Biggest Problem With Va

[broncovet]

I was thinking about this the other day. What is the VA's biggest problem. Certianly in the "top 10"are things like credibility, the backlog, errors, indifference, etc.

But which is the worst problem? IMHO...drum...rolll.....the number one problem at the VA is......

1. The Veteran has no realistic way to "fix" glitches. Dont expect Peggy to do it, and her sister, Iris is also useless, as are your local congressman. Shinseki ignores emails from Vets, as does Brad Mayes. Nope...we just stay in "glitchland" forever until we are homeless or worse.

The BVA should not be a 4 year glitch repair. This is unacceptable. We need to have a hotline to call a real person who can actually fix our problem, and IRIS does not do that. Anyone else? I doubt the Va is listening, and I doubt even more that they care. But at least they could pretend like it this close to an election.

The VA has a way to fix employee glitches in pay. We dont hear about VA employees getting paychecks 1, 2, 5 or even 10 years late. Never. They have a way to fix THOSE errors. But Vets? Nope. Vets are expected to wait..forever...

Edited October 26, 2012 by broncovet (see edit history)

[71M10]

I hear you Bronco,

What we need is an Equal Access to Justice act for Veterans. Codified in this new law should be the ability for a veteran to file suit in federal court any time the VA takes over one year to ajudicate an initial claim or appeal. Veterans who's claims exceed one year would be entitled to legal representation(of thier choosing) paid by the Federal government. Additionally, any appeal that results in an award should also be awarded interest computated at the prime rate compounded monthly. Any veterans case that is transfered to federal court and decided in the affirmative should also be awarded treble damages for breach of the public trust as codified by US law under CFR38 (since the government obviously didn't follow the intent of CFR 38 they should pay damages).

That should do it! Until it actually costs the government more because they did it wrong, they have little incentive to fix it.

VA employee pay problems are fixed promptly, because the governing laws do apply strict penalties for non-compliance.

Best regards,

Edited October 26, 2012 by 71M10 (see edit history)

[broncovet]

Agree, 71. If this were truly a "non adversarial" system, then a Vets application for benefits should put the VA on notice...you have a year to tell me why I should NOT get this benefit, or else I am "claiming" what is mine.

If the Va can not come up with a good reason to deny in a year..then should be a "deemed approval".

Its disgusting the VA has "deemed denials"...that is, if the Va never does give you a decision, its denied. Veterans benefits is a right and Vets have a right to "due process" for someone taking away our rights.

Im fed up to my neck in VA's excuses for the delays.

Social Security gets your application denied or approved in 120 days, or their boss wants to know why not....and (the SS employee handling the case) better have a darn good reason why it took over 120 days. I have family members who worked as a social security decision maker.

Its a crime that Vets wait longer..much longer...than social security claimants. Phoey on the excuse they are more complicated...that complications is because the VA wants em complicated...remember,...they publish the rules in the federal register...

Edited October 27, 2012 by broncovet (see edit history)

[lugnut]

Just my thoughts on this... I feel it boils down to a lack of communications on the part of the VA. There are too many times when a simple phone call to the VARO could get a situation taken care of quickly, everyone would be one the same page, etc.Nobody has any common sense. I once suggested to the RO in Maine that they should assigh one rater to a claim and follow it from start to finish; that person would come to understand it much better than anyone else and it should get done far quicker. BUT, it never happened. The last C&P exam I had, I couldn't get the examener (psyc dr). to let me tell her that I

have speech problems and can't get a sentence started sometimes, nor would she let me show her my notes. Therefore she wrote that I wasn't forthcoming with info,etc,etc. No communication. And it's all in my c-file which she marked that she read. Go figure. Thats enough from me tonight.

Lugnut aka Buddy

[Teac]

In my humble opinion,.... Government employees really care less what we think about their services..

Even if we could get damages and back intrest payments for claims that were not handled properly.. why should they care its not their money, ( even though they act like it is) and it sure would not motivate them to make better decisions.. in fact I think it would have the opposite effect and that more claims would be improperly denied...

my self, when it comes to claims... I think the government hires the most anti-veteran and incompetent people on earth...

[hurryupnwait]

In my opinion, we should be entitled to legal representation with a VA claim when any claim is initially filed. I think many glitches occur during the time period from the initial filed claim to the decision letter, mine did anyway, fortunately it was a glitch they overlooked. My VSO put that I had never opened a claimed but actually I was reopening a claim from 1972. Lawyers are very high paid glitch checkers.

[jvretiredvet]

What a very interesting opinion.

Of course, everyone knows what is said about opinions.

In my humble opinion,.... Government employees really care less what we think about their services..

Even if we could get damages and back intrest payments for claims that were not handled properly.. why should they care its not their money, ( even though they act like it is) and it sure would not motivate them to make better decisions.. in fact I think it would have the opposite effect and that more claims would be improperly denied...

my self, when it comes to claims... I think the government hires the most anti-veteran and incompetent people on earth...

[Teac]

What a very interesting opinion.

Of course, everyone knows what is said about opinions.

