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

[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

[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.