Potential Va Benefits Chief Has New Ideas

[allan]

-----Original Message-----

From: D. Mac Donald [mailto:dmac107@dlm.hrcoxmail.com]

Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2009 10:12 AM

To: dav@davchpt13.hrcoxmail.com

Cc: colonel-dan@sbcglobal.net

Subject: Potential VA benefits chief has new ideas

Posted by: "Robert F. White" etihwr2@verizon.net myfranks

Mon Feb 2, 2009 9:18 pm (PST)

http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2009/02/...claims_020209w/

Potential VA benefits chief has new ideas

By Rick Maze - Staff writer

Posted : Monday Feb 2, 2009 17:36:26 EST

A Harvard University researcher with some radical ideas about how to reduce

the backlog of veterans disability claims appears to be in line to head the

Veterans Benefits Administration.

Linda Blimes, a public policy lecturer and research at Harvard's Kennedy

School of Government, wants the Department of Veterans Affairs to operate

like the Internal Revenue Service - on an honor system that trusts veterans

claiming service-connected disabilities. All veterans claims would be

approved as soon as they are filed, with a random audit conducted to "weed

out and deter fraudulent claims," Blimes told the House Veterans' Affairs

Committee in testimony in 2008.

Ninety percent of veterans disability claims end up being paid after they

make it through the system, she said - proof, she said, that most veterans

are asking only for what they deserve.

Immediate payment of at least a minimum benefit would help to reduce the

average 180-day waiting time for initial benefits claims to be processed and

allow VA to redeploy the employees processing those claims to work on more

complicated appeals, she said.

Blimes also has talked of a vastly simplified disability rating system that

would have just four ratings instead of the current 10 for service-connected

disabilities and illnesses.

Blimes has not been formally announced as a nominee, but her name is being

circulated among lawmakers and congressional staff in what has become a

standard procedure to determine whether there is any strong opposition to

her taking the key post.

Her idea of a streamlined claims process has some prominent supporters,

among them Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., the House Veterans Affairs Committee

chairman who has talked of automatic claims approval as a way to quickly

eliminate the claims backlog.

Retired Rear Adm. Patrick Dunne, a holdover from the Bush administration,

has stayed on to run the VBA until a successor is named. He is not the only

VA executive who has stayed around; Dr. Michael Kussman also remains as VA's

undersecretary for health.

In addition to Blimes, another name being circulated is that of disabled

Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth, who could become VA's chief of

intergovernmental affairs. Duckworth, the Illinois director of veterans

affairs, is closely associated with President Barack Obama.

On Friday, the White House announced its intention to nominate W. Scott

Gould, a former Navy Reserve intelligence officer, to be VA deputy secretary

under retired Army Gen. Eric Shinseki, the former Army chief of staff

recently named to head VA.

Gould does not have experience running veterans programs, but he was

co-chairman of the review team that looked at VA for Obama and has

experience in trying to centralize and streamline organizations. Gould is

vice president for public sector strategy at IBM Global Business Services.

Gould is married to Michelle Flournoy, whom Obama has nominated to be

undersecretary of defense for policy.

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed

without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the

included information for research and educational purposes. Reference:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

__._,_.___"Keep on, Keepin' on"

Dan Cedusky, Champaign IL "Colonel Dan"

See my web site at:

http://www.angelfire.com/il2/VeteranIssues/

[Testvet]

she is also the one who advocates handling VA comp claims like IRS claims accept them and pey them, it they appear fraudulent to start pull them out like bogus IRS returns, and then go back and audit awarded claims to see if they really do add up to 2+2=4 if not charge the veterans with fraud most veterans file for benefits they deserve and no this does not mean pay claims back to the day the stressor happened in Oct 1966 it still goes to the day the claim is filed as is done now I think this is the best news the VA has gotten yet this is even better than Shinseki as VA Secretary and Gould as Deputy VA Under Secretary having this lady in charge of Compensation and claims

[Quint7]

I agree with the "pay now, prove later" thing, but I still think that a lotta vets would lose out underthe 4 tier system. To me, someone who now gets 40% would probably be considered "mildly disabled" which sounds like a round down to me. I would assume that the %'s would be 0%, 33%, 66% and 100% which means that VA will take someone with two "milds" of 20% and 30% each and round them down to the 33% because the total is far too low to round up to 66%. I'm just assuming... and we all know what that means.... lol.