Right... and it holds true for your opinion too....

[Papa]

I was always told not to bring up a problem unless you have a solution. I believe the last few years the VA has gotten the funding that ask for, but the VA is still a total mess. Throwing money at the problem is not going to solve this. The VA has been stuck in the Stone Age for too many years, will the technogoly revolution seem to have passed them up. This is not just a current problem, but one that has gone on for many years. It is time to stop selecting political hacks and Generals as head of the VA. We need some one, and a Veteran, that has the experience of running a large, diverse organization like the VA. One that knows what it takes to make it a more technological and streamlined organization. One that knows processes, and how to improve them. We deserve better.

Papa

[broncovet]

Papa

Yep. The obvious "solution" is so easy the VA cant figure it out and tries complicated solutions instead. Someone said when you have a problem try the simplest solution first.

Its like when your car overheats. You dont replace the radiator, replace the headgasket, then check the thermostat. You check the 10 dollar theromostat first, then the $150 radiator, and, lastly the most costly head gasket.

The simple solution is for the VA to open up communications to which, key VA employees have poo pooed based on "I dont have time to talk to Veterans..I have too much work to do."

This attitude would be like if you go to the doctor and can not speak to the doc and tell him what is wrong. So, the Doc says, "Gee, I think you need surgery. Lets open you up and see what is wrong." If you could speak to the Doc, which you cant speak to the rater, you could tell him, "No doc, my innerds are fine. I have arthritis"

By being unable to communicate with the rater, they usually get it wrong. Even a murderer has his day before a judge, and gets a chance to tell his story before the jury. Not Vets. The raters dont have time for us.

Solution: Require raters to call the Vet or his rep. It would take 15 minutes or less. But save hours and hours of appeals. Half the time the VA does not even get the "issue" right...they never did in my case.

[Hollis]

well after working for the Government for 25 years, I can attest that they (the government) does not look for solutions. They look for excuses so they can ask for more money and more worker to even mess it up more. My boss would waste money just to over spend, so he could ask for more in his budget for the next year. I do agree with boncovet, there is a simple solution, but that would make them less important, and we all know they not going to do that, and the Vets contiue to suffer at the RO ego. there my 2 cents on the VA.

[jbasser]

It really is a Quality Assurance issue. Who is watching the VARO from the outside.

When the AIrlines or Auto Industry mess up there are 2 agencies that teams up to reconstruct acidents and issues to find the root cause and make countermeasures. Of course these are big news items like crashes and recalls.

The internal problems with the RO Quality assurance is the mere fact that the QA personnel also work for the Service Center Manager who controlls everyone including DRO's.

They need Quality Assurance teams that answer to someone else at a higher level so their work can not go obstructed as it is now and eventually the system will improve. Until that actually happens, then all bets are off.

Basser

[JT24usn]

Just saying Some of the people we are griping about are veterans themselves. Jmho

As of March 31, 2010, over 90,000, or just under 30 percent of VA’s 301,891 employees are Veterans. Over 74,000 of these employed Veterans are preference eligible, and 26,366 are disabled. VA ranks first among non-Defense agencies in the number of Veterans hired.

http://www.va.gov/OCA/testimony/hvac/seo/100415WH.asp

[john999]

The problem I see is simply "Time". It took the VA two years to correct a clerical erroron a current claim. I am a Vietnam vet, so I am not getting younger. If a C&P exam doctor makes an error on your exam that could be corrected with a phone call, or fax, you may end up waiting years to bring it up on appeal. The VA does give vets the benefit of doubt on some issues, but the physical mess most of our C-Files are in often requires countless resubmissions of information. My claim was held up once because the VA said they did not have my DD214. It was sitting on top in my C-File. If they have to get records from SSA or your employer it could take years. The VA once mixed up a claim I had for a dental problem with a claim I had for a psychological problem. They used the report from the dentist to deny my mental claim and the report from the psychiatrist to deny my dental claim.

My claim for SSD was done in about 4 months. They looked at the evidence and called me at home. SSA asked me if I would go for an exam. I said "yes". The next week I got a letter from SSA saying my claim was approved. It took me about a year after I got SSD and was rated 70% by the VA to get TDIU. It took another appeal to get P&T. Really "time" is our enemy when dealing with a dysfuctional system like the VA.

[VADDS]

Every AD member who retires or separates is encouraged to file disability claims for every single condition listed in their medical record problem list. I believe it's up to an average of 5-6 claimed conditions per veteran. Many claims are frivolous. All have to be adjudicated. And these new vets have priority in claims adjudication. The bar for a PTSD claim has been set so low that claims for it has sky rocketed. The exposure to trauma can be secondary, making it ripe for abuse. My father landed at Omaha Beach. It's fair to say every soldier who landed on D-Day saw 10 times the horror of many now claiming PTSD. The list of presumptive Agent Orange diseases is so long, a large percentage of Vietnam vets can claim sc for one of them. You don't need to prove AO exposure, just served in country. All of this was driven by Wahington politicians, not the VBA. These same politicians have failed to give the VBA the resources needed to handle the increased number of claims their decisions caused. It's called an "un-funded mandate", and our polticians are notorious for it.

