More From Watchdog On

[Berta]

Larry Scott (VA Watchdog) is on a roll here- I posted the other info the other day here-

years ago I got what one could consider an "extraordinary award" from the USA-wrongful death due to VA- however the VA made an enormous financial error when they had to process the DIC I got based on that award-

I think they should be looking at all awards and not just the ones over 250,000- then again a claimant can challenge anything right away and even ask for a monetary breakdown of a retro check -if they think something doesnt seem right.

The VA tried to snooker millions from AO vets in the past- many of these awards involved lots of money-

probably some were extraordinary amounts-

today at VA Watchdog:

"On October 13, 2007, we brought you a story about "Extraordinary Claims" and the fact that the VA is now reviewing all of them. That story here... http://www.vawatchdog.

org/07/nf07/nfOCT07/nf101307-1.htm

An "Extraordinary Claim" is defined as a claim "...with an effective date retroactive eight or more years or that result in a lump-sum payment of $250,000 or more..."

Now, we have discovered that the VA is finding many errors in these claims.

The following came to me from a VA employee.

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The following comes from the September 18, 2007 Veterans Service Center Managers' Conference Call.

"On August 27, 2007, Compensation & Pension Service issued Fast Letter (FL) 07-19, Procedures for Handling Extraordinary Awards. This FL outlines procedures for handling awards resulting from rating decisions with effective dates of eight or more years in the past, or lump-sum payments of $250,000 or more. These awards require review by the Compensation and Pension Service prior to authorization.

To date, approximately 230 of these cases have been received. Our review of them has shown a surprisingly high number of errors, especially with effective dates. This high rate of non-concurrence is of concern. The FL directs that the Veterans Service Center Manager (VSCM) review the decision and sign the transmittal memorandum if he or she agrees with the decision. The VSCM must insure that individuals who prepare these decisions for their signature have taken care in their preparation.

If questions arise they should be addressed to [redacted] of the Advisor Review Staff (211B) or submitted to VAVBAWAS/CO/21Q&A."

Article continues below:

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Below are the comments of the VA employee.

"First, I am amazed by the sheer number of huge retro awards out there. This document claims 230 of them in a three-week period (August 27 to September 18). This is further evidence that a lot of vets have been waiting years for completion of their claim.

Second, there were a 'surprisingly high number of errors' in the proposed awards. Are Regional Offices erring in the vet's favor or the agency's favor? Or is it all over the place? One now has to wonder if the guy who got a $300,000.00 retro in June (before the review began) actually got the correct amount."

I forwarded this to an attorney who practices veterans' law for his comments...below...

"I think sometimes the fact VA does grant thousands and thousands of claims each year, and many with large retroactive benefits, is overshadowed by the other problems with the C&P Service, such as the delays. I agree many of the 230 'extraordinary' claims noted below probably represent significant delays before the granting of the claim...If I had to guess, I would guess the errors go both ways.

...There is no 'conspiracy' within VA to deny legitimate claims. There are, however, completely overburdened rating officers at the ROs who must issue at least five decisions per day in order to meet their quota. VA would deny quotas exist, but I was told that by a rating officer at the [redacted] RO...This is the number one reason for errors by rating officers, by far. Add to that the inexperienced rating officers and the lazy rating officers and you can see why there are so many errors. The vast majority of those errors are caught by the Board, and that's why there are so many remands from the Board to the RO. Sad, but true."

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Larry Scott

This doesnt surprise me- the VA makes a lot of financial errors.

from VA Watchdog today:

[Tbird]

i find it extraordinary that they take so long to grant a claim, the retro gets that high, it just annoys me.

[Pete53]

Just imagine the suffering of the Vets and their Families while the VA plays their games?

[SLEDGE]

How many veterans file an appeal after their claims are fully awarded?

Out of 250,000, how many veterans wish to return money or medical treatment back to the government?

For every veteran that elects to appeal a bad decision by the VA, how many other veterans just stop fighting the claims process in disgust?

Acting like finding errors in the claims process is new or that the numbers of errors are astounding is an insult to our collective intelligence.

Public attention is myopic, what issues are pushed onto the back burner while we discuss the new revelations about errors and large awards?

Basically, they admit to making errors in 230 claims.

They don't say how those errors affected the veterans and their loved ones who were involved.

They do say that another appeallable stumbling block has been officially added to the adversarial process.

I am not favorably impressed, again.

sledge

[john999]

If this is how the nation treats "heros" how do they treat traitors and cowards....oh, yeah, they elect them to congress.

[allan]

An "Extraordinary Claim" is defined as a claim "...with an effective date retroactive eight or more years or that result in a lump-sum payment of $250,000 or more..."

Now, we have discovered that the VA is finding many errors in these claims.

**********************************************

>we have discovered that the VA is finding many errors?

Who's checking their findings to make sure they're accurate and that their findings are errors and not agency procedures from rating contractors dumping claims?

If a valid claim that has been denied for six, eight, ten, twenty, thirty, forty and so on years based on the Dept of Veterans Affairs agency errors, and is later found to be valid from the date of application,

than not only will they cheat you out of the interest, but cheat you out of the back payment? And Trusting the DVA to do the right thing by this country's returning troops over the DOD means what exactly?

Doesn't anyone else consider this to be an act to stop what little enlistments this country is getting? Why in the world would anyone support such a idea? I hope its not to show cause of why we need the draft due to decline of enlistments?

Why would anyone supporting this nation, especially during a time of war, support the theft of benefits that rightfully belongs to disabled US Veteran?

The result of this is to tell everyone of us that being a thief pays in this country.

[jbasser]

It would be a good thing if an independant investigation could be performed to find out the root cause for these errors. There are ways to find patterns and to separate the personnel who consistantly make these mistakes. Without thinking much, I can name at least 4 RO's whose office has done nothing but make mistakes on my claims.

This will probally never happen.

That is why it is ridiculous to wait for 15 years to get a claim straightened out.

This may be acceptable to the younger Vets but for many vets, They wont live 15 years. Is it designed to be that way?

We should turn up the heat and ask congress for help.

I am going to forward the report to my congressman on behalf of all KY disabled Veterans.