1,467 Vets Died Waiting For Their

[Berta]

"Another set of documents presented in court showed that in the six months leading up to March 31, a total of 1,467 veterans died waiting to learn if their disability claim would be approved by the government. A third set of documents showed that veterans who appeal a VA decision to deny their disability claim have to wait an average of 1,608 days, or nearly four and a half years, for their answer."

Other statistics have been just released as to combat wounded etc- by VCS-the organization that has lawyers fighting the Veterans case in SF DC.

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/10072

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/10072

[Pete53]

Wonder what else the VA is hiding?

[robert51]

"Another set of documents presented in court showed that in the six months leading up to March 31, a total of 1,467 veterans died waiting to learn if their disability claim would be approved by the government. A third set of documents showed that veterans who appeal a VA decision to deny their disability claim have to wait an average of 1,608 days, or nearly four and a half years, for their answer."

Other statistics have been just released as to combat wounded etc- by VCS-the organization that has lawyers fighting the Veterans case in SF DC.

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/10072

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/10072

well i sure am not surprised the VA and SS do it ... they save money by stalling the longer they stall the more money they DONT have to pay out.. i dont feel sorry for the government one bit.. they give away lots more then they pay the vets and they give it to countries that openly Dont like us.. shame on them..

[Testvet]

many of our claims including appeals have lasted longer than the Iraq war mine for example was filed in Nov 2002 the Iraq war started in March 2003 I wonder which one gets finished first the war or my appeals?

[jamescripps2]

You can't totally blame the VA for our misfortune in the leingth of time that it takes to adjudicate a claim. We are also responsible, we should be comming together to fight for our rights as veterans. Our letters and complaints should be filling the mailboxes of our political figures and we should be walking a picket line at every VA regional office in the nation. A convicted murderer can navigate the legal system, and seems to have much more respect for his rights than a veteran does.

Where are our service orginizations in all of this? They are too busy trying to collect lifetime membership commitments from the OIF & OEF veterans while the frenzy last. This too shall pass.

[Berta]

Pete said:

"Wonder what else the VA is hiding?"

I am actively trying to find out something else I believe the VA is hiding.

James- I think that the fault does rest with reps as well as the VA in the claims backlog-

but it is up to us as claimants to send the VA the evidence they need.

I cannot stress this enough- if an IMO is the only thng that would possibly award a claim then the vet has to consider getting one-

also if a stressor is in question-one can see how successful veterans were (at the BVA web site) when they themselves accessed proof of their stressor via buddy statements and other means-and how their MOS put them there and then.

There are claims tying up the system that might never get awarded -because the evidence the VA needs to justify an award simply isnt there.

And lets face it-we all have enough time to get what evidence we need as claims are at ROs these days often for over a year before they even send a denial and then can sit there for years for being transferred to the BVA.