Veterans Benefit Program Improvement Act Of 2010

[dwragon]

Just found this today, Seems to take away part of the appeals process, according to online article "Is the VA proposing another shell game?" What yalls opinion?

[carlie]

Man OH Man - do they ever try to bury things with all these legalities.

I would need a few qualified attorney's to explain of all of this, to even

start to begin to understand it.

You can click on the link below and when you get there, scroll down about

1/2 way and click on the PDF link.

It's 42 pages of legal mumbo-jumbo.

It will probably end up being new legal issues that are meant to HELP

the VA Disability Claims process ~ but in the long run will wind up being

detrimental to the VA claimant.

I'm willing to bet this has already cost at least a million bucks.

jmho,

carlie

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/06/15/is-the-va-proposing-another-shell-game

[dwragon]

If what I am understanding, is that it will abolish the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, or at least pretty much any path to get there. Its also another attempt to "silently" deny claims by not adddresssing them, because the va will not have to adddress the facts of the case, thereby leaving only one issue to appeal, the issue already addressed and denied. MIW(hopefully)

[SLEDGE]

More smoke and mirrors.

Something is going on right now that the VA wants our attention averted/diverted from.

Like the increases in co-pays and the lack of increases in compensation.

What else are they doing that erks a veteran or the vet's family?

In order to draw our attention away from one thing, they have to come up with another

thing that is completely stupid and/or simply outrageous.

Now that we see how badly they want to hide something that they already have in the

works, what do we think the VA is really after?

Maybe a change in travel pay that will nullify the last increase?

Maybe it's related to medications?

On the other hand, this change in the reasons and basis could be what they wanted all

along and thought that the new presumptives for agent orange would be noisy enough to

mask this other crap?

THERE IS something rotten in Denmark.

Have we seen it?

Are we going to see it?

Back up and regroup comrades, something devious is taking place.

sledge

[dwragon]

More smoke and mirrors.

Something is going on right now that the VA wants our attention averted/diverted from.

Like the increases in co-pays and the lack of increases in compensation.

What else are they doing that erks a veteran or the vet's family?

In order to draw our attention away from one thing, they have to come up with another

thing that is completely stupid and/or simply outrageous.

Now that we see how badly they want to hide something that they already have in the

works, what do we think the VA is really after?

Maybe a change in travel pay that will nullify the last increase?

Maybe it's related to medications?

On the other hand, this change in the reasons and basis could be what they wanted all

along and thought that the new presumptives for agent orange would be noisy enough to

mask this other crap?

THERE IS something rotten in Denmark.

Have we seen it?

Are we going to see it?

Back up and regroup comrades, something devious is taking place.

sledge

The differance between the number of claims submitted to the va from the Korean/Vietnam Wars vs the Persian Gulf War is directly proportional relationship to the communication of the internet. How many veterans would have been aware of 45 years ago compared to what we are aware of today. Technology will bring the va to its knees.

[broncovet]

This is not "The VA Benefit Improvement Act". It is even worse than "Lipstick on a Pig"..its more like Lipstick on a the Wolf Guarding the Hen House! Instead, it needs to be renamed for what it is, which is "The VA benefit Reduction Act". In addition to Shinseki's proposal to make it easier for the BVA to deny, this proposal seeks to:

1. Allow the VA to "stay" Veterans claims, that is to delay them indefinitely without a good reason. We need this like we need a hole in our head. This will give the VA an excuse to ignore congressional investigations as to why The VA has delayed some Veterans claims 10 or more years! And Lawyers for Veterans who try to get their claims pushed through will be frustrated with the VA's "stay" of the claim. We dont need Veterans claims "stayed"...we need them "paid", instead.

2. Shorten the 1 year appeal period to 180 days. This means that more Veterans will loose out of benefits..denied because of an untimely appeal. The VA ALREADY has an unlimited time to process claims, and now they want to FURTHER REDUCE and restrict Veterans from appealing. Bottom line is that MORE VETERANS will get denied benefits...not because they dont deserve those benefits, but because they were late in filing an appeal.

If You are a VA executive, Shinseki's proposal is good for you, as it will mean more Veterans claims are denied, so you will get a bigger bonus. However, if You are a Veteran, this Proposal is Poison, and not even in a small dose.

Edited June 16, 2010 by broncovet

[JADMP]

Fellow Veterans,

I am the author of the "VA Shell Game" article. My link

In my opinion, this is the most detrimental proposal for Veterans imaginable. It would do several things. First, it would allow the VA to only pick one reason to deny a claim. If the reason offered was plausible, the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC) would have to allow the denial. It would allow the BVA to deny a claim and then require the CAVC to examine the record for any plausible reason that the VA could deny the claim. Finally, it would greatly limit the availability of attorney's fees under the EAJA. This would make finding an attorney to represent Veterans at the CAVC even more difficult than it is now (and thus slow the processing of claims down even further as the court would have many more non-attorney pro se claimants making arguments that are not as clear as they would be with a competent attorney acting on behalf of the claimant).

I posted this to bring attention to this egregious proposal. If this law gets passed, I think that the majority of Veterans will be denied compensation and they will not be able to challenge the denial in court.

Regards,

Jason Perry