The Sec Bob Mcdonald Really Cares About Veterans!

[foreveryoung]

I have been fighting the VA since 76, with little to no help. I remember going to a library to look up Federal Laws for claims. Things you can now do in minutes online. It's been tuff, but the tuff keep going. The VA system is sad, but from where I saw it in 1976, it

came a long way, and still has a long way to go, to give proper care to our Veterans.

My memory is not the best, but I don't remember any VA Secretary in the resent past actually trying to help Veterans, or even throwing us a bone, by answering emails and phone calls to help Vets. The replies received from this VA Secretary have helped several Veterans, including myself, on this site and others I have heard on the Hadit Podcasts. For me it was a few small things, but it saved months or years of waiting for the VA process. Does it make the VA a great place to be or be treated. No, but there maybe some hope, even a smallbit of hope is better than where we are.

The VA system has been corrupt and incompetent for years, and may never be fixed by this VA Secretary, or the next. I don't understand why the VA won't get Veterans a medical card to be treated outside the system either. The new temporary law they passed, Veterans

Access, Choice, and Accountability Act, (VACAA), on 7 Nov. 2014 is misleading as well. One of the requirements are, if The Veteran’s

current residence is more than 40 miles from the closest VA health care facility. You may be eligible for a card. My problem with this is, the Clinic that is within the 40 miles of my residence cannot treat my specialty care needs. So I end up driving 140 miles round

trip to be seen at a VA Hospital. I hope they work out some of these issues. This was another question I sent the VA Secretary, but

still have not received a reply. I guess Congress has to make the change, when and if.

Happy New Years to All

[63SIERRA]

we should invite the new VA sec to this site. He is in a learning state himself, as his previous position was in the civillian sector. The va sec would learn THE TRUTH here. We have nothing to hide, we just want whats due . what say yee? Its obvious that the HONORABLE ( so far ) Mc Donald is making a genuine effort to help veterans, so the more tools he has to gain real insight on the real problems inside the VA machine, the more informed decisions he can make to help us.

[63SIERRA]

I have been fighting the VA since 76, with little to no help. I remember going to a library to look up Federal Laws for claims. Things you can now do in minutes online. It's been tuff, but the tuff keep going. The VA system is sad, but from where I saw it in 1976, it

came a long way, and still has a long way to go, to give proper care to our Veterans.

My memory is not the best, but I don't remember any VA Secretary in the resent past actually trying to help Veterans, or even throwing us a bone, by answering emails and phone calls to help Vets. The replies received from this VA Secretary have helped several Veterans, including myself, on this site and others I have heard on the Hadit Podcasts. For me it was a few small things, but it saved months or years of waiting for the VA process. Does it make the VA a great place to be or be treated. No, but there maybe some hope, even a smallbit of hope is better than where we are.

The VA system has been corrupt and incompetent for years, and may never be fixed by this VA Secretary, or the next. I don't understand why the VA won't get Veterans a medical card to be treated outside the system either. The new temporary law they passed, Veterans

Access, Choice, and Accountability Act, (VACAA), on 7 Nov. 2014 is misleading as well. One of the requirements are, if The Veteran’s

current residence is more than 40 miles from the closest VA health care facility. You may be eligible for a card. My problem with this is, the Clinic that is within the 40 miles of my residence cannot treat my specialty care needs. So I end up driving 140 miles round

trip to be seen at a VA Hospital. I hope they work out some of these issues. This was another question I sent the VA Secretary, but

still have not received a reply. I guess Congress has to make the change, when and if.

Happy New Years to All

the biggest problem that I see right now with how the VA operates is a lack of reciprocal communication between the veteran and the regional office, They claim the reason we cant call them is for effieciency reasons., they say it would slow them down, but what is really happening is the lack of communication is what slows the process down. I truly believe that the reason we cant call in directly and speak to the people handling our case was a planned mechanism to SLOW things down. A member of this forum did some research and found that the number and percentage of disabilities stays static basically if theres a war going on or not. It points to a " governing " of how many vets, and what percentage they can recieve based on metrics other than the VA regulations, and needs of veterans.

The system is set up now like a WW2 company trying to do battle , and using pigeon mail. back and forth to communicate, when they could just pick up a phone and call headquarters for guidance.

THE MOST EFFECTIVE THING THAT COULD HELP US RIGHT NOW, IS FOR THE VA SECRETARY TO MANDATE OPEN LINES OF COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE VETERAN AND A PERSON INTIMATELY INVOLVED WITH THIER CASE..

[rootbeer22]

Folks:

I keep hearing really good things about Sec Mcdonald and it seems like Vets are very fortunate to have him leading the VA. A lot of folks seemed to be very pleased with the message that he's putting out abd the actions that are happening. Certainly, it will take time but it looks like there's a very positive direction going on right now..

[georgiapapa]

63SIERRA,

I have stated on many ocassions the inability of the veteran being able to communicate with the RO is the cause of claim delays, claims backlog, claim errors, etc. Give the vets direct access to the VA rep handling their claim and this will prevent misunderstandings and solve most claim problems in a timely manner. The veteran would be better served and the VA employees involved in claims processing would also be able to do their jobs faster and better. We should all email this suggestion to Secretary MacDonald.

VA officials who say direct communication between claimants and rating officials will slow the system down should take a look at SSA. They have had this system for years and I am sure they handle more claims and have a higher accuracy rate. JMO

[foreveryoung]

Yeah, send off an email to Secretary McDonald to invite him to this site, if it's OK with the site manager.

robert.a.mcdonald@va.gov

Maybe he will give it a try, or maybe not. There's nothing to lose, but a lot to gain. It may open his eyes to all the issues Veterans are having here at Hadit. There are a lot of good ideas talked about here on this site, and if it falls on the right ear good for the

Veteran.

Worst that could happen is he brushes us off. As Veteran’s we’ve been through worse.

Edited December 31, 2014 by foreveryoung