog of about 600,000 claims has overwhelmed a system that already was too slow and that things are only going to get worse. She predicts 250,000 to 400,000 claims will be filed over the next two years by veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, creating a situation that she said “will rapidly turn the disability claims problem into a crisis.”

Her solution, which she discussed at a Tuesday congressional hearing, is that the VA “should accept and pay all disability claims” filed by Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, accepting at “face value” a veteran’s statement that he or she has a service-connected disability. Since 88 percent of disability claims are approved anyway, Bilmes said that some spot-checking and audits would be enough to ensure the system is fair.

Bilmes said it takes two or three years to hire and train claims processors, providing little comfort to veterans who are looking for financial aid now, which is why she has more radical ideas.

Ronald Aument, the VA’s deputy under secretary for benefits, said it takes an average of four months to process a disability claim under the best of circumstances, and that priority is being given to processing claims for the most severely disabled combat veterans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan. The average processing time is 177 days, and the VA has a goal of cutting that to about 145 days, he said.

Aument said the VA handled 774,000 claims last year but received 806,382, which is why gaining ground is difficult. The number of veterans receiving disability claims has climbed from about 2.3 million in 2000 to 2.7 million in 2006, he said.

The claims backlog, along with other problems in medical care in the military and VA, are having a lasting effect on new veterans’ attitudes toward their government.

Brady Van Engelen, a wounded Iraq war veteran, said veterans and their families are suffering. “We may end up with an entire generation of veterans who have no faith in our VA because those running it — as well as those overseeing it — were unable to hold up their end of the bargain,” he said.

“We did not prepare for this, and it is painfully evident,” said Van Engelen. “My generation is going to have to pay for this, and we will be paying for years and years.”



http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/03/tnsvaclaims070313/



Growing Claims Backlog Frustrates Veterans

From battling the enemy oversees to battling the system back home; it's a frustration all too familiar to American war veterans.

Now a KFOX investigation reveals how a growing backlog of disability compensation claims at the Department of Veterans Affairs has left many veterans waiting years for benefits they expected and needed much sooner.

One of those waiting is Army National Guard veteran Jimmie Brand. After a tour of duty in Iraq during the first Gulf War, doctors diagnosed him with a number of ailments including a separated disc in his back, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Brand said the problems are a result of his service, but he's been fighting the VA for ten years for benefits. He said he's waited three years for the VA to arrange a doctor's exam that he needs for his claim to be processed. He describes the anxiety caused by the delay as "a nightmare."

VA workload reports for early February 2007 show that more than 600,000 disability compensation claims are waiting to be answered. In the VA office that handles El Paso claims, more than 21 percent of the 24,000 claims have been pending for at least six months.

In New Mexico, 28 percent of the 4,700 claims are also still pending after six months.

Veterans' advocates say the backlog means veterans must wait to get money and medical care owed to them that many desperately need. They blame staff shortages at the VA, the aging population of America's veterans, and the influx of claims from troops injured in the Iraq war.

The National Service Director for Disabled American Veterans, Randy Reese, says older veterans are often waiting the longest.

"The average age of those veterans is way up there, and there's a lot of them who are dying while they're waiting for the adjudication of their claims," he said.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson tells KFOX there's a bigger backlog because there’s been a substantial increase in the number of claims applications.

He says the VA is hiring more claims processors and improving their training.

"We're expanding," he says, "but we can't do it overnight."

Secretary Nicholson expects a reduction in the claims backlog by the end of next year, but Jimmy Brand is hoping he'll get an answer much sooner. "I just want them to make a fair decision." he says.

If you're a veteran struggling to get a claim answered, veterans service organizations like Disabled American Veterans, VFW, and American Legion will provide a representative to advocate on your behalf to the VA.

It's a free service, but you may have to sign a power of attorney allowing the representative to obtain your records. You'll need to have your DD-214 form and relevant medical records. Letters of support, referred to as "buddy letters," from witnesses to your injury and its aftermath are also helpful.

DAV spokesman Tim Wilborn says, "No one wants to negotiate the bureaucracy of the VA alone."
http://www.kfoxtv.com/news//11036515/detail.html



$728 veteran alone at 50%

http://www.vba.va.gov/BLN/21/rates/comp01.htm

That is what it would cost per month to approve a claim at 50% today and get rid of the backlog of claims. The odds of getting 50% and having it pro-rated are a lot greater than having a claim approved at 100%. They usually have to fight for the additional rating. So let's just cut the bullshit out and state it point blank.


As you can see from the above the backlog is not getting better. As a matter of fact, there was a report that the backlog was over 800,000. This was in a report about the IT departments cutting back staffing.

VA claim backlog at 816,211 but IT cut back? WTF
Vets' groups urge IT budget boost for benefits processing
By Bob Brewin bbrewin@govexec.com February 13, 2008 Veterans' services organizations have urged Congress to provide a sharp increase in the information technology budget of the agency that handles their compensation and pension claims.


The fiscal 2009 IT budget request for the Veterans Benefits Administration is about 18 percent less than the fiscal 2008 proposal. The overall IT budget for the Veterans Affairs Department, VBA's parent agency, jumped 18 percent in President Bush's latest request.VBA's pending compensation and claims backlog stood at 816,211 as of January 2008, up 188,781 since 2004, said Kerry Baker, associate legislative director of the Disabled Veterans of America, during a Wednesday hearing of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.



So here's the plan

1. Approve every claim today at 50% for a single veteran. That $728 a month will help the avoid becoming homeless. Most claims are eventually approved and very few are found to be fraudulent.

  • Then take the claims and put them through the process to make sure there are no fraudulent claims mixed in.
  • Take the date the claim was filed and use that to pay back retroactive payments according to what the claim merits. If it's higher than 50%, then pay the difference back to the veteran.
  • When a claim is approved, then calculate in the funds that should have been paid for the spouse and the children they have.
  • If a claim runs out of appeals and it is found to be a fraudulent claim then either charge them with a crime that can be proven in court, or drop it.



2. Hire claims processors and mental health staff to address the need already here

  • Audit claims to see how many have been approved that need further information.
  • Use new processors to collect the missing information and use the experienced processors to deal with the new claims efficiently.
  • Begin training new processors for the long term in order to be able to deal with the new claims coming in for the long term. As we've already seen, older veterans end up seeking VA care when no one expects them.




These steps will help the veterans financially today and take some of their extra stress off of them. But this is not all that has to be done.

