Chief Justice, Roberts Says:

[broncovet]

When you appeal, you have about a 70 percent chance of either a remand or an outright grant. You need to remember this, then next time a VA employee or VSO suggests you drop your appeal. Of course they want you to drop it! It makes them look good!

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/02/25/chief-justice-startled-by-gov-errors-in-veterans-cases/

ROBERTS: Counsel do you — do you dispute your friend’s statement that 42 percent of the time in Social Security cases the government’s position is unjustified, and 70 percent of the time in veterans’ cases?

YANG: Well, I think that reflects the stakes often, Your Honor. Oftentimes the government does not contest, for instance, the $2,000 EAJA award and because it’s the government, has to —

ROBERTS: So whenever it really makes a difference, 70 percent of the time the government’s position is substantially unjustified?

YANG: In cases in the VA context, the number’s not quite that large, but is a substantial number of cases at the court of appeals —

ROBERTS: What number would you accept?

YANG: It was, I believe in the order of either 50 or maybe slightly more than 50 percent. It might be 60. But the number is substantial that you get a reversal, and in almost all of those cases EAJA —

ROBERTS: Well that’s really startling, isn’t it? In litigating with veterans, the government more often than not takes a position that is substantially unjustified?

YANG: It is an unfortunate number, Your Honor. And it is — it’s accurate.

Bart Stichman, co-executive director of the National Veterans Legal Services Program, said he thinks the percentage is greater than the government’s number. ‘That means the quality of decision-making at the Board of Veterans Appeals is not very good,’ he said. ‘We’ve been saying that for years. The number means not only did they wrongly decide the case but their position wasn’t substantially justified. Not too good.’

[Vync]

They know the numbers. Now they need to make change to prevent it from happening. It's almost as if the government wants to keep veterans in despair in order to help justify the extra employees.

[Vetsforvets]

All the delays and denials do benefit them. That's why the appeals process is like ten years of waiting. They want us to get mad, angry, give up and die. The waiting game definitely helps them and hurt us.

[green]

This is unacceptable.... hopefully this news will go out far and wide and result in changes. For those who want to believe the Veterans Administration truly wants to help veterans this simply proves it isn't true. I would hope people would be demoted or lose their job if they have anything to do with building or maintaining this culture.

[pwrslm]

They should base the job on the percentage of appeals. If they have more than 20% of their denials overturned on appeal, or 2 out of 10, they should come under review. Remedial training to start with, to warnings, and terminations to follow.

If 2 out of ever 10 jobs I did contained errors, even McDonalds would not hire me.

Edited July 28, 2015 by pwrslm

[USMC_VET]

They should base the job on the percentage of appeals. If they have more than 20% of their denials overturned on appeal, or 2 out of 10, they should come under review. Remedial training to start with, to warnings, and terminations to follow.

If 2 out of ever 10 jobs I did contained errors, even McDonalds would not hire me.

Not if their real job is to keep benefits rates down and denials up.

I have no evidence, but i can bet you, dollars to doughnuts, that if your rates of ratings that are fair and honest with correct %'s and low appeals rates you will be promoted less and reprimanded more than if you have a very high rate of appeals and unfair rating %'s

[pwrslm]

When we deal with this system, it is supposed to be non adversarial. But face it, when they deny benefits, and 75% of the time they are shown to be wrong for denying those benefits, it is substantially adversarial, because it forces Vets who need the support to litigate the claim.

The error rate, by its self, demonstrates a level of incompetence that nobody should find acceptable.