Move To Repeal

[Berta]

You are all mere clicks away from your Senators and Congressmen/women-

http://vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfMAR07/nf030807-8.htm

I will follow through on contacting my representatives today-

This is a time for all veterans to take ACTION-

Please share at hadit whether you intend to have input into this lastest travesty or not-

via your representatives in Congress-

This is a Bill Of CHOICE!!!!

This does NOT mean you have to hire a lawyer- this bill means that every widow and every veteran in the US of A will have the choice to hire a lawyer.

The VA web site itself can direct you as to contacting these representatives.

It would be unconscionable to me- after years and years of veteran's advocacy work,to see this law repealed and find that veterans did not take every opportunity they could -to speak out against this Repeal attempt.

No wonder the Fed Register has not allowed for Public comment- I have been checking there-

the DAV is acting as if they are speaking for each and everyone of you vets and widows-

They aint speaking for me!

They are afraid they will lose claimants-on their POA-

claimants who justify their salaries as NSOs.

If they had done consistently better claims work over the last few decades -we wouldnt need this law.

I again state that the DAV is a Wonderful veterans organization and yet that their NSO division is their biggest problem.

They have failed to correct that problem and now dont want lawyers to find out how lousy some of there work as POA has been.

[Berta]

GREAT thank you Gary!!!

I am still working on my message to my reps-

a brief draft so far starting out with 'In lieu of the recent deplorable fiasco at Walter Reed , and as a widow of a Vietnam vet that the VA killed with piss poor health care, I hope that you are aware of the fact that not only is the medical situation at the VA for returning veterans horrendous, but the VA compensation claims procedure they will face, that all veterans and widows have to deal with is also one more national travesty that

has become a runaway train causing to date (March 8th, 2007 2 PM)- 480,819 claims at the Board of Veterans Appeals with the word Remand appearing in 357,510. Remand for VA purposes basically means the claim is sent back to a Regional Office who could have done the claim right in the first place.

Many veterans and widows have been forced not only to obtain costly independent medical opinions so that a private doctor will fully read and assess their medical evidence for these claims for a proper resolve, but also many veterans and widows are quite willing to incur the expense of hiring a lawyer for the long claims process , paid from any retroactive claims proceeds, as this too can be the only assurance they will get to insure that federal employees in Regional Offices of the Veterans Administration will fully consider their medical evidence to include those costly IMOs.

This is a bill of choice- and the opponents, vet organizations , have failed veterans and widows enough in their inability to properly present and prosecute these claims and to advise the claimant properly.

Regional offices are bound by the Veterans Claims Assistance Act of 2000 to NOT deny a claim until a proper VCAA letter and election notice is sent to the veterans but they send these proper legal ntices to some and not all- and vet reps stand by an do not wuestion that at all- leaving the veteran with no idea of what evidence they need to supply to the VA.

This is a bill of choice -a choice we would not need- if the VA and many veterans reps had done their jobs long ago.

Please support our right to be able to choose to hire a lawyer for our VA claims.

Please insure that this would be possible for every claimant- not after receipt of the NOD Notice of Disagreement but right from the very day that the VA denies their claim prior to sending them the VCAA letter and election notice.

It is against established VA case law and regs to deny a valid claim without proper VCAA letter and election notice but the VA does this all the time.

Lawyers will be able to prevent that unconscionable violation of our basic Duty to Assist rights within the VCAA of 2000.'

(just need to edit a little and find a synonym for" piss poor" -maybe)

(the original version of this reg is tricky-as to the NOD part -that is why I threw that part in-why should a vet even have to file a NOD- first as condition to hiring a lawyer-think about it)

Edited March 8, 2007 by Berta