Veterans Centers

There are empty commercial buildings all across America. Select one in every city and put in a center staffed by veterans as paid employees for those who are still able to work and allow disabled veterans to act as volunteers when they cannot work a regular job. Even a veteran in a wheel chair still has his mind to help other veterans. Each one can contribute in one way or another. Opening Veteran's Center will take some of the load out of the VA hospitals when they do not need medical attention. Veteran's Centers are also a lot more appealing to veterans who have become distrustful of the government.


Support groups

Establish support groups in VA hospitals and Veteran's Centers to assist the veterans needing them. Some do not do well in a support group and will not participate. Support groups have been used in all walks of life and have proven to be beneficial. Make sure the family members are also provided with the opportunity to have their own support group because they are on the front line taking care of the veteran. Support groups for families will also reduce the isolation they feel and in turn reduce the divorce rate.



They can talk all they want about what they are doing, which will take years to show up when the need is great today. I don't blame Gates one bit. Do you? My plan is not perfect but it comes from doing this for a lot longer than I should have had to do this. 25 years working on this and living with it has given me some details the "exerts" have no clue is needed now.


Chaplain Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
http://www.namguardianangel.org/
http://www.namguardianangel.blogspot.com/
http://www.woundedtimes.blogspot.com/
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington

Sunday, August 4, 2013

VA Grants up to One Year Retroactive Benefits for Veterans Filing Fully Developed Claims

VA Grants up to One Year Retroactive Benefits for Veterans Filing Fully Developed Claims to Help Reduce the Backlog
August 1, 2013
New Benefit Takes Effect August 6 for First-Time Filers

WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs announced today that Veterans filing an original Fully Developed Claim (FDC) for service-connected disability compensation may be entitled to up to one-year of retroactive disability benefits. The retroactive benefits, which are in effect Aug. 6, 2013, through Aug. 5, 2015, are a result of a comprehensive legislative package passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama last year.

“VA strongly encourages Veterans to work with Veterans Service Organizations to file Fully Developed Claims and participate in this initiative, since it means more money in eligible Veterans’ pockets simply by providing VA the information it needs up front,” said Allison A. Hickey, Under Secretary for Benefits. “At the same time, it helps reduce the inventory of pending claims by speeding the process.”

Filing an FDC is typically the fastest way for Veterans to receive a decision on their claims because Fully Developed Claims require Veterans to provide all supporting evidence in their possession when they submit their claims. Often, this is evidence that VA legally must attempt to collect on the Veteran’s behalf, which is already in the Veteran’s possession, or is evidence the Veteran could easily obtain, like private treatment records.

When Veterans submit such evidence with their claims, it significantly reduces the amount of time VA spends gathering evidence from them or other sources -- often the longest part of the claims process.

While VA will still make efforts to obtain federal records on the Veterans’ behalf, the submittal of non-federal records (and any federal records the Veteran may have) with the claim allows VA to issue a decision to the Veteran more quickly.

Typically, VA processes FDCs in half the time it takes for a traditionally filed claim.

FDCs can be filed digitally through the joint, DoD-VA online portal, eBenefits (www.ebenefits.va.gov). VA encourages Veterans who cannot file online to work with an accredited Veterans Service Organization (VSO) who can file claims digitally on Veterans’ behalf.

While submitting an FDC provides a faster decision for any compensation or pension claim, only Veterans who are submitting their very first compensation claim as an FDC are potentially eligible for up to one-year of retroactive disability benefits under the newly implemented law.

FDCs help eliminate VA’s claims backlog because they increase production of claims decisions and decrease waiting times. Also, VA assigns FDCs a higher priority than other claims which means Veterans receive decisions to their claim faster than traditional claims.

VA continues to prioritize other specific categories of claims, including those of seriously wounded, terminally ill, Medal of Honor recipients, former Prisoners of War, the homeless and those experiencing extreme financial hardship. As part of its drive to eliminate the claims backlog in 2015, VA also gives a priority to claims more than a year old.

In May, VA announced a new partnership with Veterans Service Organizations and others known as the “Community of Practice,” an effort that seeks to reduce the compensation claims backlog for Veterans by increasing the number of FDCs filed by Veterans and their advocates.

VA is continuing to implement several initiatives to meet the Department’s goal to eliminate the claims backlog in 2015. In May, VA announced that it was mandating overtime for claims processors in its 56 regional benefits offices to increase production of compensation claims decisions through the end of FY 2013. In April, VA launched an initiative to expedite disability compensation claims decisions for Veterans who have a waited a year or longer

As a result of these initiatives, VA’s total claims inventory remains at lower levels not seen since August 2011. The number of claims in the VA backlog – claims pending over 125 days – has been reduced by 17 percent compared to the highest point in March 2013.

Veterans can learn more about disability benefits on the joint Department of Defense—VA web portal eBenefits at www.ebenefits.va.gov, and the FDC program at www.benefits.va.gov/fdc/.

Friday, August 9, 2013

Pro-bono attorneys stepping up to help veterans with claims

VA Partners with American Bar Association and Legal Services Corporation to Launch a Pilot Program to Help Veterans Receive Decisions Faster and Reduce Claims Backlog
Pro-Bono Pilot Program to Assist Veterans with Developing their Disability Claims
WASHINGTON (Aug. 9, 2013) – The Department of Veterans Affairs, the American Bar Association (ABA) and the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) announced today a new partnership and pilot program aimed at reducing the claims backlog and making it easier for unrepresented Veterans to receive assistance developing their claims for disability pay.

“Ending the backlog is an ‘all hands on deck’ effort that requires teamwork, both in and out of government,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “This partnership between VA, ABA and LSC is aimed at surging resources to deliver earned benefits to Veterans more quickly.”

In the coming months, ABA and LSC attorneys will provide free assistance to a targeted group of unrepresented Veterans who request their help gathering and obtaining evidence required by law to support their disability claims.

The development of the claim is often the longest part of the process that determines whether a Veteran is entitled to VA compensation. These steps can take more than 200 days in the rating decision process. The pilot will offer pro bono attorney assistance to Veterans with claims pending at the St. Petersburg and Chicago Regional Offices who do not currently have an authorized representative.

Veterans will choose whether to accept this pro-bono assistance. Similar Veterans with claims pending at other VA regional offices may also be considered for the pilot, if warranted.

"The ABA is proud to take the lead in connecting veterans with pro bono attorneys who will help them receive the aid our nation owes them for their selfless courage,” said ABA President Laurel Bellows. “We hope that our initial focus on Chicago and St. Petersburg can swiftly be expanded across the nation."

