Why Not The President?

[Fosk]

Just for that extra boost to get it out of ratings I wrote to the White House, I tried a congressional inquire but its still taking forever even with a hardship. Hey I have nothing to lose and all to gain.

[Chuck75]

It's too bad that you didn't have a pocket recorder, and the ability to send a transcript and audio copy to the same offices that you had written to about the problem.

"I had the DRO scream at my wife and I for an hour"

I have to agree with carlie on this, I have done exactly what you have done, I wrote Congressmen and Senators and the President Bush and VP Cheney the VA has 60 days to respond to elected reps they have a 10 day window to respond to a WH inquiry and all it does is pizz off the VARO and yes they will pull the file and tell all that they are working dilligently on your claim and then your claim file is going back to the raters desk at the bottom of the pile so all you have managed to do is to delay your claim even longer and make the DRO mad, because they have to answer Congressional and Presidential inquiries they are just like the military they have people that do nothing but deal with political inquires and they cross the ts and dot the I's and cover the agencies azz, and everyone has done what they are supposed to do, except actually deal with the problem and now you have delayed the decision even longer so who has won? no one and you have lost time sorry been there and done that I have OCD my shrink told me I should wrote the President in Dec 2005 In Jan 2006 I had the DRO scream at my wife and I for an hour because I had the nerve to write Congressmen, Senators and the White House three months later he granted me 50% for PTSD and denied my heart problems a year later after I filed the NOD due to the lowball award they granted me the 100% for PTSD in May 2006 in April 2009 a BVA Judge awarded my CAD and hypertension leave elected officials out of it and file NODs and then a BVA appeal and DO NOT write elected officials they do NOT help

[deltaj]

If a case is proceeding in a reasonable fashion, a presidential or congressional inquiry may not help. On the other hand, if denials have been made that are not justified, the inquiries may help. A letter with a copy of the denial and a very short proof of the medical condition along with no more than a one page referral to the appropriate regs & laws may get surprising results very quickly. While a high level inquiry can be "passed off", if it is done properly, by the right entity, and followed up, it will not be. A call in person by the "entity" to the VA Secretary, will usually cause the wheels to roll at very high speed. Consideration might be given to explaining the problem to such people as members of the committees that can impact VA funding, or have the responsibility of VA oversight. Ideally, the member should be elected from the veteran's state of residence.

When you combine politics and funding, and a governmental unit such as the VA, all sorts of unusual things happen.

I remember a funding issue with the B-52 that occurred during a time when congress was determined to keep the number of B-52s in service at about 100, and the AF wanted to reduce them to about 1/2 that amount. While this was going on, the AF was holding up funding for various B-52 related issues, many of which would have saved a lot of money over a few years time, and others that were required to modernize key equipment on the B-52.

One of the AF types involved in the funding requests became convinced that various funding requests were being turned down with out being investigated, simply because the AF had "more important" fish to fry than money for the B-52. Basically, he wrote a request for a "Force Shield" (right out of Star-trek) He was short, due to retire, and said that he didn't have anything to loose. At the very least, it prompted a serious look, a lot of humor, and likely funding of the more serious items on the same list.

Forty or so years ago, I had a small problem when I was in the Navy. I had been trained in a technical specialty by a private school that had previously trained many military members (Army & Navy) in the same field.

The Navy unit(a ship) and organization (division) was thinking about making a required examination/test disappear, and substituting one that would have retained me in that organization. Overall, the Navy had a shortage of the specialty in question, and was paying up to a 15k bonus. (Which I was not eligible for, since I was a "reserve" on active duty.

A quiet discussion on the ship's bridge with the appropriate division heads and the XO, with the Captain observing but not participating from his chair to one side of the bridge, solved the problem. I really would have liked to know what was said in the wardroom afterwords!

At the time the Chairman, Armed Forces Appropriations, was my state's senior senator, as well as one of the most senior senators in congress. I stated that if necessary, my father, a WWII vet., would be happy to bring the matter to the senator's personal attention, as he knew the senator quite well.

The result was a very rapid change in attitude by the officers involved, with copies of the test arriving as they should. When the results came in, I had passed by a very comfortable margin. The reward, besides getting the advancement, was shore liberty in Vung Tau, normally reserved for Chiefs and Officers. Once rated in the specialty, time in grade was waived, so that I was able to take the next level of test as soon as it became available. (Passed that one also.) In a way the whole thing was somewhat ironic, since I ended up training and supervising several individuals that had collected the bonus that I was not eligible for. (And all this in less than two years of active duty!)

