"A judge is reviewing your appeal" "Decision soon"

[PostMan1988]

Update: Closed August 15th

Wondering if anyone else has seen this before and if the timeline was about right?

 

Edited August 17, 2019 by PostMan1988

[broncovet]

Berta is correct.  Hadit is not a forum to display views on political topics.  They have forums and blogs to express political views, this is not one of them.  

[Tbird]

On 6/18/2021 at 11:38 AM, Theshow said:

These long wait time for a appeal decision is crazy.The veteran serve this country with Honor and receive a Honorable discharge now his body and mind is hurting what do this country do .Use u first my generation we was drafted for war after high school or college train how to kill in the Vietnam Era but nobody gave a dam about the Vietnam Era veteran until 9/11 happen then all of a sudden Americans citizens telling Vietnam veterans ":THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE": well it's about 46 years to late to thank us now.Right now u have Vietnam veterans dying at home from AGENT ORANGE with their claims some of them being DENY.Fortunately my brother in law survive the Vietnam War but die from AGENT ORANGE complications yes it did receive a disability check from the VA for several years before his death thank God for that, but their many Vietnam veterans dying with their claims being Deny.Veterans appeal cases taking to long for a decision maybe we the veterans need to find some smart lawyers and file a CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT AGAINST THE VETERANS ADMINISTRATION for the long delay in making a decision on APPEAL CASES with so veterans dying before a decision and if they the veterans die before a decision is made the family of the decease veteran should still be award the funds from the case .In this VETERANS Administration system we live in would be different if it was mostly RICH or WELL CONNECTED veterans filing these disabilities cases the decisions will be decided a lot QUICKER, but that will NEVER happen we all know the MIDDLE and LOWER CLASS FAMILIES make up the Military.We do the killing and the dying for this country for example that CAPITAL GUARD die while defending the capital and now a Republican congressman would not shake the Guardsman hand who was hurt trying to protect the Capital and the congressman.Recently a survey poll was taken the Republicans would vote for PUTIN instill of BIDEN for President,WOW what a country I stood next to men who was DRAFTED did not want to be there but this country drafted them for war and they was order to go to Vietnam to kill or be kill some made it back some did NOT, and now we got a party(THE REPUBLICAN PARTY)in the UNITED STATES not wanting to give those guards a award for defending the Capital, but yet still they have the power to declare war on our enemies and if necessary draft your sons  if need be for war. THIS COUNTRY GOT PROBLEMS,,PROBLEMS THEY DO NOT WISH TO SOLVE but continue to live under the THE BIG LIE drama .The historians will tell the truth and our children and grandchildren will read about the truth what happen to the Republican Party and Mr. Trump.We the veterans and capital guards kept our oath.Ask the Republicans congressmen did they kept the oath 

 

 

 

 

 

No politics allowed.

[Scottish_Knight]

Oddly enough, I disagree with the length of time argument.  At present, there are roughly 2.4m military members across all five branches, active duty, reserve and guard.  Due to the recent military actions - Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia, Kosovo, Africa locations loads are being 'medically retired', and although the US Military has downsized over the past decades, the length of time to process a service connected disability claim has become faster.  Factor in the amount of appeals and CUE claims.  It has sped up mostly due to the use of computers, the decision has become faster.  

In 2009, from start (last medical exam) to finish (decision) for me was five months.  Now it's a matter of weeks -  depending on complexities.  However, with speed comes mistakes.  I would rather the VA take their time and be thorough.  I'd happily wait an extra month or two in lieu of having to do through the process of an appeal.  I'm going to get the money and disability status regardless.

The problem lays with appeals.  This is the problem, more than any other.  When one factors in the number of initial claims and then adds to that the amount of appeals, this makes the process slower.  It's double or sometimes triple work for the VA.  If I had any power at all, I would want to look historically at the number of claims per year and the number of appeals and follow those appeals to their final decisions.  That, to me, would be the tell-tell sign of how competent the average VA claims rep is.  There are simply too many appeals, because the claims officers are sacrificing thoroughness for speed.

Hypothetically, if 40 percent of yearly appeals were positively awarded to the veteran, what would the average time-savings be to the VA and the veteran?  Double and triple in most cases.  I feel the VA has no initial higher-review system in place.  The claims rep makes a decision and it's done.  An extra 30min per claim (higher-review) to lessen the amount of appeals would be an overall win.

The VA really should spend some time researching a means to lower the number of appeals.  Will it?  Most like no.

  

Edited June 21, 2021 by Scottish_Knight

[Buck52]

 While there are a few exceptions, there is not much anyone can do to speed things up under the VA’s current appeals system.