The claims selected for this pilot program, which are currently -- or will soon be -- part of the claims backlog, will vary in terms of complexity and degree of completeness. VA will accredit the attorneys who choose to participate, and the ABA and LSC will provide them with specialized training that will enable them to help evaluate and develop Veterans claims and make those claims ready for a rating decision. The two initial pilot sites were selected based on proximity to ABA headquarters, and the opportunity for the biggest impact on the backlog.

In the coming months, VA will identify eligible Veterans to participate in the pilot program and send letters advising them of all their options for representation to help them advance their claims - from Veteran Service Organizations, attorneys and claims agents, to pro bono attorneys participating in this pilot.

The VA letter will inform Veterans of a 1-800 hotline and website to connect them to an attorney who is willing to assist with their claim, free of charge.

Under the partnership, the ABA and LSC will match interested Veterans and attorneys on several factors, including geographic location, complexity of the claim and the Veteran’s and attorney’s preferences on the nature and scope of representation.

VA is continuing to implement several initiatives to meet the Department’s goal to eliminate the claims backlog in 2015. As a result of these initiatives, VA’s total claims inventory has dropped to its lowest levels since March 2011.

The number of claims in the VA backlog – claims pending more than 125 days – has been reduced by 18 percent, compared to the highest point in March 2013.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Joint Effort Aimed at Promoting Use of Fully Developed Claims

This is a great example of how veterans can have an easier time filing claims when they use one of the non-profit service organizations to help them. The service officers at the DAV train every year on the latest rules, so they know what is needed for a claim or an increase. They also know what veterans are entitled to when most of the time the veteran isn't even aware these benefits are available for them. I am sure the American Legion also trains. Don't go it alone because missing something can delay your claim and you already have a big enough headache dealing with whatever your service has caused.
Recent VA News Releases
VA and Veterans Service Organizations Announce Claims Initiative to Reduce Claims Backlog

Joint Effort Aimed at Promoting Use of Fully Developed Claims

WASHINGTON – Today, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Disabled American Veterans (DAV), and The American Legion announced a new partnership to help reduce the compensation claims backlog for Veterans. The effort—the Fully Developed Claims (FDC) Community of Practice—is a key part of VA’s overall transformation plan to end the backlog in 2015 and process claims within 125 days at 98% accuracy. VA can process FDCs in half the time it takes for a traditionally filed claim.

“VA prides itself on our ongoing partnership with organizations that represent Veterans throughout the claims process,” said Undersecretary for Benefits Allison A. Hickey. “A Fully Developed Claim is the most effective way to ensure a Veteran’s claim never reaches the backlog—and is the basis for this new initiative between VA and what we expect will be an ever-increasing number of Veterans Service Organizations (VSOs) and others who represent Veterans at various points of the claims process. ”

“This new initiative takes a common-sense approach to working smarter to better serve our injured and ill Veterans,” said DAV Washington Headquarters Executive Director Barry Jesinoski “DAV is pleased to be working with the VA to help improve the disability compensation system.”

“We have been working with VA since last December on its fully developed claims process,” said James E. Koutz, national commander of The American Legion. “Teams of our experts have already gone to VA regional offices in Denver, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and other cities to help identify best practices for FDCs, and to further train our own service officers.” Koutz said the Legion’s next visit in support of the FDC program is planned for June at the VA regional office in Reno, Nev.

Claims are considered to be “fully developed” when Veterans submit all available supporting evidence, like private treatment records and notice of federal treatment records, to VA at the time they first file a formal claim and certify they have no more evidence to submit. This is the information that VA needs to make a determination on a disability claim. The FDC program supports the sharing of best practices across Veterans Service Organizations, who help thousands of Veterans each year with their compensation claims, to identify up front all evidence necessary to support a Veteran’s claim. Veterans then certify that they have no additional evidence to submit, and VA can process the claim in half the time it takes for a traditionally filed claim.

VSOs have long played an integral role in submitting Veterans claims - often with representatives working within VA regional offices. VA has consulted with them throughout the development and implementation of VA’s plan to end the backlog in 2015 to ensure best practices and their unique insights were incorporated. The American Legion and DAV are the first to step forward to work with VA on the FDC program, and that program has led to a much more efficient process. Meaningful progress will be felt by increasing numbers of Veterans as more VSOs participate with VA in the FDC program. This initiative is just the latest example of the collaboration between VA and VSOs. In July, VA held a workshop to obtain the views of VSO representatives and to provide them with information on the effort to eliminate the claims backlog. The main focus of the workshop was VA’s emphasis on the shared goal of better serving Veterans and positive impact of filing Fully Developed Claims. These workshops will be replicated in VBA regional offices across the country.

“VA will continue to work with our VSO partners to provide the world-class health care and benefits that Veterans have earned through their service,” said Undersecretary Hickey.

This is the latest effort in support of the Secretary’s plan to reduce the backlog. Last month, VA announced an initiative to expedite compensation claims decisions for Veterans who have waited one year or longer. On April 19, VA began prioritizing claims decisions for Veterans who have been waiting the longest, by providing provisional decisions that allow eligible Veterans to begin collecting compensation benefits quickly. With a provisional decision, a Veteran has a year to submit additional information to support a claim before the decision becomes final.

On May 15, VA announced that it is mandating overtime for claims processors in its 56 regional benefits offices through the end of fiscal year 2013 to help eliminate the backlog, with continued emphasis on high-priority claims for homeless Veterans and those claiming financial hardship, the terminally ill, former Prisoners of War, Medal of Honor recipients, and Veterans filing Fully Developed Claims. As of May 17, the paperless claims processing system known as the Veterans Benefits Management System, or VBMS, has been deployed to 46 out of 56 regional office locations, and about 18% of VA’s current claim inventory is in an electronic format.

Claims for Wounded Warriors separating from the military for medical reasons will continue to be handled separately and on a priority basis with the Department of Defense through the Integrated Disability Evaluation System (IDES). On average, Wounded Warriors separating through IDES currently receive VA compensation benefits in 2 months following their separation from service.

