Gulf War Veterans Not Receiving . . .

[carlie]

*** Gulf War Veterans Not Receiving Accurate Entitlement

Decisions for Mental Health Treatment

Entitlement to Medical Care and Treatment

for Mental Disorder

Gulf War veterans are eligible for medical treatment for any mental disorder

they develop within 2 years of the date of separation from military service.

According to VBA, whenever an RVSR denies a Gulf War veteran service

connection for any mental disorder, the RVSR must consider whether the

veteran is entitled to receive mental health treatment.

In February 2011, VBA updated its Rating Board Automation 2000, a

computer application designed to assist RVSRs in preparing disability

ratings. The application provides a pop-up notification, known as a tip

master, to remind staff to consider Gulf War veterans’ entitlement to health

care treatment when denying service connection for a mental disorder.

More Info :

http://www.va.gov/oig/pubs/VAOIG-11-04243-86.pdf

[sleeper692]

Thanks for posting this Carlie. Its very enlightening.

The percentages of errors in St. Petersburg are alarming. I imagine they are similar across the nation. Imagine if your doctor had a 42% error rate! Or if an airline pilot missed his destination 42% of the time. They'd be out the door faster than valley girl with a credit card on the way to the mall.

I wish the OIG would do an inspection of my VARO. I'm so tired of appealing claims that get turned down because the rating authority doesn't have a clue as to what they are doing.

[eganusn]

sleeper92, I agree completely. The error rates are not only staggering, they should be viewed by the VA as completely unacceptable! I suspect, however, that even when assessments are made, after a while, things go back to "normal".

As much as I want to believe that the current leaders in the VA truly believe they can make a difference, the thing is that

its going to take a courageous leader to realize the system is not working and that dramatic changes have to be made.

I really don't see that happening in the foreseeable future. I really hope I'm wrong on that.