Letter To Congress On Problems With Va

[Ricky]

Had to stop beating my head trying to word my appeal and thought I would drop a few lines to congress. I keep hearing "change the system to make it better." So I thought I would offer my two cents worth about change.

(Was addressed to various member of congress and the committee)

For well over 50 years now the American Public has heard the phrases most often used by the Veterans Affairs “Take better care” “speed claims processing while decreasing errors”. However, here we are now in the year 2006 and not only has the VA failed to produce, they have gotten worse.

Yes it is time that we change the system. However, the focus needs to shift from the veterans that use the system to the system itself.

The VA has a hard job. But lets face it there has been no action to correct the problems that make the system adversarial and burdensome and costly. Inefficiency, apathetic attitudes and most of all lack of over sight waste billions of tax payer’s dollars every year. Wasted dollars which could be used to improve the system by adding additional health care improvements, disability pay and manpower.

Congress mandated through legislation the minimum requirements to take care of America’s heroes. In doing so they tasked the VA to develop regulations to implement those laws. Although this system seems to have been developed using a logical thought process, Congress, in a “slap in the face” tactic allowed the VA to police itself during the development and implementation of those regulations. By doing so they created one of the most wasteful and inefficient government organizations that exist in our world today. VA is the only government organization that I know of that has this authority.

This authority without outside oversight has given the VA the power to be “above the law”. This “above the law” power enjoyed by the VA has bred nothing but incompetence, apathy and some times actions that down right violate U.S. Law by VA employees. These symptoms are seen throughout the VA from contact teams to raters all the way up to the management level. From improper application of the laws to intentional failure to apply the applicable laws in an effort to meet productivity requirements is a daily occurrence throughout the VA. These types of actions only serve to send an all ready over burdened system into a non-recoverable status. These actions result in untimely and unnecessary appeals and remands. As a result of this you find deserving veterans waiting 3, 5 sometimes 10 years for a proper adjudication of their claim at a cost to the American taxpayer that runs into billions of dollars.

Why is this done? Simple, it is the lack of oversight and accountability. This is proven by reading GAO report after GAO report in which these actions have been brought to the attention of the VA and Congress without any improvement in the system. The results of report after report has been briefed to the committee by GAO in which the VA has stated “ we accept the comments of the GAO, and will taken action to resolve the issues” as they go “wink, wink” and continue down the same path. Not only do they continue down the same path but year after year the problems get worse. Follow up reports disclose that in the wake of increasing problems the VA employees continue to fail to properly apply the required regulations, appear to be untrained and the back log caused by these problems has increased by several hundred thousands of claims awaiting adjudication in excess of 1 year.

When will it stop? Not until Congress changes the system that will require VA employees at all levels to be held accountable for their actions. I work for a department of the Federal Government that deals with laws and the regulations that implement those laws. If I fail to follow those regulations it is considered to be a violation of U.S. Law. Not only would I lose my job but I would be prosecuted promptly. Why is it that we can not expect the same of VA employees? Especially those tasked with the most important part of the VA mission – the senior raters and service center managers. These employees are paid salaries starting at around 69.000.00 yearly and go up from there. They are the ones tasked to insure the junior personnel are trained and follow the U.S. Code in performing their duties while being fair to the claimant. However, they are the ones that most often fail to properly do their job. They are the ones who have been around in the “system” for many years and fully understand the protections afforded to them in this “above the law” organization. They are the ones who will rubber stamp an inaccurate rating decision from one of the junior employees so the numbers will be in their favor during promotion and salary increase time. They are the ones when questioned by a claimant about the application of a specific law in a claim who simply thumb their noses at the claimant. Why worry about one claim when there are thousands of other simply waiting on the “rubber stamp” approach that will result in a large annual bonus for the service manager which will in turn assuredly result in that step increase at the end of the performance rating period. Who cares how much extra manpower will be required by their apathetic actions? They will not have to pay the cost the tax payer will; so what if the claim is sent into a vicious cycle of appeals and remands? Once again it is not their money; it does not cost them anything. So what if the Board of Appeals remands the claim two, three, ten times? They do not care. They simply use the ole rubber stamp each time. Yeah, Yeah the board did say something about they needed to apply the proper law and re-adjudicate the claim. Who cares the board won’t do anything for not following their orders. Oh, the court! It can not enforce any ruling on them. Just think a Federal level court without any enforcement authority – it must be heaven.