Veterans can learn more about disability benefits on the joint Department of Defense-VA web portal eBenefits at http://www.ebenefits.va.gov and find information about filing Fully Developed Claims here: http://www.benefits.va.gov/transformation/fastclaims/. Servicemembers returning from active duty in combat theatres are eligible for five years of VA medical care – regardless of the status of any disability claim submitted. Medical care is not withheld while disability claims are under review. For more information on enrolling in VA health benefits, please visit http://www.va.gov/healthbenefits/.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

AP VA fact check missing facts

UPDATE July 25, 2012
Shinseki: Backlog means VA reaching more vets

This is what AP reported as FACT CHECK

FACT CHECK: Disability claims still growing at VA
By By KEVIN FREKING – 8 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama paints an encouraging picture of the additional resources his administration has poured into helping veterans get disability benefits and mental health treatment. But he glosses over just how much those problems have grown during his time in office.

Obama spoke Monday to the Veterans of Foreign Wars. His Republican rival for the White House, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, is set to address the same group Tuesday. A look at Obama's assertions about the Veterans Affairs Department's efforts and how they compare with the facts:

OBAMA: "We've hired thousands of claims processors. We're investing in paperless systems. To their credit, the dedicated folks at the VA are now completing 1 million claims a year, but there's been a tidal wave of new claims."

THE FACTS: Veterans can be eligible for help with conditions caused or aggravated by their military service. The government, however, has long struggled to keep up with the claims, and the backlog has grown worse during the president's term in office as soldiers return from Iraq and Afghanistan.
read more here


These are the real facts.

VA: NEARLY 500 CRITICAL DOCUMENTS FOUND IN SHREDDER BINS
ALL VA SHREDDER SCANDAL ARTICLES HERE...

UPDATE: NEW VA FIGURES SHOW NATIONWIDE PROBLEM WITH SHREDDING CRITICAL DOCUMENTS (10-23-08)VA finds hundreds of documents critical to veterans' claims in shredder bins across the country.AND --

FILNER COMPARES VA TO "KEYSTONE COPS," TO HOLD HEARING ON SHREDDING IN NOVEMBER (10-24-08)

DAV "OUTRAGED" BY VA SHREDDER SCANDAL (10-24-08)

HISTORY OF DECEPTION: VA ATTORNEYS CONVICTED OF DESTROYING DOCUMENTS (10-22-08)

FEDERAL JUDGE FINES VA FOR SHREDDING CRITICAL DOCUMENTS ... IN 1987 (10-20-08)


DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS 38 CFR Part 3
RIN 2900-AN04
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs.
ACTION: Interim final rule.
SUMMARY: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is amending its adjudication regulations regarding service connection for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by eliminating the requirement of evidence corroborating occurrence of the claimed in-service stressor in claims in which PTSD is diagnosed in service. This amendment is necessary to facilitate the proof of service connection in such claims. By this amendment, we intend to reduce claim-processing time for such claims.


Unopened claims letters hidden at VA offices
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Mar 3, 2009 17:22:51 EST

A new report about Veterans Affairs Department employees squirreling away tens of thousands of unopened letters related to benefits claims is sparking fresh concerns that veterans and their survivors are being cheated out of money.

VA officials acknowledge further credibility problems based on a new report of a previously undisclosed 2007 incident in which workers at a Detroit regional office turned in 16,000 pieces of unprocessed mail and 717 documents turned up in New York in December during amnesty periods in which workers were promised no one would be penalized.

“Veterans have lost trust in VA,” Michael Walcoff, VA’s under secretary for benefits, said at a hearing Tuesday. “That loss of trust is understandable, and winning back that trust will not be easy.”
Crisis at the VA as Benefits Claims Backlog Nearly Tops One Million

Monday, 01 June 2009
By Jason Leopold

During the past four months, the Department of Veterans Affairs backlog of unfinished disability claims from grew by more than 100,000, adding to an already mountainous backlog that is now close to topping one million.

The VA's claims backlog, which includes all benefits claims and all appeals at the Veterans Benefits Administration and the Board of Veterans Appeals at VA, was 803,000 on Jan. 5, 2009. The backlog hit 915,000 on May 4, 2009, a staggering 14 percent increase in four months.


June 4, 2009, Subcommittee approves bill easing PTSD compensation for vets

October 13, 2009 VA Extends "Agent Orange" Benefits to More Veterans

August 6, 2010 Court orders VA to act on new Agent Orange findings

These are just examples of what happened to increase the number of veterans filing claims on top of the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans filing claims. The other truth is that there were less doctors and nurses working for the VA than after the Gulf War. Another factor is the layoffs and employment freezes that happened all over the country along with the other fact that every state is different when it comes to taking care of veterans.

Here's another one

July 23, 2012 Political Shenanigans Target Veterans

Obama had to deal with the congress screaming about cutting the public workers at the same time each state was doing the same and then they started to complain about what they were all a part of all these years because the media let them get away with it and now, now they are FACT CHECKING?

Did AP mention how the elected GOP in congress want to turn the VA over to private companies and this very well could be part of their plan to do it? Break it so they can get rid of it.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Vietnam Veterans Waiting Longer

Vietnam Veterans Waiting Longer
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
February 3, 2014

Vietnam veterans have been waiting longer but if you read news reports it is almost as if they have all died off. Not taking anything away from WWII (3% of claims and backlog) and Korean War veterans (4% of claims and backlog) the largest percentage of claims involves Vietnam veterans.

This is how this news report should have ended, but it didn't.

There are 3.9 million Veterans of all eras who are currently in receipt of disability benefits from VA.

VA Pending Claims according to VA Monday Morning Report of Feb. 1 is 675,891.

36% of those claims are from Vietnam Veterans. 22% of those claims are from Gulf War Veterans.

The Backlog of claims over 125 days is 397,122.

37% of those claims are from Vietnam Veterans. 22% of those claims are from Gulf War Veterans.

60% of pending claims are supplemental, 40% are original.
77% of Veterans filing supplemental claims are receiving some level of monetary benefit from VA.
11% of Veterans filing supplemental claims already have a 100% disability rating (receive $2800 or more per month) or qualify for Individual Unemployability (compensated at the 100% disabled rate).
40% of Veterans filing supplemental claims are already rated at 50% disability or higher.
43% of supplemental claims are from Vietnam-era Veterans; 19% are from Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.

It didn't tell you that most of the claims are from Vietnam veterans waiting longer for what they paid for. It didn't tell you that while there are 21,978,000 veterans in this country, the VA is only dealing with 3.9 million veteran claims. The rest are waiting and watching to see if the promise to care for those who served is honored or not. Some of them know they should be treated by the VA, others are in denial, others don't want to bother and some need nothing at all.