I would hope that there would be some provision that states "no veteran currently receiving benefits will be receive a lower amount of compensation when the new system is implimented". Kinda grandfather in the curently disabled vets at the same or next highest level.

I can see VA bosses licking their lips as they fire off letters for new C&P's to lower vet's ratings and thus getting bigger bonuses for themselves.

Man, just the fact that VA employees can GET bonuses makes me sick.

[broncovet]

Call me a naysayer if you like, but I will believe it when I see it. There has been talk about this for years..and it has all been talk. The bottom line is that it will cost lots of money, and VA's budget has not been increased that much, so I frankly dont see it happening. The VA is not laying off people to pay (the Vets) for this either, the VA is hiring more employees, more bureaucracy.

Its one of those "sounds good" things..but who is going to pay for it? JMHO..it wont happen..yes Vets do deserve at least as much "faith" as IRS taxpayers..as someone pointed out, the IRS sends you your refund check within a couple weeks, then can "audit" you to recover money they feeel they ovepaid you. While I would certainly agree, that Veterans DESERVE at least as much trust as taxpayers, you need to remember the VA saves lots and lots of money using the present flawed and broken system, for several reasons:

The current plan..which is deny, delay, then pay only the most persistent people willing to go through the multi year hassel to get benefits...if they live that long.

Of course, some Vets die and never collect.

Others "drop out" and either become homeless, live off friends and family, or live in poverty. VA likes that..why do you think the Veteran population commits suicide more and is homeless more? Do you think this is because of the VA's generosity and compassion to Veterans?

Finally, even the Veteran who does not die, does not give up and files multiple appeals to get benefits, and eventually wins..he still looses..because the VA pays him with inflated dollars and no interest..the Vet looses the time value of his money..a dollar today is worth much more than a dollar next year..or ten years from now. The VA has been cheating Veterans for so long, they dont know any other way.

The "fuzzy math"...is that designed to help Veterans? No..it is designed to cheat Veterans out of even more.

Edited February 14, 2009 by broncovet

[gp747]

Call me a naysayer if you like, but I will believe it when I see it. There has been talk about this for years..and it has all been talk. The bottom line is that it will cost lots of money, and VA's budget has not been increased that much, so I frankly dont see it happening. The VA is not laying off people to pay (the Vets) for this either, the VA is hiring more employees, more bureaucracy.

Its one of those "sounds good" things..but who is going to pay for it? JMHO..it wont happen..yes Vets do deserve at least as much "faith" as IRS taxpayers..as someone pointed out, the IRS sends you your refund check within a couple weeks, then can "audit" you to recover money they feeel they ovepaid you. While I would certainly agree, that Veterans DESERVE at least as much trust as taxpayers, you need to remember the VA saves lots and lots of money using the present flawed and broken system, for several reasons:

The current plan..which is deny, delay, then pay only the most persistent people willing to go through the multi year hassel to get benefits...if they live that long.

Of course, some Vets die and never collect.

Others "drop out" and either become homeless, live off friends and family, or live in poverty. VA likes that..why do you think the Veteran population commits suicide more and is homeless more? Do you think this is because of the VA's generosity and compassion to Veterans?

Finally, even the Veteran who does not die, does not give up and files multiple appeals to get benefits, and eventually wins..he still looses..because the VA pays him with inflated dollars and no interest..the Vet looses the time value of his money..a dollar today is worth much more than a dollar next year..or ten years from now. The VA has been cheating Veterans for so long, they dont know any other way.

