Is the VA still processing claim during the Coronavirus?

[rasceebp]

Hi,

Do you know if the VA is still processing claims during the coronavirus outbreak or if the offices have closed down?  My claim has been sitting in Preparation for Discussion for a week now.

[Guest]

I know I know I will stop posting on this post. My years of suffering has not ended

[broncovet]

Its good you stick up for people that you work with, and you are right that I have only been inside my VARO ONE time.  So, I really dont know.  Of those 18 years, how many of those did you work for VA?  All 18? 

I would love to hear your reasons why it took VA 18 years to process my claim, other than the VA simply doing delay after delay, glitch after glitch.  Remember, when my 2002 claim was granted (in Feb. 2020) in appeals, this means they should have awarded it in 2002, thus the 2002 effective date.  

Well, yes, its "selfish" to expect people to work in very bad circumstances like we have now.  Please tell me, is it "selfish" for VA employees to expect their check to be on time, every time, and every glitch in their check to be fixed "by next payday", all while Veterans are waiting decades, sometimes on their check??

 

[brokensoldier244th]

You both are making a lot of unfounded assumptions. All I said is that, at this time, there is no skeleton crew, everyone is reporting to work and is required to do so. 

I choose not to let the experiences of a few create the perception of reality for the VA as a whole. Just because it affects you doesn't mean it affects tens of thousands of other veterans that have no problems with their claims. This site is supposed to be a helping site for veterans. How helpful is it that the first thing they see most of the time is people bitching about how the VA has screwed them over based on something that happened years ago, or based on processes that VA has since updated several times? I don't disagree that VA screws up, and I have never belittled a veteran for their issues when their claim gets screwed up, or not cared that mistakes were made. You can stow that back in your bag and chuck it. 

Yes, VA sucked harder 20, 30, 40 years ago- they've spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to digitize y'all's records so its not all on paper anymore, they've been farming out claim to different RO's for a few years now to clear local backlog. They cant' just hire another few thousand people thanks to Fed budget policies that took a bunch of their money and used to to create the Community Care program. They didn't alot more money, the President and Congress took it from the VA at large budget and didn't replace it for operations of the Va itself, so local clinics and hospitals all suffered huge cutbacks in available monies for personnel and supplies. 

As for employees wanting their pay fixed (where did that even come from? How is that relevant to the situation?) of course they do, no more than any other employee anywhere in any job. Joe Blow in the office pool or the mail room has nothing to do with your claim problems (raters) so why even bring it up? 

You're right, your mind is probably made up, but im damned if im going to allow the negativity in the face of TRYING to do better go unchecked when vets sign on for help and thats the first thing they see. 

Edited March 17, 2020 by brokensoldier244th

[rasceebp]

I didn't mean for my question to spark an argument you guys.  I signed on for hope and encouragement only.  I am in a bad place and just wanted to know whether there was any sign of hope that processing was still going on.  With that being said, I was contacted by the VA today about an appointment and was told that it was canceled because the VA is closing some departments due to the virus.

[brokensoldier244th]

No worries, I just get flamed on here sometimes because apparently Im all gung ho no quit Harry Stamper for the VA. I'm not, but im also younger than some of these guys, so I guess you can chalk it up to A. I came up through VA while they were modernizing and ive done all my stuff on Ebenefits B. Im tech savvy, used to be an IT engineer, so electronically finding my records was not that hard for me, and what I didnt have that way I hand carried out when I outprocessed C. I've not had problems with the VA in 20 years of medical or filing. My RO is in Nebraska, though, and we dont have a huge veteran population regionally as say, California, Texas, or Florida, so things DO move faster here. 

I don't discount that other vets have issues with their claims, for a myriad variety of reasons including them being old enough to have mostly paper records, and/or having trouble navigating the VA in general with a computer or otherwise. Ill admit that there is a lot that the VA puts out publicly on their website but doesn't tell anyone about so you have to go and find stuff sometimes. Outprocessing personnel haven't really had to deal with VA since they are still active duty so for the most part  so what the hell do they know?  That being said, I try to steer people towards those sources so they can find it, I post links when I can, and in general I advocate taking as much control over your claim as you are able so that VA people dont have to find your medical records, or search through 20 years of active duty paper to find that appointment where the doctor said " blah blah....." that supports your claim. If you have your records, read them, and if you are on MyHealthVet you can read your clinic notes from past visits, too. Print that shit off or save it to PDF so you have it. That way when you file a claim you can attach the document to your E-file, or print it off and submit in on paper. If its in the actual claim its one more thing that supports your contention and one less thing that has to sit on someone's computer desktop waiting to be searched for. 

 

As for the rest, yes, VA medical side is taking various precautions with their clinics and advocating telemed whenever possible. If you have a computer and a webcam with a microphone you can even do clinical visits at home. My last to MH appointments were done this way, and ive found it a little faster to get an appointment that way. Just call your local clinic and ask about Telemed. You may end up getting assigned to a different PCP though, they don't all do telemed. 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, rasceebp said:

I didn't mean for my question to spark an argument you guys.  I signed on for hope and encouragement only.  I am in a bad place and just wanted to know whether there was any sign of hope that processing was still going on.  With that being said, I was contacted by the VA today about an appointment and was told that it was canceled because the VA is closing some departments due to the virus.

Truth is truth and there can only be one truth.  There are a lot of veterans on this site and others looking for help and insight about how to proceed and win their claims.  From the respondents point of view we post from our experience with no sugar coating.  We are still getting today veterans asking for understand of how VA can deny their claim(s) while they have given VA everything VA needs to grant their claim(s) but for some reason it was denied.  Just read through a few of them.  This is not something new for VA, VA have/has been doing it for years.  Just this week I responded to a post where a veteran just got denied after having their congressmen check on their claim.  I informed them a few years ago I put in for a financial hardship case and my claim was expedited but my expedited claim was denied even though VA had the evidence. I also post that I continued to file my claims until I was granted 100% scheduler and recently won an EED CUE claim back to 1998.  This is the truth and this is current. Twenty years ago when VA denied my claim I did not have a huge file , I would say no more than less than a ream of paper and they have about 500 sheets.  I know my file had less than that so I don't know how VA missed their own VA stamped with a date prior to my denial.  I don't know how the DRO missed it. I don't know how the BVA judge that remanded it missed it after the local VARO rejected the remand and denied my claim and forced me to get a lawyer who didn't miss it and agreed with VA lawyers to remand my claim. You as the OP (original poster) must understand that many people post for different reason and some that say they want to help really don't want to help.  Take it with a grain of salt and check every avenue that will help you understand and get you the information you need.  It's crazy how you can call VA 1 800 Peggy and get one answer and wait about 2 hours and call back and get a totally different answer.  Be aware, be forwarded that everyone on this site and other sites may say they want to help but do your own homework and check the facts. I understand that it is scary out there for all workers but it is even more scarier for veterans waiting on a positive outcome about their claims