VARO Report card

[broncovet]

VARO REPORT CARD   Fill in YOuR VARO and apply letter grade "F through A" with A the best, and F is failing.  

YOUR VARO______________

1.  Timeliness.  Did your VARO timely process your claim IN THE ORDER RECEIVED?   We understand there is a backlog, but did you hear about other Vets with a "simple" claim who was done months earlier than yours?  

 

2.  Quality.  Was your decision accurate?  Did you have to appeal?  Did they supply an adequate "reasons and bases", and adjuticate ALL your issues, or forget about some?  

3.  Communications.  Did the VA respond to your correspondence or concerns?  Did you get good service from "ask Peggy", IRIS emails, and did they update ebenefits promptly and accurately?

4.  Did the VA READ your evidence or "top sheet" it and deny to save the rating specialist time and meet his quotas?  

5.  Was the VA "fair" with you?  In other words even tho you got LESS than you wanted, did you get "something" or was it zero percent and you are in a wheel chair, hard of hearing and bllind, with 3 missing limbs.  

6.  Name other concerns you had, such as shredding your evidence.  

7.  Did the VA order C and P exams promptly?  Were the examiners fair, thorough and competent?  

8.  Did you visit your VARO?  Did you get your issue(s) resolved?  

9.  What is the "one" thing you think most important at fixing VA?  

[broncovet]

Here is my VARO report card:

VARO  Cleveland

1.  F   I have issues from 2002, still unresolved. 

2.  F.  The VA "forgot" my issue of TDIU from 2002-2009 even tho they knew I was going to be homeless in 2005, and I did, indeed lose my home waiting on VA benefits.  

3.  D minus.  A few of my IRIS emails were answered, some never were.  Ask Peggy is useless.  

4.  F.  No, they did not read it.  They initially denied my claim for hearing loss even tho I had all 3 Caluza elements, including nexus, in black and white.  They said it was "too long since military service" for my hearing loss.  They also did not read there criteria, as "time since service" is NOT one of the criteria for hearing loss.  

5.  C minus.  After 7 years I finally got "sort of" a fair shake.  By the time 7 years rolled around I would have appealed if they would have given me several Regional Offices, I was so angry having lost my home.  

6.  Yes, shredded evidence.  I have a response from VAOIG, complaining about shredding, from "the October incident.  It remains unresolved.  

7.  B.  My doctor was very fair, and very good.  He deserves an A, but he lost a letter grade for working for VA, who made me mad by doing nothing about my soon to be homelessness except delays and denials.  

8.  F.  Yes I visited my VARO, and no the issues were not addressed.  They told me to talk to my VSO, who, of course, did not return my calls.  Wasted gas money.  

9.  Have "ONE" or even a team in each VARO who does like Ms Hickey.   She would be assigned as a problem solver, with power to fix the problem.  She would report to the Secretrary, how many Vets problem she solved, and how many remain unresolved.  The Veteran would decide if the issue was resolved, not a VA exec.  If she was unable to resolve most of the issues, she should be fired.  

Overall:  Dminus.  And that was because I am feeling generous.  

 

Edited August 11, 2017 by broncovet

[MikeHunt]

Claims go into the National Work Queue, with a few exceptions. At any given time, claim could be anywhere. If there were no 'ownership' before, there's even less now, and each time the claim lands, it's with a new person.

[broncovet]

MikeHunt

    That is GREAT news for people in very low class Regional Offices.   A study was done, back when Obama was a senator, that concluded "where you live" has a direct relationship as to 

what disability percentage you are likely to get.  For example, an "average" compenstated Vet got less than 1000 per year in midwestern regional offices, where an "average" compensated Veteran in other Regional offices fared much better, netting almost twice as much.  

     There was a big fuss over this, but VA "fixed" it by no longer reporting indvidual RO results.    My RO, Cleveland, was one of the top 4 lowest in the country.  

[63Charlie]

Currently, I have nothing good to report about the VBA as a whole.

It's been an adversarial fight with them for my benefits since day one.

Once you look behind their curtain, you will behold many unimaginable horrors.

 

Edited August 24, 2017 by 63Charlie