Pay Vets Claims Now!

[broncovet]

Filner endorses the proposal, but I am waiting to see how our congress does at implementing this good idea. I just might have a tendency to vote people for re election if they can "get er done".

This would put stimilus money in the hands of those who deserve it the most, and also those who probably need it the most.

The story is here:

http://www.vawatchdog.org/09/nf09/nfjul09/nf071609-1.htm

[broncovet]

It is beyond my comprehension as to why Veterans would advocate for the present broken system of delay and deny until we die. The only thing that would make any sense is that Veterans who have already been awarded benefits want others to have to also go through the painful process they went through, or possibly a fear that if too many benefits are awarded to too many Veterans their benefits may somehow be taken away.

Politicians need to realize that the costs of war is more than just a few guns and planes, that the government has a duty to compensate its soldiers for their injuries. We still dont know how much the Vietnam War cost taxpayers, because Vietnam Veterans are still suffering from injuries during that war. Abraham Lincoln established that it is the governments responsibility to compensate that Veteran. The cost of war should not be borne exclusively by the Veteran, but by its citizens.

Whenever our government delays compensation to the Veteran, or denies just compensation, it is asking its Veterans to bear this burden, in addition to the burdens already borne by the Veteran, often giving up life and limb for the causes of the government.

The Veteran truly does deserve "the benefit of the doubt" but does not get it in our present system. The "Pay Veterans Now" would go a long way to make up this longstanding injustice to our country's heroes.

It was pointed out that it would not even cost the government that much money. For the majority of Veterans who deserve their compensation, they simply get it now rather than later. The only cost to the government would be the money paid to con artists which could not be recovered. However, that cost would somewhat be offset by the labor savings. How many employees does it take to answer the Veterans questions, over and over, when am I going to get paid? Further, if you are assuming there is no fraud within the VA now, or that fraud would naturally increase if "pay Vets now" was implemented, this may well be an incorrect assumption. Veteran payments either to Veteran fraud or to employee fraud are already rampant, and the IRS method may actually reduce fraud, rather than increase it as the "status quo" advocates claim.

[broncovet]

The more I think about it, the more "Pay Vets Now" would not only stimulate the economy, but would save the government money in the long run. As was pointed out, most of this money paid out would be already due to Veterans, and the only cost would be the unrecoverable fraud payments. The VA already has unrecoverable fraud payments, and I think this amount would actually be reduced by "Pay Vets now". Reason: With the present delay and deny system, HUGE Retros are paid, sometimes for ten years or more of benefits. Pay Vets Now, would quickly reduce these huge retros, because the VA would pay them now, and not ten years from now. These huge retros are a magnet for both employee and Veteran fraud. It just would no longer be worth it for con artists to file fraudulent claims, collect a month or two of benefits, and then have to put up with the hassel of the government trying to recover and prosecute. However, with the present system, a half million or more of retro is quite an incentive for thieves making it worth their while to fake multiple documents.

Some years ago a company near my home town tried to utilize the present "VA delay and deny" method with its employees. Multiple employees were hired, then on pay day, they had excuse after excuse always saying that their check would arrive next week. The company thought it could save money this way. They didnt. It cost them money, big time..lawsuits, litigation, bad reputation, employees quitting, etc. It did not work. No successfull company has ever used the Delay and Deny method the VA gets away with, and they wont..at least not for long, either.

Government cant get away with it long term either. The VA is taking more heat each day, and is under constant pressure from multiple sources to change the delay and deny tactics. The VA has cleverly resisted this pressure so far, but will ultimately succumb. "Truthful lips are established forever, but a lie lasts only a moment" the Proverb says.

Hillary Clinton says the New York VARO is corrupt, and history tells us that if it occurs in ONE RO, it is almost never an "isolated event". We have found time after time, that if something bad occurs in ONE regional office, such as shredding, it probably occurs in other RO's as well.

[MikeR]

Doing this would burst the bank. There needs to be something done, The biggest thing is to replace the attitudes of the RO personnel from forced pro veteran to actually being pro veteran.

The majority of these folks are not veterans themselves and thay cannot comprehend what we have been through so they are inclined to use unfair practices.

Bottom line.

J

I could not agree with you more. There are quite a few that hate us, and see us as meat. Otherwise they might actually clean the colonoscopy tubes.

[broncovet]

I disagree that "Pay VETS now" would "bust the bank". I think this is the lie that the VA wants us to believe. No company or government has succeeded long term by "saving money" by constantly delaying and denying payments that they owe. They soon get a poor reputation, and people refuse to deal with them and are usually forced into bankruptcy by its angry creditors/employees. How the VA has gotten away with this for so long is a mystery, but the US government can not continue to do business using the delay and deny till we die method.

If other government agencies adopt this "deny and delay" concept to "save money" a complete erosion of trust will occur, as is already occuring with Veterans. US greenbacks will no longer be accepted..because they just cant trust the US government.

The US government has betrayed the trust of the Veteran..to "save" dollars only in the short term, at the expense of long term costs in not only money. We are in desperate need of leadership who will stop this cancer in the VA and prevent it from also spreading into other government agencies.

Making responsible decisions and paying debts that you owe will not "break the bank" but instead ultimately lead to physical responsibility.

Edited July 17, 2009 by broncovet

[Pete53]

I am for Pay Vets now or until they don't have an appeal left. It wouyld not cost any more than most of the boon doggles the VA has. I think that if they are paying the old claims they can start at square one and work the new claims hard and work the old claims as they have time. I am also for paying Veterans who have not had an answer in 12 months guaranteed for life.

I have been paid 100% since I won in 1996 5 and 1/2 years after I filed my claim so please don't think that all 100% Vets want Veterans to suffer like we did. In fact you can put me on record that I don't want that cause I have been here helping or trying to Veterans with claims even though I came here with 100%

[Ironman]

Va decides claims around 6 months time,don't make me laugh or cry.

I put my claim in Sept 08,and I know people on here who have waited years or are still waiting.

What good is a stimulus payment to the ones like myself still waitng to get approved,we don't

qualify for the stimulus check because the VA has'nt decided it we are diabled or not.

My claim was sent to the rater June 12 2009,and they are still looking at it.

What do they do come in and stare at my claim for 8 hours then go home and do the same thing the next day?

Ok think thats all I wanted to get off my chest.

Thank you for listening(reading) ;)