My experience with Senators and Congress people

[vetquest]

 am writing due to a question raised in another thread and do not wish to step on that thread.

I made the statement that writing your representatives, unless you have a personal relationship, can hurt you in that the VA responds to their request with a form letter and your case goes to the bottom of the pile.  I am not making this statement out of spite.   I have the experience of requesting help while living in three different states.  I have a three inch binder filled with senatorial and congressional letters and replies by the VA.  If your situation is not unusual, "just" a claim that has been lost in the hamster wheel I have seen only bad things come from asking for help.  I have met with my elected officials personally and never seen results.  Writing to heads of VA committees gets you a letter saying you should contact your representatives.

If your situation is unusual you may get results.  Once I had VA medical records due to my being seen for my service connected disability from the San Diego hospital and the VA denied that I had ever been there.  In that case the Asst. Secretary of the VA promised to instruct the hospital to help rebuild my records and allow me to see a doctor.  On a lighter note once this was all done the VA denied me and appointment since I had missed three appointments according to their records.  On another occasion I wanted to meet with the director of the VA hospital in Portland about prosthetics and a congressional aide set up the appointment. 

I truly wish our elected representatives would do more for us when our case is lost in the wheel.

Edited June 26, 2018 by vetquest
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[Carl the Engineer]

My experience.

In 2004, I was in a foreign hospital for a week while I was deployed.  I had all my medical records prior and after, but not for that time.  I was seen by US military docs, just did not know who.

In 2009, I did request my medical records from St Louis and from my State HQ's (ARNG), but  received nothing for that time period.

In 2011 I did write 3 congressional persons from my state.  I did received a call from a retired Army Soldier who worked as a staffer and he told me that they basically all work together on these issues and that he would be working on this with his congressman, and that the others would not be.  I said OK.

About three months later I did receive a letter from said congressman stating that they tried and were unsuccessful.

About two months after that, I got a brown envelope from a US Army base in the US with my medical record from that hospital.  No letter of explanation, just my records in an envelope.

So, while, my congressman didn't help initially, he probably shook the tree that that envelope fell out of.

So, it works sometimes,

Hamslice

 

 

[kanewnut]

Here is some old stuff from my experience in the past. I think it helped. It certainly felt good contacting my congressman and getting some feed back from him. 

I know I have contacted my current congressman about my need to change PCP's. I took a couple of letters and calls but the VA director called me shortly after the last call to the congressman's aid.

I think they wish to help, as long as they don't step on someone else's authority. JMO

2018-06-27 FLASH CONGRESSIONAL INTEREST REDACTED FOR HADIT.pdf

[MikeHunt]

I'm sure things weren't going well with the VA BEFORE you did a 'cong,' so it's a little difficult to say they did less after the inquiry, LOL!

1) I do think it's helpful when there's a very specific issue you want addressed. A clerk in the RO's 'Cong team' has to research the issue and reply to the aide in writing. Some aides will email the clerk directly. I was friends with several clerks at my time in the VA; they would ask colleagues about specific issues AND sometimes that certainly resolved issues.

2) It's also good to have someone else advocate for you- The VA can, and will ignore or twist YOUR words, they're not going to do that to a Congressman or Representative. This is why rich people use a 'Mouthpiece' (lawyer) whenever they want something done.

3) Last, if they DO BS the congressional representative, or are rude, or short, that's an absolutely perfect letter to forward to the White House.

Worked for me to the tune of an $18,000 check.