The Va Secretary, Honorable Bob Mcdonald May Be Looking

[hurryupnwait]

According to one post, the VA Secretary has been invited to have a look at Hadit.com and has responded that he will have a look. So, now is the time to comment on how to fix the problems with the VA. Please no bashing the VA.

What can he do to improve the VA?

[3grandkids]

Hello to everybody here, and to Bob, if he is around. :)

I have been reading this forum for a good while now and so appreciate the great information and experiences shared.

I had no clue what I would be facing to get DIC approved after my 90% SC disabled husband died. He died with open claims before his informal hearing came up with the RO. He waited a long, long time for that meeting but didn't make it. He was too sick.

Two grand children have been born since his death and a third is on the way. I no longer have a home for them to "go to grandmas house."

Thankfully, because of this site I found a good lawyer to help with my case.

I hope if Bob does read this that he will please do something to improve the wait time for the Veteran's survivors because everything my husband worked for all his life (when he could still work) is now all gone.

He died waiting but I am still here, his kids are still here, along with the grandkids he never met. He just felt the first one kicking his strong, healthy legs in vitro.

[georgiapapa]

Another suggestion for Secretary McDonald:

I constantly hear complaints about VA doctors refusing to complete DBQs and IMOs needed for veteran's disability claim packages being submitted to VA regional offices. Secretary McDonald should send out a memo to all VA doctors directing them to fully cooperate with veterans seeking disability compensation by completing DBQs and IMOs when requested by a veteran.

This would only take a one page memo from Secretary McDonald and it would help a lot of veterans. JMO

[63SIERRA]

Theres ALOT of things that ALL of the people in the VA should be doing, but it has become a culture of people just doing whatever THEY want to do, not following the rules and regulations, .. (sound familiar ? kind of like our govt?)

Until someone stands on some desks and yells in thier faces that they will do thier jobs or hit the damned road, nothing will change/!!!

There are some good people that work in the VA., so dont think I am just a VA basher, I truly wish that things were different as I have many other better things to do than worry abt the VA. All we can do is be truthful, support the new Secretary of VA and pray.

[lotzaspotz]

Maybe we should encourage the Secretary to disguise himself and do a segment of the TV show, "Undercover Boss." Visit the RO's and VAMC's to see what's really happening in the trenches.

Minus the bad wigs and stick on mustaches...

I'm only half kidding...

Edited January 24, 2015 by lotzaspotz

[Chuck75]

If so many people are having so much luck with emailing the head honcho then why not.

helping a few is good but what about the appeals and claim backlog. I would like to see everybody

who has been waiting for 4-5 years in appeals or claims email the heck out of him. My thing is how

is it helping the other vets or getting the RO to do their job something he shouldn't have to tell the RO

to get simple claim process we need him to get the system better put his effort in getting the BAD out

of power, better health care,a shorter time in claim process,are just a few things that will help a lot

of vets and not just one at a time. I always said what ever works for you than do it. jmho

The major benefit, aside from getting individual claims resolved in a more timely manner, is simply that upper management now has a "window" that exposes what is actually going on at the claims processing levels.

Hopefully, this will lead to changes that produce better and faster results. The squeaky wheel and all of that!

4 or 5 years is a short time when it comes to appeals. It's possible for the "call" or "email Bob" process to actually eliminate the need to go through the appeal process in some cases.

The secretary has the authority, by law, to deviate from some regulations and practices that normally must be followed by an RO, and even the appeals process.

Obvious errors come to mind as an example. A common one might be failure to consider SMC when it's obviously appropriate.

One area of this authority also has to do with deciding the appropriate compensation when the schedule/SMC does not properly address the combination of individual conditions involved in a veterans claim.

Edited January 18, 2015 by Chuck75

[63SIERRA]

Maybe we should encourage the Secretary to disguise himself and do a segment of the TV show, "Undercover Boss." Visit the RO's and VAMC's to see what's really happening in the trenches.

I'm only half kidding...

I too suggested this. That way, after it is done, nobody will ever know who might be watching, sitting in thier lobby, sitting in thier office, sitting on the porcelain throne in the crapper right next to them. They could dress the Secretary like an old man, and let him cruise around in a Jazzy.