Bill Briggs interviewed IAVA director but not once was it mentioned those numbers were predominately from veterans waiting longer than Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.

Now that you know the rest of the story, read what Briggs wanted to tell you.
VA backlog again gnarled in red tape, report finds
NBC News
By Bill Briggs, NBC News contributor
February 3, 2014

The Department of Veterans Affairs' promise to end by 2015 its massive, benefits backlog for disabled veterans has "stalled," according to an analysis released Monday by a leading veterans' organization.

After slicing its glut of pending claims from a peak of 600,000 cases in March 2013 to 400,000 in November, the VA has been unable to budge below that threshold this year, according to "The Red Tape Report," authored by the group Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

Consequently, hundreds of thousands of veterans who were permanently disabled or made ill by their military service are waiting months for their compensation checks to arrive to help pay bills and, in some cases, to buy food. Some of those veterans are physically unable to hold jobs.

“In the State of the Union address, President (Barack) Obama re-affirmed the VA disability claims backlog as a national priority,” said Jacqueline Maffucci, IAVA's research director and author of the report. “... It is not just about bringing the backlog to zero, but keeping it there."
read more here
These are the veterans reporters are no longer interested in even though they are still waiting.

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Suddenly reporters notice veterans are suffering?

UPDATE March 24, 2013
Shinseki says VA on target for ending backlog
By Kevin Freking
The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Mar 24, 2013
Peter Gaytan, executive director of the American Legion, emphasized that resolving disability claims in a timely manner is an issue his organization has dealt with for decades.
WASHINGTON — Although the number of pending veterans’ disability claims keep soaring, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki on Sunday said he’s committed to ending the backlog in 2015 by replacing paper with electronic records.

Veterans receive disability compensation for injuries or illness incurred during their active military service. About 600,000 claims, or 70 percent, are considered backlogged. The number of claims pending for more than 125 days has nearly quadrupled under Shinseki’s watch.

Shinseki told CNN’s “State of the Union” that a decade of war and efforts to make it easier for veterans to collect compensation for certain illnesses such as post-traumatic stress disorder have driven the backlog higher during his tenure. He said that doing away with paper records will be the key to a turnaround.

Shinseki said that the VA has puts its new computer system in place in 20 regional offices around the country and all regional offices will be on the system by the end of the year.

“This has been decades in the making, 10 years of war. We’re in paper, we need to get out of paper,” Shinseki said. The Defense Department and other agencies still file paper claims, he said, but “we have commitments that in 2014 we will be electronically processing our data and sharing it.”
read more here
Suddenly reporters notice veterans are suffering?
by Kathie Costos
Wounded Times Blog
March 23, 2013

More and more reporters are suddenly discovering veterans have been suffering waiting for the VA claims to be processed. More and more are slamming the VA as if any of this is new.

Mark Flatten, "Watchdog Team" of the Washington Examiner wrote a fascinating piece on how much the VA has failed veterans. That is really strange coming now after all these years. What is even stranger is most of the people writing about the problems veterans face seem to not be aware of many facts.

For one, as Congressman Jeff Miller, Chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, complains about the backlog, he doesn't seem to get it that the Congress had the responsibility to make sure that veterans received proper care even when it was a Republican in the White House. Yes, that is their job as it has always been there job even when troops were sent into Afghanistan and the lackluster debate was raging in the Congress about sending more men and women to invade Iraq, the number of disabled veterans who would need care was hardly ever mentioned. Even less mentioned was the fact this country had not taken care of veterans from past wars. Gulf War veterans were still waiting for care and answers about what they were suffering from with claims not approved because Congress had forgotten about them. Vietnam Veterans still suffering and dying from what Agent Orange was doing to them were still fighting to get the care they needed and suffered even more as their claims were rejected. They waited even longer as their PTSD claims were denied because they could not "prove" they were involved in combat operations. As President Obama issued directives to address the older veterans claims and make it right for them, Congress didn't see fit to increase the budget and allow for more staff to care for "those who had borne the battle" of the wars we sent them to fight.

2006 VA Claims
There are more than 500,000 veterans who have claims pending with the Department of Veterans Affairs for benefits, and approximately 100,000 of such claims are over one year old without resolution.


This is what was reported in 2007 by the Boston Globe
March 11, 2007

The VA is the second only to the Defense department in number of employees and manages the largest medical education and health professions training program in the United States.
Civilian Employees
2006
VA 235,974
Dod 650,401
VA Employees
216,119 -- Health Administration
12,926 -- Benefits
1,508 -- National Cemetery System
3,308 -- Veterans Canteen Service (provide merchandise, food and vending services in VA medical centers)
442 -- Revolving Supply
8,117 -- Other
242,420 -- Total
VA Patients
Of the 24.3 million veterans currently alive, roughly 11% received disability benefits, which comes to $23.4b About 63 million people (20% of the US population) are eligible for VA benefits and services because they are veterans, family members or survivors of veterans. Rise in Patients
4.1m 2001
5.3m 2005
Backlog of claims
69,000 in 2000.
400,000 in 2007
Time to process claim 177 days
Time to process appeal 657 days

In fiscal year 2008, VA provided $38.9 billion in disability compensation, death compensation and pension to 3.7 million people. About 3.2 million veterans received disability compensation or pension from VA. In addition, about 554,700 spouses, children and parents of deceased veterans received VA benefits. Among them are 170,144 survivors of Vietnam-era veterans and 235,000 survivors of World War II veterans. As of September 30, 2008, VA had 278,565 employees on the rolls. Among all departments and agencies of the federal government, only the Department of Defense has a larger work force. Of the total number of VA employees, 247,113 were in the Veterans Health Administration, 16,135 in the Veterans Benefits Administration, 1,549 in the National Cemetery System, 3,412 in the Veterans Canteen Service and 437 in the Revolving Supply Fund. The rest, 9,919 employees, are in various staff and facilities offices.
Twenty years have passed since the start of the deployment and combat operations known as Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Since then, many Veterans of that conflict have endured adverse health consequences from the war. Of the 696,842 Service members who served in the conflict, of which approximately 7% were women, 297,555 Veterans have filed Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) claims. As of March 2010, the VA has processed over 289,610 disability claims related to their service in these operations; 250,627 have been granted at least one service-connected condition, 38,983 claims were denied; and 7,945 claims from first time claimants are currently pending. Additionally, VA has treated over 146,445 combat Veterans, and has participated in federal research efforts on Gulf War illness totaling more than $152.1 million from VA and $400.5 Million in total Federal commitment to date. Yet through these years, many Veterans have felt disenfranchised in these efforts, and underserved by the VA. Stakeholders have been critical of VA’s culture and processes as well. The excess of unexplained medical symptoms reported by deployed 1990 -1991 Gulf War Veterans cannot be reliably ascribed to any known psychological disorder. Veterans and stakeholders have noted that VA has historically failed to recognize that undiagnosed multisymptom illness suffered by Gulf War Veterans are distinct illnesses with potentially debilitating consequences and the large numbers of Veterans affected (an estimated 175,000 to 250,000 Veterans). They have also criticized VA emphasis in its research (before 2005) and in its clinician training materials and public statements (to date), that these illnesses were related to stress or other psychiatric disorders, when scientific research indicates otherwise.
But the real thing that keeps getting missed in all of this is what happened in 2009, before President Obama's budget was put into action, before the Gulf War Veterans and Vietnam veterans had the ability to receive justice and when people were also calling for VA employees to be removed. This is not about the VA. Not about political parties because these problems with the backlog of claims happened during different administrations. This is about Congress once and for all doing the right thing for our veterans. This is from the American Legion.