The most recent information I have seen indicates that a veteran who files a notice of disagreement at the St. Petersburg VA Regional Office can expect to wait more than 500 days for a decision on that appeal.  Veterans who file their appeal in the Cleveland VA Regional Office can expect to wait twice that amount of time for a decision.  The wait time varies between the different regional offices, but almost every veteran can anticipate that the wait will be long.  Similarly, if a veteran needs to appeal the decision of a regional office to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals, the wait time is currently in the range of three years.

The VA does have some avenues for expediting a case.  The regional offices and the Board have identified certain circumstances under which they will move a case up in the line:

• Advanced Age. There is some dispute among the regional offices and the Board about at what age a veteran qualifies for expedite.  Board regulations specify that a veteran over the age of 75 is entitled to expedite.  Some regional offices have told us that because they have so many cases with veterans in that age group, they are considering only veterans of 80 or 85 for an expedite.

• Seriously Ill. This standard is somewhat subjective as all of the veterans filing appeals in the VA system are disabled in some way.  Arguing that a veteran is in poor health needs to be backed up with evidence in the form of medical records.  VA does act more quickly in the case of a veteran who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness.

• Severe Financial Hardship. Again, this standard is subjective.  Many disabled veterans are suffering from financial problems, and this claim would have to be backed up by evidence of financial hardship.  The documents we have found to be most successful in proving financial hardship severe enough to qualify for expedite includes evidence of filing for bankruptcy and/or evidence of foreclosure or eviction.

I should qualify the above information with an acknowledgment that even cases which are expedited are not going to receive immediate decisions.  In a backlogged, overwhelmed VA system, there are so many veterans of advanced age, poor health, and in financial distress that even veterans whose cases have been expedited must continue to stand in a line.

Veterans often ask if involving their Congressman or contacting the media can help their case.  Occasionally, if the veteran is lucky enough to have a Congressman take a personal interest in the case, this could be helpful.  More often, however, this type of request involves a staffer sending a form letter to the VA asking for the status of the case and a brief reply from the VA explaining the status of the case.  It does not usually speed things up at all.

So, what happens if the VA takes longer than these average wait times to decide an appeal?   Is there anything we can do then?  In that case, there are avenues to ask the Court of Veterans Appeals to force the VA to take action in a case.   We can file a Petition for Writ of Mandamus with the Court, requesting that the Court order the VA to act.  This kind of petition is not a magic wand—it does not guarantee a favorable decision—but, if it gets to a point where the VA’s delay is outside the norm and essentially amounts to a refusal to take action in a case, the Court can require that the VA take some kind of action in order to move the case forward and at least allow the veteran to appeal his case to the next level.

There are always proposals for ways to speed up the VA, some good, some not-so-good.  A slow “yes” is obviously better than a quick “no” from the VA, so we have to balance the idea of speeding things up with the need for a quality decision which grants the veteran every benefit to which he or she is entitled.   Until we have a better system in place, we have to be prepared for long waits.  We can keep pushing at the VA to make the right decision, but we cannot make them do it in a time.

Appeals Modernization Act - Practical Steps The Appeals Modernization Act was designed to give veterans more choices and faster decisions from the VA. Under the previous system.

 

Source: Hill & Ponton Disability Attorney's

 

 

 

 

[Fat]

I agree with Scottish Knight.

First, I believe most VA employees do a fantastic job; however having to abide by production standards might be causing some claims to have appeals.

You have to hire more workers.

Give workers more time to properly vet claims and the evidence submitted.

Remember the benefit of the doubt rule.

Approve claim if possible.

Last, veterans do your part too.

Give the VA evidence: inservice incident/sickness, current disability (with residuals), and nexus linking 1 & 2.

 

[Hucast21]

21 hours ago, Fat said:

I agree with Scottish Knight.

First, I believe most VA employees do a fantastic job; however having to abide by production standards might be causing some claims to have appeals.

You have to hire more workers.

Give workers more time to properly vet claims and the evidence submitted.

Remember the benefit of the doubt rule.

Approve claim if possible.

Last, veterans do your part too.

Give the VA evidence: inservice incident/sickness, current disability (with residuals), and nexus linking 1 & 2.

 

The problem is with BVA appeals, about 37% of appeals are issued grants. This means too many initial claims were denied, which should not have happened in the first place.

From my experience, the VBA has claims adjudicated as fast as possible but dumping it on the BVA appeals process to do the heavy lifting. Thus, creating a huge backlog.

 

Edited June 22, 2021 by Hucast21