Using Politicians To Help With Claims

[sweettator]

I know a few that has done this. I'm calling my US Congressman on Monday to ask for help on my compensation processing. He is Marion Berry from Arkansas District 1. I sure hope it makes a difference. I keep getting different answers each time I call the RO and the 800 827 1000. I have posted before reference my hardship. Hopefully, the plitician will help. Any suggestions regarding doing this? <_<

[Testvet]

In my case I have contacted Congressmen and Senators the VARO has done the 2 step with them they send nice letters to the VARO asking for info the VARO tells them they are working on it, and then they sit on my file for 60 days and then put it back on the bottom of the pile

they even lied in a letter to Senator Larry Craig when he was the Chairman of the Senate VA Committee they told him I was sent home sick from the Edgewood Arsenal experiments on 10 July 1974 when my records plainly show I was there from 25 June 1974 thru 22 August 1974.

Congressional inquiries are about as useful with the VA as they are with other govt agencies they all know how to play them and ignore them

I suggest you don't do it, but that is a choice you have to make

[donews]

Thats not THE Marion Berry is it?

If so umm well anyhow.

I have seen some say they have gotten results from using a politician, but the major (95%) of them have said it is a waste.

I would not want to have my file pulled and add to the delay by doing this.

Just my two cents.

[sweettator]

Marian Berry from Arkansas not the mayor from Washington DC. All my answers are negative toward using politicians. I guess I need to think about this one. Thanks for all your inputs. I'll keep you guys informed. Vicky

[spike]

Ask me this at the end of the month.

[free_spirit_etc]

My husband used Obama's office for awhile. He sent a copy of one of his letters to several politicians - and Obama's office called him fairly quickly. They did tell him to choose which politician he wanted to work with - as having multiple people checking on the claim would delay things.

I did think they were fairly helpful. At least they let us know what was going on with the claim.

They were much more helpful than a VSO. Whenever they found out anything - they would call and let him know. The RO had actually told my husband his claim was still pending appeal at the BVA - and that any evidence he sent would be forwarded to the BVA.

When he got ahold of Obama's office to see if they could help move his claim a bit quicker - due to his terminal diagnosis - THEY informed him that their screen showed the claim was CLOSED.

The RO never even told him his claim was closed. He even wrote to them and asked - and they never responded. But they finally wrote to Obama and told THEM why the claim was closed.

Had we not contacted the politician - we might still be sitting here waiting for the BVA to hear the appeal (well WE wouldn't be sitting here - but I would).

So they did help us get more straight answers about the claim than the RO would give us.

I think if you contact a politician - it is important that you be very specific about what you are seeking from them.

For instance, I am going to contact someone to follow up on our Social Security claim. But if I just tell them EVERYTHING that is going on - they will forward THAT letter to Social Security - and SOcial Security will respond by explaining that it is all very complicated - and that *I* just don't understand - etc. etc. etc.

So I will be VERY specific - and write to the Senator that a year after we filed my son's claim - that Social Security has STILL not made a decision in respect to my son's entitlement as a legally adopted child of my husband.

Hopefully - that will limit Social Security's response to the Senator about THAT specific issue (which will hopefully motivate them to ADDRESS the issue).

They have been kind of like the VA - totally ignoring the issues that DO lead to entitlement - and going on and on about side tangents...

So I think that sometimes a politician can be very helpful in pushing an agency into addressing a specific issue (usually THE issue you are trying to get them to acknowledge) that they remain "artfully" silent on (because to address it would mean they could no longer send you lengthy letters explaining why you aren't eligible). But I would be VERY specific in my request - so they can't dance around it as easily.

Free

[Berta]

Congressmen/women and Senators can often get a status from the VA but that is about all they will get- unless you have one who will really look into your situation.

Congressmen/women and Senators dont win claims.

Evidence does.

I had the same experience years ago that Testvet had-

the VA absolutely lied to my 2 state Senators and my Congressman regarding an evidence matter.

The claim by then had lost months of processing as it sat on the VA COngressional Liason's person desk for months until he made up something to tell 2 Senators and my Congressman.

When I got the VA's response to them I got on the phone right away and within 2-3 days I resolved the problem myself-

I made the right phone calls-to the right people-which took time to find- and said I would just stay on hold until they looked in to it.

It all depends on what your claims problem is-

sometimes one has to get creative-

Free- I did send the ashes Certified but the VA returned them personally.

I do not advise anyone doing some of the stuff I have done.

HOWEVER- all my past claims were awarded.

I guess now I have to get creative regarding my present claims.

I have prepared Battle Plan # 4.

Funny thing though- I think I have managed to put the onus on my claims problems entirely on my POA.

Because that is where most of the problems began-and vet reps have a new reg they have to deal with now that gives the VA itself some oversight on them.

"VA Published Accreditation Regulations

On October 12, 2007, VA published in the Federal Register final rule AM29, Accreditation of Service Organization Representatives and Agents, amending 38 C.F.R. §§ 14.629 and 14.633. The final rule will: (1) require veterans service organizations (VSO) to periodically recertify the qualifications of accredited representatives; (2) require VSOs to notify VA's Office of the General Counsel when a VSO's request to cancel a representative's accreditation is based on misconduct or lack of competence; and, (3) add procedures for suspension of accreditation and reinstatement following suspension.

After publication of the proposed rule, the President signed Public Law 109-461 amending chapter 59 of title 38, United States Code, governing the representation of veterans before VA. As a result of these amendments, proposed procedures for the periodic recertification of agents were dropped from the final rule.

In comments to the proposed rule, VSOs expressed concern regarding their ability to recertify representatives in a timely manner. To address this concern, the rule is effective 90 days from the date of publication, January 10, 2008. Moreover, compliance dates for recertification of accredited representatives will be phased in over a 15-month period according to the first letter of the last name of the representative and the first group of recertifications, for those representatives with last names beginning with the letters A through F, must be complete not later than April 9, 2008. For questions regarding this rule, please call VA's Office of the General Counsel at (202) 273‑6315."

This rule was written by the same attorney at the OGC who got my 24 pages POA complaint and that is in process.

The initial rep(I named 3 reps and their director- who has been replaced) is due- by his last name and date of birth (as spelled out in the more detailed info on how this process works within these regs)

for re-certification by April 9th 2008-as I understand the regs.

It will be interesting to see how that goes.And I recently found even more documented evidence of this rep's negligence.

He never sent my claims to the RO nor filed any 4138 or paperwork whatsoever- in 5 years on them-

and like a dope I was doing volunteer claims work for him as he was preventing any paper trail at all to show I was there helping his veteran claimants.He even told the sec I didnt need appointments-just send me right in to him-

no paper trail at all-no proof whatsoever I ever had appointments and filed any claims-

but the dope forgot- I have thousands of saved emails-many many from him-

I can prove his negligence.

We all have to make sure that if we rely on a rep to do ANYTHING- we have the right to know what they do-

if a rep says he sent the VA a NOD or a 4138 for you- contact the VA to make sure they got it.

And be very careful if a rep wants to file and your I-9 for you-I think a veteran should always do that themselves and we have a template I posted here recomended by NVLSP for I-9s.