During the past four months, VA’s backlog of unprocessed disability claims grew by more than 100,000, adding to an already enormous backlog that is now approaching close to one million claims. The Public Record reported in June that VA’s claims backlog, "which includes all benefits claims and all appeals at the Veterans Benefits Administration and the Board of Veterans Appeals at VA, was 803,000 on Jan. 5, 2009. The backlog hit 915,000 on May 4, 2009, a staggering 14-percent increase in four months."

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Congressman Miller face the facts on veterans

Congressman Miller face the facts on veterans
by Kathie Costos
Wounded Times Blog
February 9, 2013

Congressman Miller, face the facts and then you'll be able to do something for the veterans. This is not a new problem for our veterans. It is an old one no one did much about.

In 2007 we had to deal with this. Neglect? The VA's current backlog is 800,000 cases
And then by December of 2007, there were these reports.
The agency’s new plan to hire at least 150 new appeals judges to whittle down the backlog, which has soared to 755,000 from 311,000 in 2000, will require $100 million more than the president requested this year and still more in the future. The plan has been delayed by the standoff between Congress and the White House over domestic appropriations.
148,000 Vietnam Vets sought help in last 18 months
Followed by this one.
VBA's pending compensation and claims backlog stood at 816,211 as of January 2008,
Followed by this one
VA reported 879,291 claims were in backlog
And ending 2008 with this one.
806,000 Veterans backlog claims listed
And then this
VA Claim backlog hit 915,000 on May 4, 2009
As you can see, none of this is new. While it would have been easy to just deal with the backlog of cases and ignore the veterans left behind from Vietnam, the rules were changed to try to do the right thing even though it meant the challenge would be greater especially when Congress did not do their job and make sure the funding and staffing were all in place.
The backlog has been exacerbated by the administration’s 2010 decision to accept 260,000 previously denied and new claims associated with Agent Orange exposure.


As advocates like me were pushing for veterans to get help with PTSD, more filed claims and an increase in wounded coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan greeted by a Congress not taking action to make sure they were cared for.

Now that all that is out of the way perhaps it will be a good time to stop blaming this administration and do the right thing for veterans.

There are 1.7 million veterans here in Florida and most of them are waiting for Congress to do the right thing. They suffer and wait while Congress holds hearings on the problems but don't seem to interested in holding hearings on what works, what is already in place and how to expand on the good. Congressman Filner was not interested in deploying older veterans and their spouses to help the newer generation living with PTSD and we saw them suffer the way we did. Any idea what all of this does to whole families? Do you know all the stress adds to the ravages of PTSD, suicides, alcohol and drug abuse, domestic violence and homelessness?

House Veterans' Affairs chair wants to cut VA claims backlog
Feb 9, 2013
Written by
Ledyard King
Democrat Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — Republican Rep. Jeff Miller, the Pensacola-area Republican who chairs the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, wants to speed up the time it takes to process veterans’ disability claims.

It’s one of two main priorities Miller outlined in an interview Wednesday in his Capitol Hill Office. The other is providing veterans greater access to mental health services, possibly by allowing them to access the TRICARE system that serves active-duty military personnel.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has set a goal that, by 2015, no disability compensation claim will take more than 125 days to fully process and that 98 percent will be accurate. As of August, it took an average 260 days to process each claim, according to a recent report by the Government Accountability Office.

That’s up from 161 days in 2009. The accuracy rate is currently about 85 percent, according to Miller’s office.

One million service members are expected to become veterans within the next five years, further straining the agency’s capabilities.

The GAO called the VA’s ability to process claims in a timely manner “a daunting challenge.”

Some 1.7 million veterans live in Florida.

The agency processes about 1 million disability benefits claims nationally a year, but there’s another 1 million they can’t get to, said Miller of Chumuckla.
read more here


With all due respect, it is time to learn the facts before you doom veterans to mistakes repeated.

Friday, March 1, 2013

Why does the National Review pretend to care about troops now?

Why does the National Review pretend to care about troops now?
by Kathie Costos
Wounded Times Blog
March 1, 2013

Once again the disinformation sucks the truth out of our country like the sinkholes in Florida.

This is yet one more load of political BS! First, Congress is responsible for funding and coming up with Bills for the troops and veterans among everything else. Obama as with all Presidents, sets out what he wants done but in the end, it falls under the control of Congress. Much like when President Bush sent troops into two wars but there were less doctors and nurses working for the VA than there were during the Gulf War. Amazing isn't it? It was not Bush's fault no one planned for the wounded two wars would create but it was in fact Congress that dropped the ball. Of course no one talked about it because that would have looked bad especially when it was Republicans doing the damage much like no one wanted to talk about how every defense of this nation failed on the one day they were all needed, or talked about the failure of sending troops into combat in Iraq.

What happened was a massive backlog of claims they were also not talking about.

I wrote this when Congressman Miller decided to finally talk about all of this.

In 2007 we had to deal with this. Neglect? The VA's current backlog is 800,000 cases And then by December of 2007, there were these reports.

The agency’s new plan to hire at least 150 new appeals judges to whittle down the backlog, which has soared to 755,000 from 311,000 in 2000, will require $100 million more than the president requested this year and still more in the future. The plan has been delayed by the standoff between Congress and the White House over domestic appropriations.

148,000 Vietnam Vets sought help in last 18 months

Followed by this one.

