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Milktoast VSO response

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Carl the Engineer

Question

All,

So, since I have had the VFW as my POA, for the VA, since my original claim, I figured, I would ask them for a little help.  My thoughts were that most everything is local (regional) and that a service rep from my state of WI would have acquired supreme knowledge of Wisconsin claims.  So, I emailed the person who I have been with since, again, my original claim 2 questions.  

First, my email,

Hello, my name is xxxx xxxxx, ***-**-***7.  I am life member of the VFW and have your organization as my POA for my VA claims.  I live in ******* and my CVSO is **** **********.
 
I am inquiring to know if there is a list of WI doctors that will do IME/IMO's for disabled Veterans?
 
Also, does your office keep a file on me and is that available to me.
 
Thank you,
 
The response I received,
 

Xxxxx,

  We do not maintain a list of doctors.  You can ask your VA primary care physician for a referral if more convenient.  If this does not work, you can take a VA disability questionnaire to a private doctor and submit as evidence for any claim/appeal.

  We currently maintain your VA file.   The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) allows you to obtain your file by sending a written/signed request to the VA.  The VA will send your files on a CD.

Kind regards, Xxxxxxxxxxx

 

The response tells me that the VSO's (this one anyway) are not helping Veterans in any effective way.  If I was in a position to help disabled Veterans for an entire state, I would look at the successful claims and see what Doctors helped Veterans and who are willing fill out DBQ's, and give them out.  Here is my breakdown,

"We do not maintain a list of doctors."- Well, that's just plain stupid and irresponsible.  Any, slip and fall lawyer has a list of "go-to" doctors.  I would actually have a database which would tell me that doctor A is 75% effective, B is 20% effective, and C is worthless, etc.

"You can ask your VA primary care physician for a referral if more convenient."- Really, so my VA PCP will refer me to a doc that will fill out a DBQ.  I don't think so, but I am going to give it a try next time I see her.  LOL.

"If this does not work, you can take a VA disability questionnaire to a private doctor and submit as evidence for any claim/appeal."- Good luck with that.  Hence, you have access to at least a third of all VA claims in WI and you can't do your homework and supply me with a list.  If private business worked this way we would all be in trouble.  When I ran a parts store many moons ago, if a supplier would not get what I wanted, I found another, etc..

Then, on my second question, apparently, they have no more than I have in my c-file disc.  And there is no correspondence from or to the VFW in my c-file, so my question I have asked before.  My thoughts here are, in my many claims, not once did the VSO call me and say, hey, you could do better if you went this way instead, or, I see you filled for A, and then later filed for B, I think you also could file for C.  Crickets......

I may write a letter to the VFW headquarters or OIC. I don't believe this response was adequate in any way.

What do the actually do,

Hamslice

I truly believe the government would go broke if the paid out everything they owed all the Veterans what they are due.  I think the VSO's are just a cog in a big plan.  

 

 

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1 hour ago, Hamslice said:

So, probably wasting my time here, but,

A VSO gets 48 hours notice of your rated claim from the VA to ensure your claim was rated correctly, etc.

So, I would hazard to guess, but the VSO(s) would be reading a whole lot of claims decisions, i.e., daily, monthly, yearly.

You would think, they, representing a State, could say, hey Doctor Bill Jones from Madison does DBQ's, because I have read his name many times. 

But no,

Fend for yourselves.

Again, my opinion,

Hamslice

I believe, if one represents himself, he/she then too, should have 48 hours to "look see" before they drop the gavel.  And have the same access as the VSO, but we know that ain't going to happen.  Its a racket.  The VSO's have the inside lane because they fund campaigns for the people that give them that lane.  And we let it happen.  Again.  

 

They, for the most part, just let the 48 hours expire.  I signed on with DAV a few years ago and it wasn't because I really needed help.  I was working for the VA and I needed a convenient way to monitor my claims since we couldn't look at our own claim.  DAV was just down the hall and I could walk over and have them look in my file and tell me what was really going on and where my claim was in the process.  They really didn't do much else for me.  Sometimes I would see them in our office talking to managers and raters trying to get things pushed through.  I'm a bit disappointed in them because they could have contested my recent claim in the 48 hour window because the effective date was clearly wrong.  I actually called them about it before it was finalized but I had completely forgotten about that 48 hour window.  

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29 minutes ago, deedub75 said:

They, for the most part, just let the 48 hours expire.  I signed on with DAV a few years ago and it wasn't because I really needed help.  I was working for the VA and I needed a convenient way to monitor my claims since we couldn't look at our own claim.  DAV was just down the hall and I could walk over and have them look in my file and tell me what was really going on and where my claim was in the process.  They really didn't do much else for me.  Sometimes I would see them in our office talking to managers and raters trying to get things pushed through.  I'm a bit disappointed in them because they could have contested my recent claim in the 48 hour window because the effective date was clearly wrong.  I actually called them about it before it was finalized but I had completely forgotten about that 48 hour window.  

deedub,

You prove my point from an inside view.  They do not do what they can and could.  Yet we pay them too.

Shameful,

Hamslice

Give me the 48 hours and a direct line to the rater...

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2 minutes ago, brokensoldier244th said:

VSOs are not paid with tax money, they are paid By their organization from donations and dues. There is no conspiracy.

"My dues give a private party access to my claim, because congress, who was given my money, gave them that right, which I don't have."

Reading comprehension.

Let me explain in plain English,

1. I pay my dues

2. VSO's, a private organization, gives my money to the Congressmen.

3. Congressmen give VSO's a secret (not me) access to my file as it is being developed.

My contention.  VSO's would not exist if we had their access.

Hamslice

And, if you're stuck on "we",  VSO's are tax exempt, therefore, you and me make up their shortfall.  So yes, we pay for the VSO reps, cause they don't pay their fare share.  

 

 

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Let me put it a different way.  

Imagine, you could not file your income taxes unless you used TurboTax, TaxSlayer or Jackson Hewitt. 

You could file on your own, but you would not get to see your W-2's, tax tables or use a computer.  Only paper and your memory.

That don't make sense, yet we allow it with the VA and claims.

Hamslice

Oh, I almost forgot, make them tax-exempt too.

 

Edited by Hamslice
cause I had to get a piece of cheese cake from the fridge
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