Each regional office has a Special Processing Unit that handles inquiries from Congress. That SPU can bring problems to the attention of adjudicators and even the Director of each VARO. I found this information online. Search google under SPU AND inquiries from Congress AND veteran. The information is in a document entitled "Deliveery of veterans' benefits and services by the Pittsburgh Regional Office . . ." Scroll all the way to the end of the document and look at Section 29. Our family's personal experience in dealing with Congress follows. In November 1989 my husband was hospitalized for 3 weeks for his service connected mental condition. In February 1990 V.A. granted my husband 100% but reduced him back to 30% after about a month. In July 1990 they gave him 50% without a review of his claims folder. In September 1990 he had a hearing which granted him 70%. The hearing officer who had a heightened duty to assist never mentioned his hospitalization in November 1989 or the fact that in 1966 VARO had failed to obtain the records on 4 different hospitalizations before scheduling a V.A. examination on the veteran. In March 1992 V.A. denied my husband an increase beyond 70% and in January 1993 I wrote an extremely angry letter, signed by my husband, to then newly elected Bill Clinton, my husband's Congressmen, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The gist of the letter was something like, "How could V.A. say he was employable when . . ." Throughout the letter I contrasted various statements of case with the medical evidence that a V.A. doctor had determined in March 1989 in a letter that he could not be vocationally rehabilitated and some other medical statements his doctors had told him verbally. He was scheduled for another exam in 1993 after V.A. received medical records my husband requested in writing from Social Security that he had been receiving Social Security since 1986. He got 100% within a year of that exam. Years later after receiving his records from V.A. I disovered in 1965 V.A. hadn't obtained records from 4 hospitalizations while he was in service because this veteran had not listed those hospitalizations on his original claim for compensation. In November 1989 while he was again hospitalized he had made a claim under 38 CFR 4.29 for a temporary hospital rating and V.A. gave him the rating for one month and reduced him. Those jerks saddled me with a very sick husband and when I was newly married I had to deal with the stress of working fulltime with a heart condition and learning V.A. law and V.A. regulations. I have a condition called Wolff Parkinsons White Syndrome which causes very high heart rates and in 1992 after V.A.'s denial my heart condition worsened to the point that I required 2 radio catheter ablations and open heart surgery. After open heart surgery I developed blood clots in my right leg and my husband was notified his ex wife had filed fly an apportionment of his V.A. award so I propped my leg up and then wrote a letter on his behalf to V.A. which claimed hardship because I was hospitalized. VARO didn't care they ruined my health. They still gave his ex wife a minimal apportionment and years later I discovered they had previously given her an apportionment in 1987 when they were still married and were newly separated. I am still convinced he never would have won unless he had wrote Congress. I do have to admit, however, that what made the difference is that I found a footnote in a lawbook that V.A. had to consider evidence from Social Security that he was unemployable due to his service connected condition. I asked my husband what he was receiving Social Security for and he trusted me enough to explain what condition he was receiving it for. The next day we called his representative at DAV and he explained that my husband had to make a written request to Social Security to send copies of his medical records to V.A. Regional Office and Disabled American Veterans, my husband's appointment Power of Attorney, as new and material evidence in support of his pending claims. We submitted that evidence, VARO reviewed it and scheduled him for a new exam which was favorable [see 38 CFR 3.156 and 38 CFR 3.400 (q)].

Edited November 5, 2009 by deltaj

[broncovet]

Instead of writing to the President, why dont you write to Santa Claus? I hear he works for the show "Home Improvement" now during the summer. Sample letter:

Dear Santa

All I want for Christmas is my VA benefits approved and the check here so that my family wont be homeless like other Veterans. I watch Home Improvement every week, and I really think you are smarter than Al Borland. Oops..I am not supposed to lie, so instead, I think you are almost as smart as AL.

Signed...A Veteran

Edited November 5, 2009 by broncovet

[jbasser]

It can be both a good thing and a bad thing. The good thing is action may be taken, The bad thing is the time to do the inquiry will definatly delay your claim.

Hang in there. That is about all you can do. Most of us here has had to do the same thing. Just hang and wait.

J

[Fosk]

I wrote Santa also, and he said he only deals with toys not Veterans claims. Although if Santa was working a claim it just might get done before Christmas. As far as writing the White House if all the vets on this website wrote in and took the time to write the President in general (counting on the thousands of members) instead of writing negative "it'll never work" blogs, then this will get the wheels turning once again. I am not taking it personally, just don't like to quit and I am not articulate enough to look up case law and write as well as some of you do. Please send or write the White House in lieu of gifts by Santa....lol.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact

[john999]

I got the former VA Secretary's email address off hadit a few years ago and wrote him. It seemed to help. I don't think they new guys posts his email address. Writing politicians never seemed to help me. They just vomit up what the VA tells them as if that is why you are writing your congressman to get boilerplate answer.