VBA's pending compensation and claims backlog stood at 816,211 as of January 2008

Followed by this one

VA reported 879,291 claims were in backlog

And ending 2008 with this one.

806,000 Veterans backlog claims listed

And then this

VA Claim backlog hit 915,000 on May 4, 2009

As you can see, none of this is new. While it would have been easy to just deal with the backlog of cases and ignore the veterans left behind from Vietnam, the rules were changed to try to do the right thing even though it meant the challenge would be greater especially when Congress did not do their job and make sure the funding and staffing were all in place. The backlog has been exacerbated by the administration’s 2010 decision to accept 260,000 previously denied and new claims associated with Agent Orange exposure.


Did the Republican "trusted" sources report on any of this? Hell no. This was and is horrible for the troops and veterans because at the same time sites like National Review were pretending to be patriotic, they were playing politics when wounded veterans were suffering from neglect. Telling the truth and paying attention is our responsibility so the general public knows what is going on. They will not take a stand for the troops or veterans if they believe lies like this one.

The rest of us know how much Michelle Obama cares about the troops, veterans and their families. If Republicans feel like idiots, they have their own media to blame.
Just Props: The Obama Administration Fails Veterans
National Review
By Pete Hegseth
February 28, 2013

What are we to make of Michelle Obama’s satellite appearance at Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony, in which she announced the “Best Picture” Oscar while surrounded by a phalanx of uniformed military personnel?

Almost immediately, questions were raised as to the appropriateness of using service members as “props” in a commercial entertainment broadcast. I tend to agree it was inappropriate, especially since the first lady made no mention of the troops decorating her appearance. Even so, it was a relatively minor offense.

But perhaps we should be grateful to the White House for making it crystal clear otherwise that, when it comes to our military personnel and veterans, this administration’s priorities are definitely “just for show.” The fact is, the Obama administration’s support for post-9/11 veterans has been anything but awards-worthy.

Just look at the dismal situation at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, where a persistent backlog of benefits claims has left hundreds of thousands of veterans in limbo.

According to a report published in the military newspapere Stars and Stripes just this week, the claims backlog has actually grown by 7 percent from a year ago, in spite of VA secretary Eric Shinseki’s promises of speedier service.
read more here

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Veterans Beg Congress Stop Hand Me Down Suffering

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
April 7, 2015

In 1970 the Guess Who recorded Don't Give Me No Hand Me Down World, but considering what has been happening to veterans, that is exactly what Congress kept giving them. Hand me down suffering because it has all been going on for far too long.

Great article on the New York Times about a Vietnam veteran filing a class action lawsuit over claims. The trouble is, it isn't new for any of our veterans.

This is part of the problem veterans have faced for decades!
“Justice delayed for these veterans is justice denied, unconscionably and unacceptably,” Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, the ranking Democrat on the Veterans Affairs Committee, said in an interview Monday.
Blumenthal said he hears it all the time yet when you actually know what has been happening, how long it has been going on, then you'd know this is yet one more politician not being fact checked on anything. The rest of the article is below but here's some things that were left out of it.

VBA's pending compensation and claims backlog stood at 816,211 as of January 2008, up 188,781 since 2004, said Kerry Baker, associate legislative director of the Disabled Veterans of America, during a Wednesday hearing of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.
This was reported on Air Force Times GAO faults training for VA claims processors, By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer, Posted : Wednesday May 28, 2008
From September 2007 to May 2008, GAO looked at four VBA regional offices, in Atlanta; Baltimore; Milwaukee; and Portland, Ore.

VA officials said it takes at least two years to properly train disability claims employees, and they must complete 80 hours of training a year. New employees have three weeks of intense classroom training before they begin several months of on-the-job training at their home offices.

Report: 8,763 vets died waiting for benefits reported by William McMichael for Army Times on July 15, 2008 but as this shows, it was worse because of who else was waiting for, and being denied, what other politicians promised when they said they'd take care of our disabled veterans.

It’s estimated there are 600,000 to 800,000 unresolved claims and appeals with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, according to veterans’ advocates.

“We have claims that have been pending for a decade, two decades and some that date back more than 50 years. We have appeals from World War II,” said David E. Autry, a spokesman for the Disabled American Veterans in Washington D.C., which represents veterans and advocates and helps them obtain their benefits.

But it was even worse considering they found many unopened claims.
VA officials acknowledge further credibility problems based on a new report of a previously undisclosed 2007 incident in which workers at a Detroit regional office turned in 16,000 pieces of unprocessed mail and 717 documents turned up in New York in December during amnesty periods in which workers were promised no one would be penalized.

“Veterans have lost trust in VA,” Michael Walcoff, VA’s under secretary for benefits, said at a hearing Tuesday. “That loss of trust is understandable, and winning back that trust will not be easy.”

And after more hearings, promises, pointing finger by members of congress, this was the result of all of that a year later.
The VA's claims backlog, which includes all benefits claims and all appeals at the Veterans Benefits Administration and the Board of Veterans Appeals at VA, was 803,000 on Jan. 5, 2009. The backlog hit 915,000 on May 4, 2009, a staggering 14 percent increase in four months.

There have been too many Congressional hearings without members of congress actually listening to what veterans and families have been going through. Far too many suffering for far too long. In the 90's it took 6 years for my husband's claim to finally be approved.

Maybe now someone will finally ask members of Congress why they are still trying to kill the VA instead of fixing it? But based on the article, it doesn't look as if reporters even fact check what they write so unlikely that will ever happen.
Vietnam Veteran Files Class-Action Lawsuit Over Delayed Appeals on Disability Benefits
New York Times
By DAVE PHILIPPS
APRIL 6, 2015

A Vietnam veteran who has waited years for disability benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs for claims of post-traumatic stress disorder and exposure to toxic chemicals filed a class-action lawsuit on Monday, seeking to force the department to expedite a growing backlog of benefits claims appeals, including his own.

The case is the first class action filed in the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. The lead plaintiff is Conley Monk Jr., a Marine Corps veteran in Connecticut who said he came under fire in Vietnam in 1969 and 1970 and was exposed to Agent Orange, an herbicide used in the war. After receiving diagnoses in 2011 of PTSD and diabetes, which is sometimes associated with exposure to Agent Orange, Mr. Monk applied for disability compensation from the V.A. and was denied. He appealed in 2013.

Now, 20 months later, the department has yet to respond to the appeal, said the veteran, who recently had a stroke and is living in subsidized housing.

