Should I Let My Congressman Help?

[kowa]

I contacted his rep, they want to help but I'm worried I won't get a fair evaluation.

S.O. says it just makes raters mad, a trusted friend says it doesn't work that way..advice?!

[TiredCoastie]

From my limited experience, both pieces of advice may be right...

I wrote my Congressman and asked for his office's assitance when my initial claim languished in sea of claims that the VA had great difficulty processing along with the relook at Agent Orange claims. What I got was a letter to the RO asking for information written from a junior and inexperienced staffer. The final result was a courtesy copy of the RO's letter to the Congressman's office with a great summary of my 60% which was a whole lot easier to understand than the brown envelope to this new guy. It even tracked in ebennies as special corresondence.

It's difficult to tell whether or not getting my Congressman involved did any good. The system was in the final stages anyway, and my NSO told the senior rater an inquiry was en route. Getting my claim done fast enough to respond to the Congressional office with an answer is within the realm of the possible. But they would have been done anyway.

I think it's very possible that the raters and supervisors can get bent out of shape by having a Congressional inquiry dropped on them. I don't think that I've suffered any ramifications in subsequent claims, but that's also difficult to prove seeing as I'm still at 60% combined after having a subsequent FDC denied. Another thing I've read is that by having your Congressional office engage the RO, someone in the RO has to take your claim out of processing so he or she can respond to the inquiry with your C-file in front of them to discuss what's happening with your particular case. There were apparently stories about files being lost for months as a result. Now that VBMS is in place in many ROs, this may not be as true as it was before. It didn't seem to happen to me, but again, my claim was practically finished.

However, at least one NSO if not two told me that only a Congressman or Senator can rerack the stack of claims to move any particular one up. In reality, there are certain personal financial disaster thresholds like your house being foreclosed that will get the RO into high gear.

The trouble is that no matter what the office's rep is telling you, there's not a lot a Congressman can really do but write a letter and ask for the status of your claim. The exception is a Congressman or Senator who sits on one of the VA's oversight committees. If you have the option and feel you must exercise it, choose the one with the biggest impact on the VA.

One of the best peices of advice out there is to be your own advocate, learn as much about the system, and then use the tools out there appropriately and effectively. One tool is your elected officials. Personally, I think you'd need to be pretty desperate to have the Congressional office be effective...your claim is years old, you're in a dire personal circumstance that only the VA claim will solve...something that the Congressman or Senator can use as a blunt object in which to beat the rating system.

However, writing a general letter to your Congressman and Senators to give your experiences with the VA and where improvements could be made, in my opinion, is a really good idea. Most in Congress never served in the armed forces, so they have no idea what it's like for those of us who did. They do pay attention when you let them know how things really are. It helps.

There are many with much more experience than I have who probably have ways or methods to help your particular situation. Can you share why you need to engage your Congressman?

[kowa]

About to lose the house.

[TiredCoastie]

That's cause to get your claim to move NOW via the VA. I don't know how to do this, though.

You have a VSO helping you with your claim, right? If so, your NSO should help you. If not, you need a different VSO.

If you don't have a VSO, recommend contacting the RO directly or the 1-800# and giving them your story.

[Motherof3]

My experience when I involved my congresswoman was that they just sent her the same "template, fill in the blank" letters they sent me and quickly denied my claim and here I am still fighting for the same disability claimed.

[Berta]

Every VARO has a Congressional liason person.....they are used to these types of inquiries.

In some cases it could help, but one thing is for sure...no one in our Congress or Senate can make the VA award a claim....only evidence does that.

If your evidence is solid and you fear they might overlook probative stuff you sent to them, this might be the way to shape any letter to your Congressperson, if you do that.

I had sent a Congressional Inquiry many years ago to my COngressman and two state Senators.

The response VA sent to them (I still have those letters) was a downright blatant lie and it took over 4 months for the VA Congressional liason person to even respond to them,with a response that I proved was bogus.

If your congressperson or Senator sits on any of the H VAC or S VAC VA committees you might get a better result, then if they dont.

[carlie]

About to lose the house.

You can submit a request for hardship expedition -

but keep in mind that this is actually another line to get in

and many are already in that line also.

You would also need to include hard proof of your financial status

such as eviction notice / foreclosure notice's / proof of homelessness, etc . . .

If you are unemployable due to medical conditions -

to include medical conditions that are not service connected,

have you applied for SSDI ?