Va Trying To Pull

[Berta]

From VA Watchdog:

http://vawatchdog.org/nfDEC06/nf122106-3.htm

2922. [bull] SUPPLEMENTAL STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Priority: Other Significant

Legal Authority: 38 USC 501(a); 38 USC 7105(d)

CFR Citation: 38 CFR 19.38; 38 CFR 20.302; 38 CFR 20.303

Legal Deadline: None

"Abstract: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) proposes to amend its

regulations regarding the time limit for filing a response to a

Supplemental Statement of the Case. We propose to change the response

period from 60 days to 30 days. The purpose of the change is to improve

efficiency in the appeals process and reduce the time it takes to

resolve an appeal, while still providing an appellant with a reasonable

period of time to respond to a Supplemental Statement of the Case"

Also I caught this at Larry's sight today:

"The VA may discard paperwork upon receipt. That 'discard' possibility means that a veteran

must have a secure means of delivery of his paperwork to the VA. Regrettably, veterans

must presume that the VA will not act ethically with the veteran’s paperwork received in

ordinary mail. All veteran paperwork sent to any VA Regional Office should be sent

CERTIFIED – RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED." Attorney who handles veterans' claims"

They discard it when you DO send it certified.

WHat a crock! - and another thing- they often don't even read the veteran's response to SSOCs these days-

I got awards based on NODs, or SOC and SSOC responses in the late 1990s and these days- the Buffalo VARO does not even read or acknowledge any response or any evidence attached to it.

[Guest rickb54]

I sent in new evidence for my de nove review on COPD with a certified receipt, not only did I get the receipt back but I also received a va postcard form 30 indicating they received my mail. I never received this before so thought this was a new thing, except the form is an Apr 1995® form. I just thought this was interesting. This was in todays mail, from the Alanta Georgia regional office.

[Philip Rogers]

Rdawg, not all veterans are physically capable of following your suggestion, which is still a good one, but not readily available to everyone. In our case, the RO is about a four hour drive, one way. Not all veterans can stand a trip that long.

I believe that veterans and their supporters should start demanding that some credence and credibility be given to certified mail as legal proof of mailing. After all, the VA sends its correspondence by regular mail, and expects everyone to accept that as proof of mailing, just because they said they mailed it - - no written proof expected there.

I note the condition or the issue discussed in the mailing on the green receipt card, on the side with our return address, so I can keep the issues mailed about straight. Of course, the counter argument there is that I could write something down after the fact on a certified mail slip I could have used in mailing them the Christmas card you mentioned. But how far should we allow the VA to make up excuses like that, in the face of documented evidence of mailing, and not challenge them?

John Roche, the author of the "Veteran's Survival Guide" sends copies of his claim or NOD to his Congressman every time he files something. I think that's a great idea!

If we allow the VA to bulldoze us over this issue without challenging them, we allow them to get away with this lame effort to avoid processing veteran disability claims.

Another way is to make a photocopy of the front page of your document with the certified addressed envelope. Read that suggested somewhere.

pr

[john999]

I sent in a request for payment to fee base/unauthorized payment department in at the Tampa VA for dental work done while I was waiting for my TDIU. The first thing the VA did was throw my claim away. Ist took me six months to get them to admit it. They admitted that one of their employees did not want to work my claim and threw it in the trash. I got my payment pretty quick after that since I know they were embarassed. It is not possible for every vet to hand carry their stuff to the VA. I would use a Statement in Support of Claim form as a cover sheet and send it certified/return receipt. If you can't hand carry it that is the best alternative that I know about. The St. Pete RO has lost and ignored so much of the mail I have sent them I make the trip and get it hand stamped. This is one reason I continue to live close to a Regional Office and VAMC.

[vaf]

We do have a VAMC in town here, but there's no way we're going to move to south Louisiana to chase the stupid RO.

Enabling them to screw up by ignoring documented proof of a service performed by another federal agency, the USPS, that disability claims have in fact been mailed and received does us no good.

[john999]

Vicki

The only thing is that by the time you get the VA to play by the rules and not throw away claims you won't need to file a claim because you may have passed away.

[vaf]

The fact that the veteran may predecease the final resolve of his/her claims to the veteran's satisfaction is no reason to abandon the effort to force, not expect, the VA to do the right thing. It may be the very thing that prolongs one's life and provides a major purpose to live. Just my opinion.

And now we'll have lawyers to help us.

I'm curious to see if the VA tries to pass the same line of crap to lawyers as they often do to us.