“It’s frustrating to be stuck in limbo,” Mr. Monk, 66, said in a phone interview on Monday. “It’s been hard to make ends meet. And we Vietnam veterans are getting older. We can’t wait forever.”

The backlog of benefits claims at the V.A. started rising sharply in 2009, driven by a growing number of claims by Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and expanded eligibility for Vietnam veterans with diabetes and PTSD. The backlog peaked in 2013 with more than 600,000 claims.

Determined to clear the backlog, the Obama administration focused staff members on new claims. Since then the number has declined nearly 70 percent. But the number of appeals — claims resubmitted because veterans say they were improperly handled by the V.A. — has risen 17 percent to an all-time high of nearly 300,000, according to the V.A., and the time it takes to reach a decision has grown.
read more here

Monday, October 28, 2013

Review history if you think VA claims are bad now

Review history if you think VA claims are bad now
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
October 28, 2013

There are so many really stupid emails going around right now that my head is about to explode. Veterans are getting very upset about things they shouldn't be upset about and not worrying about the things they need to know.

Start with Affordable Care Act and Veterans and read the rest on this link but here is the part you really need to know.
The answer is the Affordable Care Act will not directly impact VA health care system nor will it affect TRICARE or TRICARE for Life beneficiaries (military active duty personnel, retirees and their dependents). Veterans eligible for VA health care will remain eligible under health reform; nothing in the proposed legislation will affect veterans’ access to the care that they currently are receiving. The legislation makes clear that the Department of Veterans Affairs will retain full authority over the VA health care system.

However, the devil is always in the details. A report authored by Jennifer M. Haley and Genevieve M. Kenney for the Urban Institute says that some 1.3 million veterans under the age of 65 are uninsured. It is this population that needs to be better informed about their health care options: which ones to chose and how to exercise them. “It is important that the VA is prepared and communicates with veterans," says Congressman Mike Michaud of Maine, the ranking Democrat on the House of Representatives Committee on Veterans Affairs.

The claim backlog is another thing these emails keep getting wrong. For starters, Vietnam veterans are the majority of the new claims as well as the supplemental claims.

According to the VA Claim report they put out on Monday's these are the latest numbers.

711,775 Pending Claims. Vietnam veterans are 36%, followed by Gulf War Veterans at 25%, Iraq and Afghanistan veterans at 20%, Peacetime at 11% and Other at 8%.

For the backlog of 405,656, again, Vietnam veterans are the largest group at 37%, Gulf War at 24%, Iraq and Afghanistan veterans 21%, Peacetime 11% and Other at 7%.

Then there is the part about how this congress loves to complain about the backlog even though they were complaining about it for decades over and over again because they never really fixed it when they had a chance to really do something that would matter in the long run.

This is what it looked like in February of 2008
VBA's pending compensation and claims backlog stood at 816,211 as of January 2008, up 188,781 since 2004, said Kerry Baker, associate legislative director of the Disabled Veterans of America, during a Wednesday hearing of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.
This is what it looked like in April of 2008
Since 2006, the number of claims has grown 15 percent. The amount of time it takes to make decisions on disability claims is two to three year. On an average, it takes four years to get an appeals decision.”
By July there was this report
The report by the majority staff of the House Oversight and Government Reform domestic policy panel, released Tuesday, concluded that at least 28,283 disabled retirees were denied retroactive pay awards because rushed efforts to clear a huge backlog of claims led program administrators to stop doing quality assurance checks on the claims decisions.

And of the original 133,057 potentially eligible veterans, 8,763 died before their cases could be reviewed for retroactive payments, according to the report.
This is the newest piece of news on the backlog.
U.S. Sen. Mark S. Kirk (R-Ill.) says help is on the way for veterans waiting for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to process their disability claims. Kirk says the backlog has grown, saying veterans are waiting up to 534 days for their claims to be processed. “That’s the bad news,” Kirk said. “The good news is buried in the VA appropriations bill, of which I’m the lead Senate Republican, we have all of Chairman Tim Johnson’s 10 points to eliminate this backlog.”

This is just a start of the growing list of emails being pushed by veterans not fact checking what their friends send them. If your friends or politicians want to pretend any of this is new, then tell them the truth so that maybe, just maybe they may fix it the right way for a change and we don't see repeated suffering that didn't need to happen.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

VA Ignored Growing Disability Claims Backlog, Now Nearly 900,000

The following is part of the testimony Veterans For Common Sense gave at a hearing. When I've been told I'm wrong in the past, reporters tend to use whatever they are told and they do not want to do the work to find out what is real instead of what the person they are speaking to is telling them. In other words, totally different figures depending on what the person they are speaking to believes is the truth.
This clears up any confusion. The main point to focus on after addressing the fact that fraudulent claims with the VA are not a problem, is the fact there are nearly 900,000 cases they have yet to honor. Understand when you are reading what was produced by VCS, these are not just a bunch of numbers but a veteran and usually a family waiting to have wounds treated and incomes they can no longer earn replaced by this nation priding itself on the term, "grateful nation" but finds it oh so easy to just forget about them.

VA Confirmed PTSD Claim Fraud is Not a Problem

During 2005, as the number of PTSD claims filed by veterans continued to increase, VA leaders tasked VA’s Office of the Inspector General to review PTSD claims that were already approved. According to a VA statement issued in 2005:

The problems with these files appear to be administrative in nature, such as missing documents, and not fraud…. In the absence of evidence of fraud, we're not going to put our veterans through the anxiety of a widespread review of their [approved PTSD] disability claims…. Instead, we're going to improve our training for VA personnel who handle disability claims and toughen administrative oversight.

VA confirmed fraud is not a problem. Rather, poor documentation, poor training, and poor administrative oversight by VA were the actual culprits. VA could and should have instituted better documentation, better training, and better administrative oversight.


VA Ignored Growing Disability Claims Backlog, Now Nearly 900,000

VA missed their third opportunity to issue improved PTSD regulations when the claim backlog ballooned over the past few years. The disability claims backlog has soared, from just over 600,000 in January 2004 to nearly 900,000 in March 2009.

VA’s current claims backlog nightmare includes more than 60,000 pending claims from Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans for any type of medical condition. To date, more than 370,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans have filed a disability claim against VA for any type of condition, overwhelming evidence that the two current wars are creating a sustained and significant hardship on VA’s already broken claims system.

VA could and should have issued new regulations to expedite PTSD claims in order to break the bottleneck of 900,000 claims awaiting adjudication.