Award All Claims!

[Berta]

http://www.vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfMAR07/nf031407-3.htm

Makes sense to me-

"The woman pictured on this page, Prof. Linda Bilmes of Harvard, could turn out to be a veteran's best friend.

Bilmes has proposed a unique system: Approve all VA disability claims and then let auditors sort it out from there...just like the IRS.

Bilmes did this some time ago in an article she wrote...that here...

http://www.vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfJAN07/nf010607-1.htm "

Sorry if this info was already posted here-

My pages straightened out but now my font has changed.

[Cavman]

IMO Vike is right. This idea is rediculous and will never happen. I guess if that happened wouldn`t SSD, welfare etc. follow suit.

Cavman

[Stretch]

It sounds like one of the ideas that came from the X=Senate and X=House Veterans Affairs Committee chairmen. It is funny what persons who were in power, will come up with, to sabotage a system that they totally agreed with and made the way that it is.

Instead of saying that they did much to make it so, they say, lets destroy this big legal squirrel cage by granting everybody and sending all of the disabled vets to private hospitals instead of VAMC's, if they don't like it.

I think this is the arrogance of the powerless.

[Ricky]

Vike, not trying to argue but why do you always indicate that the system over load is due to bogus claims. Surely you do not believe that. Bogus claims should take no more than 30 days to water out. They are pretty easy to spot. Also the current backlog is somewhere around 600,000. What portion of those would you guess to be bogus? Please do not take this post wrong. I am just trying to see what you base your opinion on. If its a good one maybe I will pick it up also instead of mine which is inaccurate ratings by not applying the applicable laws. :)

[sixthscents]

I dont think the system is overloaded with bogus claims. But I do think the system is getting overwhelmed with poorly prepared, and poorly documented claims. This simply leads to appeal after appeal, normally based solely upon the evidence already presented.

I think that there has been a decision made at a high level to stymie the claims process by not having enough raters. I feel that there is plenty of room to ask why the VA hasnt hired and trained in more raters... and thats my belief but...

I dont think that the veterans who file claims based upon little or no evidence, or poorly presented diagnosis etc. are helping any. Personally I think that these are as much a hinderance as tha VA's "passive neglect" policy....

Ohhhh "passive neglect" I just made that up but its a new phrase for me..

I also feel thet there are a great many claims out there that have little or no merit. Today I had a guy call me asking if the VA would help his dad, an honorably discharged peacetime vet, with no service connected injuries. He seemed offended when I told him that Cat 7 & 8 were frozen... he became very upset and said that the government owed his fater somethinf for his service, when the guy served 2 years and just got out......

I see claims go up almost every day where there is at best a tenuous service connection... yet the raters have to deal with this claims just like all the others....

I think that as veterans we are helping the VA hurt our own cause... Not you personally, but we have all seen them.

As far as awarding all claims... well thats idiotic.

[Hoppy]

"I see claims go up almost every day where there is at best a tenuous service connection... yet the raters have to deal with this claims just like all the others...."

The sign on the wall at my RO instructs veterans to file claims if they "think" they have a service connected problem. It does not tell them to become informed on their own and think it through first. Then the RO pulls records and goes to work. The VA invites poorly thought out claims. (See my other post)

[Vike17]

Ricky,

I wish I did have some numbers as far as how many claims aren't legitimate that get filed, it would probably shock everyone. As someone that helps other veterans with their claims on a daily basis, I see veterans all the time that want to file some out of this world claim(s). I tend to see this more often than some veteran that occasionally helps on a claim from time to time. I've been doing this for almost 20 years now and you cannot believe how many veterans come to me and ask "I want to get some of that easy VA disability comp, can you give me some help?" Many times those claims would entail something that isn't even noted in their SMR's or can't be granted service-connection under the presumption rules. Many of those claims just don't hold any water.

I've even had a Hadit Elder PM me some time a go and said when he goes to PTSD group therapy, there's all kinds of wannebees there tying to "pick-up" things from real PTSDer's so they can add "evidence" to their pending claims, or know how to actwhen it comes time for there C&P exam.

The problem with this is that nobody wants to admit that many veterans are actually a part of the problem. By comming out and saying this portrays that individual as being anti veteran. Many would also say "How could you say that about our veterans, they would never do something like that!" Over the years I've spoken to numerous SO's that essential say the same thing. They end up having to submit such claims that they know hold no water. I know many here don't like the VBN, but just go over there sometime and read what some of the VA employees, former VA employees and National SO's (Cruise, Adder 187, Dave, ect...), all of which are by the way disabled veterans themselve too, have t say. What they say goes along with what I see all the time. There was even a VA employee here late last year that came over from the VBN, Patrick 428, who was a Marine combat veteran himself and is a licensed shrink that did C&P exams for the VA. He essentially said the same thing, but was pretty much run out of here from some memebers that bad mouthed him and didn't want to hear the truth of what he had to say.

Another way one can see this going on from veterans is just take a look at all the message boards out there and some of the claims questions being asked. Some of those claims and questions are just plain absurd, but no one (except for a few) will actually come out and say it for fear of being chastized by the rest of the board members as being anti veteran or not sensitive enough.

These claims are bigger problem than most want to admit.

Vike 17