I hope that my point has been made. The VA system does need revamping. It needs to be brought into the year 2006 and taken out of 1010 A.D when the ruler simply killed those who did not like the way he was running things. It needs to be forced into an era in which oversight and accountability is mandated. Mandated in a way that will result in the loss of income for those found to be inefficient and prosecution is guaranteed for those who intentionally violate the laws of the U.S. Code.

That, my dear Congress person, is where your efforts to revamp the VA system should be focused.

Ricky E. Hicks

[Guest Morgan]

This is a great letter, Ricky. Nice touch with the reference to your own federal job and accountability.

You have said it well, no consequence for breaking the law lands in the lap of anyone at the VARO. On the other hand, if veterans even unintentionally do something slightly inconsistent with the law, the VA can start an investigation and strip benefits until it decides whether it wants to reinstate those benefits. Meanwhile, the veteran may be forced into filing bankruptcy and watching his or her family torn apart by financial ruin.

The Court has held that VA employees are charged with knowing the law under which they make decisions that affect others. Yet every day, veterans have to gear up for another round of fighting because this charge is grossly mocked.

Veterans often are left with staggering repercussions due to the VA's abuse of discretion. That is my biggest pet peeve (and soapbox) regarding the system. In my opinion, holding VA employees accountable--at all levels, as you suggest--under at least the same weights and measures as other federal employees, would be an appropriate measure that could quickly turn the system around from within. Hit the employees in their pocketbooks and force them to contemplate the seriousness of knowing and keeping the law. Then, political wrangling and convoluted efforts to put out the forest fire (backlog) with a squirt gun would vanish for lack of purpose.

I salute you, sir, for the passion you have in fighting for veterans. I wish you the best.

Thank you for your service.

Carrie

[Pete53]

Nice letter but to a Congress Critter $ 69,000 is chump change.

[Guest Berta]

I sure commend any veteran for telling their elected officials- and the Committee- their personal knowledge and receipt of this wasteful crapola we all go through-

I told the IG they dont even seem to be able to read-

"These symptoms are seen throughout the VA from contact teams to raters all the way up to the management level. From improper application of the laws to intentional failure to apply the applicable laws in an effort to meet productivity requirements is a daily occurrence throughout the VA."

You are absolutely right here and this is their Achilles heel-

these VARO employees are under tremendous stress for production -

quantity not quality-

if a valid claim gets to the BVA-it is out of their hair for over a year- maybe years-

as well as off a SOs desk---only- as many of you can see at the BVA site-

to be remanded and then be reworked again.

Some of those remands are just ridiculous-

If one compares the VAROs morning reports with the amount of remands and then their error rate (all this inof has been posted here as links) one sees that they are not handling claims right.

I say it is their Achilles heel -the pressure they are under-because we can use that to our advantage-

if you get a lousy decision-put pressure on them until they get it right-

I had a vet whose evidence they seemed to keep losing. His claim was over a decade old-remanded many times-

I had the fax number for the director's office from my last ordeal with this VARO-

when he started faxing stuff to the director-and then starting calling the director's secretary (I had that number too)

they couldn't take it and things began to happen with his claim.He got his SC award.

[Ricky]

Hey guys, my email did receive some notice. I received a response from Jeffrey Phillips, communications director, House committee on Veterans Affairs. He stated that some members wanted to discuss the issues contained in my letter which was received by the committee. He wants to speak to me about such and provided direct contact numbers. Looks like I will at least get to present my point to those who can make a difference. Not to say such a difference will happen but it is at least a step in the right direction.

[Guest Berta]

GOOD FOR YOU!

There are definitely people in our Gov who are responsive to hearing from veterans.

Was this directly to the House Committee on Veterans Affairs?

I just saw Secretary Nicholson on Fox news talking about how 12 % of all returning Iraq veterans might have PTSD and that the VA is an expert in treating PTSD and they have the money in the VA budget to take care of these vets.

What is lacking in the VA's approach seems to be the full 'lessons learned' about PTSD- it might not show up at all for many many years. Even a veteran with 'mild' symptoms of PTSD, participating in some therapy program, could gain a full blown PTSD picture at some future point-

and I cannot see how early intervention or whatever they are doing for returnees can-in every case- alleviate substantial problems later on down the road.

I think the VA certainly has the expertise to deal with PTSD but they cannot cure it-if that is what they expect to try to do.

[Testvet]

Berta did you notice how he was careful not to say anything about "cure's" for PTSD, just that with early intevention it was "treatable" he is choosing his words more wisely now, he only has to worry about this year and 2 more, then he can "retire" as the VA colonel"