The "fuzzy math"...is that designed to help Veterans? No..it is designed to cheat Veterans out of even more.

ALL I CAN SAY IF THEY HIRE NEW EMPLOYEES THEY NEED TO CHECK AND SEE IF THEY ARE PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY ABLE TO CARRY THE LOAD. BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT I BELIEVE IS GOING ON WITH THIS SHREDDER AND LOST DOCUMENT THING .

ONCE YOU HIRE THEM THEY WONT GO AND YOU CANT FIRE THEM ,WHICH I THINK SHOULD CHANGE. IF THEY ARE NOT DOING THEIR JOB GET RID OF THEM THEY ARE SCREWING WITH PEOPLES LIVES. FROM WAHT I HAVE SEEN A LOT OF THESE PEOPLE BELONG IN NURSING HOMES ,NOT WORKING ON CLAIMS BENEFITS.

[Pete53]

Scooby:

Is there a reason that you POST IN CAPS? Please do not do it as many on internet consider it rude.

Pete

[Ricky]

I hope I do not turn this into a political post so If I do just let me know.

-Such a change would require a complete re-write of Title 38 which would require a complete, as this administration likes to refer to it, re-tooling of the VA. New regulations, new policies, new this, new that etc.......

-The IRS style payment will not work. You say your medical evidence proves your disability, the VA says nay. Who wins the VA does. Now did you comit fraud? Hmmmm..... where to draw the line.

-I can not figure out how you would round up or down with such a system. If the first level was 33 percent then it would not be breached until you broke the second level completely. So in reality there would be no rounding as you would be either 33 or 66 percent. There would be no such thing as 65 percent rounded to 33. And man o man what a gap. You if you think that it is currently a near impossibility to go from 81 percent to 85 percent just close your eyes and try to imagine that jump from 33 to 66. Just as an over-simplefied example say you lost your left thumb and two other left fingers and it the first level cause you have loss of use of hand. Now secondary issues cause you to lose your left arm. Under the current system you would be re-rated and receive an increase. Under the suggested system where would the increase come in. You already can not use your hand to assist with required daily living activities. The loss of the arm really does not increase that disability. In real life it does. The loss of use of my hand causes me many, many problems. But I can still use the ole arm, especially upper arm, to hold on to things such as the grandkids heads as I give them the ole knuckle sandwich rub on the head with my right hand but to the VA my ability to hold things with my arm ain't necessary to assist me things such as bathing, eating etc....... And to top it off just remember that it is the old VA C&P Doc's pen that determines that jump from one level to the next higher one and we all know how hard it is to get a new 10 percent out of him.

-What about the TDIU'ers? Keep in mind the article centers around "only four levels". Hmmm...... Guess you guys better go to bed tonight and pray that the Prez, congress, senate, DoD, VA and anyone else that has such thoughts of this new system undergo some type of memory loss tonight. Just a thought now so don't go screaming and beating me. I am not the one that came up with the "only four levels" system. It appears on the surface that this is truly a "only four levels" system. Either you are or you are not. Maybe not, but we all know where the VA goes when you leave them with loophole even if it is on the size of a pinhead.

-And based upon the leanings of this administration towards Vets and the Services (Vet site internet postings on the losers of the Stimulus Package) I do not see any new funds coming this way to change the system and if they were to I fear that it would only be detriment of the veteran.

I personally think the lady is a looney tune. Not saying that she does not support veterans, just saying that she trying to bridge a creek with the Golden Gate Bridge which is not a reality (unless the VA sees comp cost cutting avenues if adopted). Just as I think that vets with SMR documented disabilities should get a 100 percent rating within 30 days. Then the VA could or could not order a C&P. If one is done the lowest they could reduce the rating to is 50 percent. Just my belief.

KEEP IN MIND. This is only my opinion and is based solely on my old worn out warped mind. It is not intended, to be political, to start rumors or to guide your decisions in in matter that you may face now or in the future.