[broncovet]

VADDS

No, every member who retires or separates is not "encouraged" to file for benefits. My son is an Iraq War Vet recently seperated and he was never "encouraged" to file for VA benefits. And, no, the Va does not adjudicate "all claims". The VA can and does "blow off" Vets claims without an adjudication Its called a deemed denial.

Here is a CAVC example of a deemed denial (also known as an implicit denial):

http://search.uscour...95ab8d69-f372-4

Starting on page 6, the court gives a history of when and how the VA can, and does "blow off" a Vets claim, and it is implicitly denied. The facts are that the VA can and does fail to adjudicate Vets claims on a regular enough basis to even have specific case law to support their position for doing so.

Your post comes very close to bashing Vets who apply for benefits, and, I personally, am offended by it. I lived with my disabilities for more than a decade before I ever applied for benefits, and when I did, it took the VA another decade to adjuticate it. I am still given the run around.

Edited October 28, 2012 by broncovet (see edit history)

[jbasser]

Broncovet, he just confirmed what we already knew.

The regional office impression of the veteran is summed up:

We are a bunch of fraud seeking individuals who deserve nothing or as I have said we are just a bunch of dirt bags trying to get something.

Unless you walk in a mans shoes, you know nothing about the person and can only speculate as to where he has been.

VADDS what are you talking about. In WWII D Day was bad but these kids are pulling 7 and 8 tours of duty. How many chopped up Kids have you seen. I had a cousin sent home from Kamdahar in June 2011 who was sent home and buried in pieces becaue he was protecting children and kept them away from the IED that blew him to pieces.

He will not have the chance to file a PTSD claim.

Now for those of us who know the title 38 CFR well enough, there is a directive against this type of attitude toward the veteran.

Bronco, I am taking this and running with it. Keep your eyes tuned to the SVR show in the next couple of weeks. We may have a surprise guest on and we will be discussing this.

Basser.

[broncovet]

Thanks Basser. I was not about to allow this classic VA position to be posted on this site without a rebuttal of VADDS wildly unsubstantiated attacks on Veteran claimants.

Veterans are not the ones filing "frivilous" claims. The VA is instead denying us frivilously much more often. As the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Roberts, says it, the VA is taking a "substantially unjustified" position against the Veteran more than 70% of the time:

http://www.theveteransvoice.com/Roberts-Startled-By-Government-Errors-in-Vet-Cases.html

In other words, The VA rules against the Veteran, hires lawyers and fights the Vet, when, in the end, more than half of the time, the government is not only wrong for denying the Vet, but they have taken a substanstially unjustified position and the Veteran is awarded EAJA fees to pay for the Vets attorney representation. This does not sound like the Veterans are the one filing frivilous claims...it sounds like the Vets are filing good claims and the VA is unjustified in denying most of them. ....according to the US SUPREME COURT.

[broncovet]

DDS Post was exactly the "blame the Veteran" defense. In other words, when VA management cant fix VA problems, they instead try to fix the blame.

. The VA's job is to serve Veterans, it isnt the Vets job to serve the VA. Vets already did their service, and most/all Vets who actually recieved benefits served their country honorably. Vets deserve to be treated with the utmost of respect. They dont deserve to be treated like failures seeking a handout of undeserved benefits. I earned my VA benefits...and deserve them at least as much as an employee who gets health care as a perk for working there.

[Teac]

Just saying Some of the people we are griping about are veterans themselves. Jmho

As of March 31, 2010, over 90,000, or just under 30 percent of VA's 301,891 employees are Veterans. Over 74,000 of these employed Veterans are preference eligible, and 26,366 are disabled. VA ranks first among non-Defense agencies in the number of Veterans hired.

http://www.va.gov/OC...eo/100415WH.asp

Thats all fine and good.. but I am retired from civil service and I can tell you I saw many veterans who also worked as civil servants.. and many of them were just there to make a pay check no matter how much or little they got away doing..

In fact many a day we sat on our ass with nothing to do.. and at 5:00 we started on overtime ... now tell me if were sitting on our ass all day long, why are we working overttime?... I'll tell you why... because the money for overtime was requested long before it was needed so use it or lose it... No one cared that nothing was accomplished in the day time because there was no work, but everyone care about extra money for overtime.. talk about fraud.. it was rampant.. and more than half the guys I worked with were veterans, and if you said anything to anyone... forget it you were gone.one way or another......so if you had a family, you just did what you had to do to get by and not attract attention,,. I suspect va employees are the same way....

[Chuck75]

In my humble opinion,.... Government employees really care less what we think about their services..

Even if we could get damages and back intrest payments for claims that were not handled properly.. why should they care its not their money, ( even though they act like it is) and it sure would not motivate them to make better decisions.. in fact I think it would have the opposite effect and that more claims would be improperly denied...

my self, when it comes to claims... I think the government hires the most anti-veteran and incompetent people on earth...

It's the VA's money if it came out of administrative funds and bonuses. (Fat Chance!)